A sunny February morning at Devonia

oh, nice. did you do any work while the sun was out? but just being able to get outside and walk around and stay dry is a major huzz in itself!

we had the sun in London, too, or at least I did, here, dunno that I can speak for all of London! 1400 and it's still shining on the block over the green; I'm getting the reflections off their white walls.

Went out for the first time in ages and did another stint of DIY, putting my worktable back together; getting round to it is by far the hardest part of the job. Well, apart from beinding double to hammer panel pins in, and the sawing is gonna be fun, but each step taken is anotehr step nearer completion.

Fran - I've been getting some work done in the garden during the weekday afternoons. Decided it was a bit nippy today (although I did cut back one clematis that was growing new shoots energetically).
One job I did on Friday was thin the shoots of the shrub on the right of the path just in front of the short box hedge. It's a neillia, related to kerria, and suckers like mad - you need to cut out the oldest stems each year or you finish up with a crowded mass of unproductive wood.

Went up and found the plant, with your directions, looks very nice, and shapely, so your pruning's paying off - hut then the rest of the plants in the photo prove that anyway!

*s* I have a psychological problem with cutting plants back: when I got my first flat, my first real home-to-myself, and was then able to get my first plants (houseplants only, no garden) I didn't like to suppress them in any way, so let them do their own thing, and they ran riot. I'm still trying to learn how much "discipline" to impose to keep the plants at their best without "oppressing" them.