Early summer has now begun here in England and with it, rapid plant growth. This swelling and billowing of summer is one of its many delights to us gardeners. It's not long, however, before shrubs and herbaceous perennials begin to outgrow their allotted space, in some cases almost overnight. Unfortunately, not everyone shares our delight in seeing flowers softening straight edged footpaths and fences, or providing a canopy of scent and colour to wander beneath. My postman and milkman, to name but two, are often left to struggle through this summer jungle to deliver to my front door. When the weather is wet, this often results in damp trousers and frayed tempers.
For those of us who have small gardens, and especially urban gardens where both the neighbours and users of busy main footpaths press heavily on our conscience, the need to curb our natural desire to see plants overhang the garden and beautify these areas becomes pressing. Being a lover of the wilder type of garden this is an annual problem, requiring a certain sense of proportion and balance in my earnest quest to humanise my own neighbourhood. The realisation that not everyone shares my values is often hard to swallow, but most of us need to maintain good relations with both our neighbours and passers-by that use footpaths adjacent to our gardens.
In my own garden there are regular offenders whose exuberance becomes a problem at this time of year. One of the more vigorous offenders in this respect is Rosa 'Kiftsgate'. Without a determined effort to curb its excesses, it would undoubtedly not only overhang footpaths, but would begin marching down the road all by itself. This rose is more than capable of producing new canes of some eight feet or more in length in a single season. If left to its own devices, it would gladly drip on passers-by and rip their clothes to near shreds with its vicious thorns. The flowers of this rose are without doubt one of the most beautiful of the rose world, but would be poor consolation were this to happen. So, each season, out come the ladder and a sharp pair of rose cutters.
The same applies to my mixed hedge of hawthorn, berberis and holly. It has already had two clippings this year. This requires more careful pruning. I have a number of clematis growing over and through this hedge. Just clipping away will remove a lot of the new growth on these clematis, so more time and observation is necessary as to where exactly the new shoots are. All these clematis are early flowering and the growth being produced just now will be flowering next spring and early summer. It takes more time, granted, but is certainly worth the effort. Nesting birds are also using the hedge at this time of year, so again, a little sensitivity is required as to where to clip and when.
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