Just d'vine

D'Vine is growing. It's on the pergola in our courtyard...

In the summer it sends out it's canes along the pergola beams and the leaves provide us with welcome shade. Once upon a time the pergola filled the courtyard, then the previous owners removed half of the beams, then we added them back in again :-) As you do! We are unsure why they removed those beams, our new ones have been there for two summers now and nothing terrible has occurred... In fact the new beams have 'made' the courtyard, if you know what I mean. Now the grapevine can grow right along the beams from one side of the courtyard to the other. This will eventually provide a completely shade 'ceiling'. That will happen next summer...

This summer has seen the canes reach right across to the other side. With a little help from some lovely white string :-) When the vine loses it's leaves this year we will not prune these long extension canes and next summer they will shoot and send canes in other directions, hopefully filling the gaps in the cover and therefore complete our shade 'ceiling'. It will be just great!

Happy Thursday to you all! I've been out in the garden this morning. Again. It hardly feels as if I will EVER be able to maintain the whole garden to some semblance of tidiness. A rather thankless job. BUT it is looking much better and I made a bargain with myself that I would NOT plant any pretty pansies for winter until I'd sorted out the borders/weeds/general mess that was already there! After this morning's work I'm allowed to purchase about twenty young pansy seedling - yay! I love their smiling faces in the freeze of winter.

Am off to try and get the little one to have a nap, otherwise it'll be off to the plant store for me! ;-)