No one likes to admit to a mistake (not least politicians) however I think planting the Rose Banksiae ‘lutea’ in my garden was a mistake. It is an extremely vigorous rambling Rose, which has smothered most of the reflective room and blocked a lot of the light reaching through into part of the blue border. It is a beautiful early-flowering rose so you can understand my reason for planting it. I propagated it as a cutting from a friends garden.


It was also smothering the equally attractive Akebia quinata, (Chocolate Vine).

I decided to bite the bullet and cut it down hard, but not remove it completely. It was a big job involving removing six large bags of rose trimmings. From now on the aim is to contain it! Once removed it was obvious that the trellis underneath it would need replacing. This is a situation most gardeners are familiar with you start one job and find it leads on to others.
I have fitted new trellis and a blue rope swag to match the rest of the Blue Border.

The gnome walk and the reflective room are now enjoying more daylight.









I will end with a picture to reflect on that is both serious and cheeky!


Definitely a job well done, Brian – I certainly learned it was advantageous to cut our Rambling Rector down severely every year. This year I am also going to cut down Mme Alfred Carriere and replace it with a less vigorous rose
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I cannot remember seeing this part of your garden before. Perhaps it is a new angle for me. Well done for tackling such a big job. I always have left the roses to Kourosh as beautiful as they can be I always found that they demanded a lot of upkeep. Now I do not have any in my new garden I miss the table decorations they provided. Amelia
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It is a relatively new area Amelia. I created it two years ago. The rose had completely taken over which made it more like a tunnel, but I was concerned how I would manage it in the future as I got older and the rose became even bigger!
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