Making the most out of trimming up the garden


I was having to give a corner of the garden a "haircut" the other day in order to make the path passable. Under the huge (and I mean HUGE) buddleia bush, grow a bunch of plants that prefer less intense sun. They had all grown rather unruly  and needed shaping up. So the hydrangea, a fern and the David Austen "Abraham Darby" rose got trimmed up.

One reason I hate doing a mid-summer trim is that I often have to cut off blooms in their prime. That's what happened with the "Abraham Darby". There was a perfect rose blooming on a long branch encroaching in a not-so-subtle way onto the well-traveled garden path that sweeps in front of it. It had to come off. I felt so bad. Until I had an idea... I decided to bring the single bloom inside instead of throw it in with the rest of the green waste, and I would use it for a photo shoot.

Usually I can't bring cut flowers inside because I have a flower-eating-ginger-tabby that won't leave them alone unless the flowers are perched on the fireplace mantle. I put the "Abraham Darby" in a small bud vase on the mantle until I had the right natural light in my studio.

A couple of days later when the light was right and the flower-eating-ginger-tabby was napping, "Abraham Darby" and I had a photo shoot. And "Abraham Darby" was the perfect model.

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4 comments:

  1. Lovely! My cat, Bear used to love to smell cut flowers, but so far, no one has nibbled any of them.

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  2. Bootsie is definitely more interested in bugs, or cat food then flowers. Although I can't keep him out of all of my ornamental grasses in the garden.

    Very clever of you to recycle that rose, and such a color...that's one of your favorite shades of pink isn't it?

    Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

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  3. Abraham Darby is such a lovely rose ... one of my very favorite Austins.

    Cats are why I don't keep houseplants anymore. The plants ended up on the floor, or chewed to bits, and it wasn't worth the effort needed to keep them intact or looking nice. Besides, I love my cats a WHOLE lot more than I do my plants.

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  4. Wow! Cindy, that photograph is amazing! You had a beautiful model in the Abraham Darby. It is such a beautiful flower, but it's the photographer who made it even more lovely. Great job!

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