Jill sent in this blogpost and won a pair of waterproof gardening gloves.
The tree surgeon came this week.
A very large and straggling Cornus Mas has been brought under control and reduced to just the main frame. For 40 years it had been meandering around the north facing flower bed looking for light - and who can blame it? The culprits are a line of cypress behind on our boundary - tall and perhaps almost elegant but rather tatty and argumentative low down. These had long been on the list for reduction / removal.
I now have space and some more light - the question is - what to plant in this new space. Thoughts have changed from Plan A ( top the Cypress) to ?Plan B - this surprised me as I had thought it an easy win for a lighter shrub border.
The cypress ‘blur’ the garden boundary ( always good garden design) - and also hide a low bungalow behind - but now the aspect of shade, wind breaks and their new value with climate disruption are modifying plans.
I should live with the cypress and see what happens. Judicious removal of some lowest branches will further improve light but retain privacy.
So - Plan B - More acute veg space and a great time to add shrubs. Hopefully the cornus will reboot and the main task will be to review light and soil moisture through the coming year.