Autumn clearing: this is what gives me pleasure in the garden!

 Well, ok, misleading title - lots of things give me pleasure, in the garden: but at this time of year (late autumn) there is a particular pleasure in clearing out messy beds, and generally tidying up for the winter.

Here's a great example: one of "my" gardens has an Amelanchier, which is a small ornamental tree. It does very pretty starry white flowers in spring, and the foliage does nice things in autumn, too.

At the base of this small tree is a bed, filled with Soapwort, Saponaria.

Here it is last week: the Saponaria has long finished flowering, and is now lying limply on the surface, smothering the Hellebores and obscuring the nice neat edge.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I luuurve nice neat edges!

But in this bed, they have all but disappeared.

So, time for a pre-winter clear-up, and the first job is to cut down all the Saponaria, and discard them to the compost heap.

This reveals a shocking array of small weeds, which also have to be carefully removed, taking care not to damage the emerging shoots of the Hellebores. 

It also revealed a lot of ivy, creeping in from its lurking-place under the hedge, so it was a good time to pull that all out, as well.

Having exposed and removed the weeds, I could then rake off the dead leaves which were also liberally decorating this area, and finally, I could re-clip the edge.

There you go - right: nice neat edge, nice clear border, Hellebores revving up and ready to go, and a bag full of leaves, ivy, and other non-compostable rubbish to be disposed of, either by bonfire, by shoving it in the relevant wheelie bin, or by the Client taking it to the dump for recycling.

Happy Client - and happy gardener!

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