Espallier Camelia

Back at work today but want to share with you a

little project that I worked on over the holidays....

Taking advantage of the damp soil I decided to weed and dig

 up the garden bed that used to be an old dirt path at my house

 bordered by sleepers....

Can you see that little parcel sitting on my door step?

I will share what was in that another time.....

Of cause nothing is ever easy in my quest for a gorgeous yard....

I came across 2 clumps of rocks that were concreted

 together below the soil surface....

After lots of digging and sheer brut strength....Ha ha!

They were removed and looking on the bright side I now

have unique stepping stones, that's if I can ever

move them from my front verandah....

Lots more digging and 4 big bags of horse manure later

I now have a nice new garden bed to plant out in Spring....

I did however plant this camellia at the side verandah end....

I have been wanting to try my hand at "Espalier"

for a while so armed with the necessary tools

 and equipment I got started....

Lots of screwing and tensioning of wires....

Until this is what I came up with....

I was fortunate to find a plant that had 3 sets of branches that

 were placed in just the right spot to be able to get

3 rows secured to my wires on planting....

I now have to be patient and wait for it to grow taller and

produce some more lovely branches until it reaches the top....

When it gets bigger and the branches bush out a bit it will

provide a lovely screen for my side verandah as I

so love to sit out there in the sun on nice days.....

The hardest part was cutting off the healthy

 branches with buds that I didn't need....

So they came inside with me.....

And look how pretty the flower was when

one of the buds opened....

Well off to work for me today....

 

Until next time, Happy Stitching

 

Kate