Time to Prune the Spirea
I post this picture of The Heap to warn you of what can happen if you do not prune your old fashioned spirea at least every other year
This Spiraea x vanhouttei was only a little slip of a thing when Lois fobbed it off on me - admittedly quite a while ago. The house is 20 feet wide. The spirea is still on the march. How did this happen? Too much to do in early July, right after the thing gets done blooming, is how. Planting the second round of vegetables, weeding, mulching, seeing the friends deeply missed all winter when they were in Maine (where The Heap lives) and I was in the Hudson Valley.
Like forsythia and other spring blooming fountains, spireas are prettiest when there is a firm hand regularly removing old stems right at the base. So this year I was firmly resolved to beat my way in there and get to it before there was one more season of “do as I say, not as I do.” Then I tore my knee. Can’t kneel or crawl. Unless some brave soul comes to the rescue, it looks like heaphood will triumph once more.
Leigh Said,
July 2, 2008 @ 12:45 am
Ah, a knee injury . . . my deepest sympathy to you.
My knees blew out in a matter two years or so, we still don’t know why. But last year was a disaster for gardening. I could hardly get around by midyear.
I had both knees replaced in December. Now, after seven months of recovery, the light at the end of the tunnel is illuminating my world.
I still can’t kneel . . . and perhaps never will again . . . but my stamina is back, I can climb a (short) ladder, and you’d be amazed at what you can accomplish if you’re willing to bend over. Thank God I gave up vanity several years ago, because I can’t be a pretty sight ass over teakettle in the garden, but I’m PLANTING STUFF again.
I’m only 51, for heaven’s sake, and I should have quite a few years of blowin’ and growin’ ahead.
My best wishes for a full recovery for you . . . I hope the injury can be repaired.
leslie Said,
July 2, 2008 @ 11:30 am
Leigh
Thanks for all that (knowing!) sympathy…
and mine to you - double, since you must cope with TWO unhappy knees.
It sounds as though you’re making good headway, though, and there’s nothing like the garden for improving one’s mood ( even when it’s driving one crazy).
I’m doin’ the double-over too, for many hours a day, and was extremely proud of myself for this unusual feat of athletics — until I boasted about it to my friend Dean, who told me his 90 year old grandfather ALWAYS gardened bent over double, all day every day.