We were in Norfolk this weekend and it's the first time I got to see dad's garden and many of the changes he's been making. And there's been quite a few which means his garden looks quite different but will be easier to maintain. With the amount of conifers and bushes he's removed it hasn't can't have been an easy task and even though a chainsaw was involved - and I'm sure enjoyed - I do wish he'd taken things a bit slower.
Some of the larger climbing rose bushes have also gone, but plenty remain and were still in flower for our visit. I think he pretty much has every colour going though, with plenty of pink, quite a few yellow and some orange and peach creeping in too.
It wasn't just the flowers providing colour, just look at this (most likely a) phormium. With the sun on it, the colour is just fantastic.
There's still some growing space, but not as much, and the growing space is closest to the kitchen, which makes a lot of sense. The apple tree, like ours on the allotment, was laden with fruit.
The big change in dad's garden is some of the smaller beds have been removed and grass seed - and grass - has replaced them. The beds that held the large conifers have also been reduced in size with grass replacing space there too.
And it's growing well. There's plenty of birds in dad's garden, hence the netting in the photo above. But look in the photo below and see how luscious it's quickly become.
There's still more roses though.
And a pile of stones. We have a lot of stones in our garden, so perhaps dad's competing. Although his stones have a prettier Norfolk hue than ours do. I think I know the plan for these, but I'll save that just in case I'm wrong.
Lupins also do well in dad's garden and throughout his garden the flowers are just about still there, but it's clear to see they're already set on providing plenty of seeds for next year.
And a final rose. This one with a story. It's a standard rose in the front garden and it was large and a mesh of branches. Dad was considering replacing it but I managed to persuade him to try pruning it first. I'm not sure he was convinced, but he gave it a go. It's at an awkward height and was tricky to get in and under to find the green stems, so with nothing to lose it was dug up, trimmed more easily and put back, just as if nothing had happened.
It's obviously not the textbook way to prune roses, but it seems to be happy and it appears quite happy, with new leaves and even some flowers, which just goes to show plants can be hardier than we expect them to be!
