Gardening with Pliers

 Now, when gardening, there are certain tools which we all expect to use:

 ...and when doing more specialist tasks, we might need additional tools, like this lot which my arborist partner and I used for a day of hedge trimming and tree work:

 ... but how many gardeners, I wonder, are in the habit of carrying a pair of pliers? Is it just me?

 

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Peony: autumn tidy-up

 Yup, it's that time of year: the bush Peony flowers are long gone, the seeds - if we left them un-dead-headed (if there is such a word) have disappeared:

 

 .. and the leaves have gone brown. There is nothing attractive left...

 

 

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Salix Kilmarnock: better in a pot, or in the ground?

I had a question from Gita the other day (waves - “Hi, Gita!” ), about her Salix Kilmarnock, which - as we all know now! - is a small, grafted, weeping ornamental tree.

Hers had been living in the pot in which it was bought, for a couple of years: then Gita noticed that the leaves were yellowing out of season, and the soil seemed to be really compacted, so she decided to take it out of the pot, and plant it in the ground.

I specify “take it out of the pot” because there have been several occasions, over the years, where I have found trees planted without the pots being removed....

 ...anyway, hers was planted properly, and it did much better: the tree is healthy, the branches are growing, in fact that has become the problem.....

 

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