The summer of 2003 in the United Kingdom will be remembered for high temperatures, almost unbroken sunshine and drought. It has been an endurance test for people and plants. Unlike the long drought of 1976, this summer was preceded by a very wet winter and luckily the summer itself produced just enough moisture to keep hose- pipe bans and stand-pipes at bay. Approaching the end of August, the unrelenting high temperatures have now been replaced by more normal late summer warmth and the promise of much needed rain.
One nice spin off from the hot, sunny weather has been the abundance of butterflies. From Small Tortoiseshell, Comma, Speckled Wood, Red Admiral, Peacock and two great summer migrants, the Painted Lady together with the Silver Y moth. Anyone with Buddleia davidii, the 'Butterfly Bush', will have had many visitors this summer.
Late summer is often a time for appraisal and general soul searching on the gardening front. Whether you have an established garden or a new one just inherited, you will now be in a position to make some meaningful judgements of the results of your recent plans and plantings. For myself, this time of year means some serious pruning and thinning of my over-exuberant small garden.
I place great importance on a garden's structure. The bones of any garden help to give it its character throughout the year, but more especially in the winter months. Trees, larger shrubs, various evergreens and conifers are usually very helpful in this respect. These sustain the garden's interest during the darker months of the year. Providing differing shapes, textures, and colour.
This structure, however, does need taming from time to time. To this end I have painstakingly removed the very large 'Kiftsgate' rambling rose in the front garden from its alder tree host. This rose had been on notice for some time. Its growth was rather frightening, capable of putting on at least 8 to 9 feet a season. The flowering however, was sparse and nothing short of disappointing.
I say 'painstakingly' removed, as I had the job of trying to save two established clematis intertwined amongst its labyrinthine growth. I managed in the end to remove the rose in its entirety whilst also saving the clematis in the process. Having saved the two clematis plants successfully, I had of course also removed their support and therefore needed to devise a method of hiking them skywards again up the alder tree. With the help of some green string and a tree branch or two the problem was eventually solved.
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