Two Storm-Swept Overgrown Shrubs

Although the skies became overcast by mid morning, the day remained largely dry.

Martin began on today’s visit by tackling the overgrown and leaning pittosporum. The first two of these pictures show the tree tilted by the recent storms; the last, Martin’s trimmed result.

Leaving him in peace for a while, I wandered around and photographed tête-a-têtes; snowdrops and mahonia; and ipheions.

In the process I walked into another lurching overgrown shrub dislodged by the gales.

This euonymous would have to go, so

Martin set about it.

Leaving the leafy branches for us to burn, he took away the heavier pieces.

Afterwards he continued his work along the back drive. This involved straightening the edges, weeding the beds, and pruning roses supported by the dead stumps.

Although I was tempted by the aromas of chicken curry cooking all day, this was not for me. Jackie has prepared it for Sunday’s friends and relatives blitz on Elizabeth’s garden, postponed from last week’s which was rained off.

We therefore dined on Mr Chan’s excellent Hordle Chinese Take Away fare with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Douro.

71 comments

  1. Wow, guys, I’m sorry that the storms have made a mess of your beautiful garden! It was looking so beautiful last summer but summer is almost back, right!

  2. Ahhh.. The aftermath of big winds and too much rain. I’m pleased you and Jackie didn’t try to do the heavy work by yourselves.

    Heavy rains here over past 24 hours made it impossible to work in the garden – and attend to sick and injured koalas. Although the koalas seemed to like being soaked, I didn’t. 🙁

    Let’s hope you all have seen the last of massive storm fronts for sometime.

  3. Glad to see that there’s not too much damage in the garden. It’ll soon bounce back under the Head Gardener’s very green fingers.

  4. Your comment about Jackie’s curry reminded me of the common childhood occurance of smelling something good from the kitchen and being told, “That’s for company”!

  5. YAY for Martin! What a good hard worker! 🙂
    OH, my! on the curry! Poor you! 😞 Kinda’ like when my mom would make her special dessert using expensive Macadamia nuts and us kids being told she was taking it to a Ladies Luncheon at church. Darn! 😉
    Ha…she had to hide the macadamia nuts from my 3 brothers…with 8 kids in the house and the having to share food…the boys were always hungry and scrounging around for food.
    (((HUGS))) 🙂

  6. The proposed blitz on Elizabeth’s garden sounds like an excellent idea – with chicken curry thrown in! That is exactly what I need in my garden. While we inevitably mourn the loss of trees (or a part thereof) you might find the spaces opened up will provide more light – and space – for other plants to grow well.

  7. Apparently, storms are not kind to overgrowths and anomalous extensions. Perhaps it’s Nature’s way to enforce order and symmetry. Mr Martin seems to have caught on the cue rather well.

  8. These massive storms are scary. So sorry it caused you so much damage. American media have the bad habit of calling all these powerful weather events “historic”. It’s one of my pet peeves. Historic – to my mind, at least – is the random odd storm, flood, or whatever. At this point in time, they should be able to recognize a definite pattern as it happens dreadfully often, and all over the world. Patterns are many things, but they are not historic. And yet, we sit on our hands and do nothing. Drives me crazy!!

      1. Amen to that. I’ll be checking the news often today to see how/if the international community manage to come together with an effective response to the errant, napoleonic tendencies of Putin.

  9. Martin is certainly a busy bee, cleaning up after the storms .. the aromas of the chicken curry would be too tempting for me Derrick

  10. I’m glad you’re still having support with your gardening and storm clearing tasks.
    Wonderful news about the forthcoming team-handed efforts on Elizabeth’s garden.

  11. Your poor garden has had so much damage during the past few years. Jackie gets it looking just right and then another storm comes along. Martin looks a real professional and I am sure you aren’t regretting asking him to work for you.

  12. We sure could use Martin’s expert help here! You are blessed to have him with his wonderful strength and skills there to help you put your garden back into tip top shape!

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