Surprise, surprise. Young Luke (a helpful young man who does this and that to earn a few pennies) made a discovery. In an attempt to tidy the back garden, the bit near the house that has lots of cotoneaster, plus ivy growing where it shouldn’t. It’s been growing where it shouldn’t since my Joe did the gardening. It looked quite attractive but when the ivy threatened to take over I set Luke to work on it.
It transpired that the two plants mentioned had completely taken over
what seems to have been a flower bed. Neither Joe nor I knew it was there.
Presumably the previous owners had created a bed for flowers and surrounded the
whole with house bricks. I must be going back a long time because we moved in
about thirty years ago and the cotoneaster was well established then. I don’t
recall ever seeing a flower bed so the cotoneaster must have been very busy
before we arrived.
Someone has their work cut out to make it look presentable again.
Sadly I can't see the photo, it won't show up. So will you make it back into a flower bed. Or should I say, will Luke make it back into a flower bed? :D
ReplyDeleteJoe, I am having trouble sharing photos. No idea why. It seems okay at my end but they don't get published. Have filled in with a borrowed picture which seems to work. As for the gardening, I am no longer able to do any so whatever gets done will be done by my helper. Watch out for my comments on forthcoming visit of qualified firm of gardeners who are due to cut back the bushes.
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ReplyDeleteI look forward to seeing the flower beds emerge from beneath the cotoneaster. Cotoneaster is pretty easy to propagate from cuttings. But its a bit too dry at the moment. Are you going to plant annuals or perennials?
ReplyDeleteIt is early days, Dave. I am inclined to let the cotoneaster spread. There is such a lot of it trying to remove it would take months. I am not agile enough to cope with it. If i could get a photograph on line you would know what I mean. A team of gardeners are coming to cut back the huge bushes, I will have a word with them.
DeleteCotoneaster always seems to me to grow in a peculiar and inconvenient way, You can never quite trim it to make it look neat, or at least, I never could get my mother's cotoneaster look the way she liked it. It grew along the front of the house and in the end I simply cut it in a straight line!
ReplyDeleteI never could either, Jenny. I curse it all the time, yet love it when the buds open. It is a favourite place for the birds as well, I guess they have more protection in those misshapen branches.
DeleteGood morning, Valerie! Just stopped back from yesterday. Looking forward to seeing what Luke does with your flower bed. Do keep us updated, as we are all waiting to see the transformation :)
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful Wednesday, my friend!
X to you and Mr. Charlie
Hello Ron. It will be a long time before the old flower bed is back to its original state. The cotoneaster completely enveloped it. Had the proper gardeners in today and they advised me to let nature take it's course on the grounds that said plant is too strong and would kill off any flowers. The gardeners have done a great job cutting back the many bushes that were trying to reach the sky. What they have done has made the garden seem bigger. Hope your day was a pleasant one.
DeleteWhile ai am not familiar with the cotoneaster that you mentioned, Valerie, I do know about the invasiveness of ivy. When we bought our former VA house, I spent many hours cutting it and removing it from the base and around a tree in the front yard. Unfortunately, there was some poisin ivy growing there as well and I had a rash all along my arm and hand...but succeeded in eradicating that ivy. Years later, we removed the tree as well since it was dying.
ReplyDeleteIvy is a pain when it starts spreading. The only thing to its credit is that it is easy to pull up. I am thankful it isn't the poisonous type.
DeleteHow exciting to unearth a find like that, hopefully he can make it useful again. I had to look up Cotoneaster, don't think we have anything like that; it is pretty.
ReplyDeleteCotoneaster is very pretty when in flower, and the birds love it, but it very strong and spreads like mad.
DeleteWhat a lovely surprise. I bet it will look beautiful eventually.
ReplyDeleteDenise, it looks great now I have called in the professional gardeners.
DeleteHad to look up a picture of it....
ReplyDeleteMy, it is pretty isn't it? When held in check, I'm sure. Sorry it went wild on you.