My wife and I started gardening in Fukuoka (Japan) in 2003. There was nothing but muddy clayey sloping land. At the beginning we made several structure such as steps and paths, and planted turf, fruit trees, roses, herbs etc.
In 2010, we visited several famous English gardens, including Sissinghurst Castle Garden, Mottisfont Abbey Garden and Hidcote Manor Garden. We were shocked by the glory of those gardens. Since then, we have been trying to make small but glorious gardens by ourselves.
I've been gradually making progress with pruning the boxwood hedge in the main garden. I trimmed the bear-shaped topiary made from boxwood. New shoots had been appearing since spring, so it was time for a “shearing”.
The final rose pruning in the garden was along the brick wall. I cut away dead branches and thin side shoots, then trained the longer branches horizontally as evenly as possible. Where there were too many branches, I replaced older ones with newer growth. Imagining where the flowers would bloom, I secured the branches to horizontally laid wire. I started alone on the left side, but as rain threatened, my wife and I hurriedly finished the right side together.
After the rain stopped this morning for the first time in a while, it gradually cleared up, making it perfect weather for gardening. I pruned the climbing rose “Angela” on the arch in the main garden. Standing on a tripod stepladder, I pruned and trained the branches above the arch. It took quite some time, but as it gradually cleared and warmed up, it became very pleasant garden work. I'm looking forward to seeing it bloom beautifully in May.
Mube (Stauntonia hexaphylla) is an evergreen vine with pretty flowers in spring and edible fruit in autumn. It is a pest- and disease-free plant that grows wild in the nearby mountains and fields. It is attracted to the reinforced steel arch at the entrance to the bluebell garden and acts as an entrance to the garden. It is a vigorous grower and pruning is essential for growing it in the garden. This time we pruned back the overgrown, thin and dead branches and also dropped all the leaves. Buds are already swelling up and in two months' time the flowering season will arrive in April.
Two types of summer-flowering vines are trained to the garden room wall. The vine is potato vine on the left side of the window, and passion flower on the right side. Both survive the cold of our winters and flower every year.
Cut dead and newly growing branches in mid-winter. Unlike roses, they have no thorns, so the work is easy.
A lot of pruning work in the garden has been done, with the exception of the sasanquas.
The day before yesterday it snowed intermittently throughout the day, with snow accumulating at one point. But yesterday the weather recovered and the afternoon was sunny. However, the temperature was very cold, about 4°C during the day.
After the white wooden fence that we removed, we painted the steel pipe posts white, and installed welded wire mesh on them so that we can train the climbing roses. We then trained Mary Delaney and The pilgrim to this wire mesh.
The year 2025 has started with sunny skies and a few cold days with slightly cooler temperatures, but the garden work has also begun. This is an important time of year to tidy up the garden that was disturbed in the previous season and prepare it for the next beautiful season.
To start things off, Ms Marple pruned the Japanese chaste tree. Pruning back the branches that grew last season will allow new branches and leaves to grow again this spring and early summer, producing flowers throughout the summer to late autumn. The height of the tree and the thickness of the branches can be controlled and
In summer, there is pruning work to be done on fruit and flowering trees. This time we pruned pears. This is the pruning of new branches that have emerged this year from horizontally trained branches. Cut them short, leaving a few buds. As the trees are on the slope of the Bluebell garden, I used a telescoping tree pruner to cut them from the arbour seat above.
The wisteria that is being trained to the back of the brick wall also needs pruning as it grew new branches again in mid-summer. I will prune it in the near future.