A Job

It's 7am on Monday morning, and we have a days work ahead of us. We have to fit in a visit to the garage somewhere, along with a trip to pick up a rather unusual piece of furniture, and then pick up a hire car at the end of the day. Not sure how it will all fit in, but we will see. The hire car is for the next couple of days, as we are off to the Hampton Court Flower Show, with an overnight stay just across the river from the place itself. So excited about that, and hope to make some good, new business connections while there. In the meantime let me tell a bit about our latest job.

A couple of months ago we were contacted by a customer to come and have a look at their garden, and offer any advice on where it might be 'taken', as it had become somewhat overgrown, and as a result wasn't giving what a good and well behaved garden should give back to it's occupants.

A discussion on the patio ensued, and was followed by us both roaming about to measure up, get a feel for the garden, and allow our brains to think of what would best suit the client in this particular circumstance, as the customer patiently sat on the patio and watched us go about our business.

There were huge and overgrown old Rhododendrons, large and 'blown' conifers in front of the shed, a huge Larch tree covered in a rather spectacular Clematis montana. That was one area.

Another area had a very big Pieris that needed all of the dead wood cleaning out, a gigantic Viburnum tinus best removed, a Camellia to reduce drastically, and several other tired looking shrubs removing. In another area a formidable Pyracantha with a stem a good five inches thick was to be removed completely, and replaced with something more appropriate and manageable to provide a screen for the neighbours. In the picture below there is a shed just to my left.....hidden!

It was agreed to carry out the work in three phases, with the first being the overgrown Rhododendron area in these two pictures.

Everything was to start in about three weeks from the initial visit, and so in the meantime a tree surgeon was on site to crown lift a fully grown Beech and Oak tree that were casting too much shade over this and the neighbouring gardens. We in the meantime started to visit nurseries far and wide, in search of our planned selection of specimen shrubs.

One nursery in particular, the one below, was vast, and this was just one of six of their herbaceous perennial plots. We didn't need this type of plant, but Amanda was drooling at the possibility of perhaps just one or two things for our own garden. It's hard to stay focussed, as the colours were fantastic.

Our time finally came at the weekend, and already tired from a long and hard week, we downed some strong coffee at a local cafe first, before bracing ourselves for the work ahead. We got their though, and apart from some complications from the Oak tree roots, everything went in well. The owners return home today, and so we will hear if they are happy.

There should be some colour and interest all year round as requested, with an Acer 'Senkaki' taking pride of place to provide a splash of coral pink in the winter, alongside a couple of red Phormiums and a Cornus Midwinter Fire. Various other plants will give a show through the rest of the year. The shed can now also be seen, but will be replaced with a bigger and better one shortly.

It had been long, hard and tiring, but the watering in was finally finished, and the hosepipe packed away.

Time for the pub.