Starlight Express versus The Wind

 Storm ‘whatever’ (I’ve lost both count and interest) buffeted in from the south-west last night which meant the front of the cottage took the brunt, which meant so did rambling rose Starlight Express. You remember Starlight Express? Rescued from the sick plants bay at a garden centre, planted by the front door, immediately shot skywards and achieving second floor status within five years? 

Clearly, Starlight Express had become too heavy for her anchors, for this morning she had broken free and was flapping all over the driveway and screeching against my car with teeth-grating gusto:

Apologies for the slight blurring to the right of the photo. It’s actually fluff from my fingerless gloves. 

Of course, with Starlight Express pulled away from the wall, I was presented with the ideal opportunity to give her a jolly good pruning. She had become rather wild, dense and unwieldy. Last Summer I remember looking up at her and thinking, ‘You need a spot of taming, my girl,’ but that would have involved ladders and stuff, and it never happened apart from the pruning I could reach from the ground, mostly so the postman could access the letterbox without being savaged or caught up in a Sleeping Beauty nightmare scenario. 

Here, however, was my chance. Out with the secateurs and loppers, and away I went! I started in formal RHS gardening mode, all considered and scientific, but in the end I reverted to my usual rose pruning method which is instinctive and brutal. I’ve never yet killed a rose bush with this method. Touch (rose) wood. Starlight Express is much lighter now, and will be easier to train across the front of the house now she’s been thinned out:

She’s about two thirds the height she had achieved but given her propensity for rapid growth, I expect she’ll recover that height within a year or two. Also, I can now move my car. 

The winds have dropped. To be fair, we didn’t suffer too much during the previous two storms and for that I am grateful. And there’s just enough of a breeze to dry the laundry on the washing line quite nicely, thank you.