Today we were finally above freezing during the day. Finally some work could be done in the garden instead of just writing and reading about working in the garden. Finally.
With all the talk about the rose Killer, it was decided to give it a pruning. This would have to be done no matter what the final decision is to his dilemma. The crossvine, bignonia ‘Tangerine Beauty’ entwined with Killer on the clothesline pole posed a thorny problem if it was to be saved. Some serious untangling had to be done.
The first cuts were made to eliminate all side growths, the little multi branched pieces. There were plenty of those.
The sky is still the most beautiful blue. Killer’s thorns show up nicely against that background. The group of mature pines shows up nicely also.
This is just a small portion of what was removed from the main trunk wrapped around the pole.
I tried to save this little nest. But the birds don’t reuse the same nest again do they? Can anyone identify who might have built this nest? There were chickadees and song sparrows hanging around here. Among Killer canes there have always been mockingbird nests, even when he was growing on the front of the house. We enjoyed watching the babies hatch and leave the nest from the large window so very close to the arbor. Each year they would come back and build another nest or two close to the ones from the year before. When Killer was moved to the back of the property the mockingbirds followed and built in his sheltering branches again. This sounds like a good case for allowing Killer to live, doesn’t it?
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The finished product. The only canes left are close to the pole, for now. The crossvine was saved. If the vote goes to the building of the arbor for Killer, which is the way the polls are pointing as of now, the new growth can be tied to the new structure.
If the decision is thumbs down, all that will need to be done is cut the beast off at the base and dig him up. The plant to the left is Killer, the smaller stem belongs to the crossvine which will be retained no matter the vote. If you haven’t cast a vote at the poll element at the top right of the blog, be sure and weigh in!
Ready for anything,
Frances
Fairegarden 
Oh, the beauty of dead thorny branches. Lucky birds. I want to try the crossvine again.
chickenpoet…the crossvine is a beauty and worth trying until you get it to take. This one was purchased at Evergreen by the way.
Is that a spring purchase from evergreen?
chickenpoet…spring or summer, can’t remember.
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