Viburnum Tinis - taming the monster - loads of free stuff!

Hi there

Beautiful flowers aren't they. This is Viburnam Tinis - perhaps its seems the perfect bush - lovely glossy evergreen leaves. Beautiful flowers from around late November well into Spring with a lovely delicate scent. What's not to like?

Well we have one in our front garden - its around 35 years old and in spite of regular pruning its about 20 foot by 15 foot. It should be pruned after flowering but that is when its full of nesting birds so we can't touch it. If we prune earlier we miss out on the lovely flowers.

I decided to "lift the crown". Cutting back the lower branches to leave the arching leaves and flowers at the top of the bush. The birds can still nest in it and we can still enjoy the flowers.

My lovely husband stepped into the cold with his electric saw and special blade for cutting green wood. Half an hour later the job was done. The cuts look raw at the moment but they will soon blacken up and not be so noticeable.

As a result of our labours we now have many free sacks of small logs which we will mature for a year or so then use on our open fire. We also a free sack or two of small twigs for kindling as well as some sacks of greenery to shred to make free mulch.

Just to complete the list of freebies we also have two vases of the flowers from the bush gently spreading scent in the house.

A good mornings work and enjoyable - We are now rewarding ourselves with cheesy chips. Well we must have burned off a few calories!

Just as I finished clearing away I  noticed Mr and Mrs Robin from a previous blog finding lots to eat around the area we had been working.

I'm a happy frugal gardener!

Take care

Caroline

xx

To learn more about me and Caroline's Cottage Gardens please visit my website. https://sites.google.com/site/carolinescottagegardens/