garden and bugs

Lots of bugs in our garden lately. It must be the rain. Plants are growing fast. I noticed bugs on our roses, our buxuses and lots of snails eating the fresh leaves and flowers of my new clematis. Yesterday afternoon we decided to do some garden cleaning. We removed the trellises from the walls (it's where the snails hide), cut the plants and cleaned everything with water. It resulted in a snail-exodus. I like how the cutting and cleaning makes the garden look roomier. I was never a fan of cutting plants and trees but I realize you have to in a small garden if you want to keep it healthy. I also decided that, yes, I want a natural garden full of plants, but, yes, I also want a garden that can be lived in, used for relaxing, drinks, dinners and maybe even parties. That you can walk through our garden without having to crawl between the trees and plants. Besides, it's not fair to a tall husband who needs to be careful not to hit his head on the trees every time he walks into our garden... I hope it creates a lighter and fresher atmosphere and that it hasn't scared away the birds. In the meantime, we will plant some new plants as well. My mother in law brought some nice ones as a present last week: echinops and omphalodus.

our friend Dickie