Head Honcho

 Mid winter is pruning time. Roses and grapevines .

Poppi has been chief pruner for at least 5 years now.  In the beginning it was 'the blind leading the blind'. I showed her where to cut, having watched our next door neighbour doing it once. 

The roses and vines grew back strong and healthy. 

It needs someone young with strong hands to do the work.

A champion rower perhaps.

 Some of the vines are thick and gnarled and growing over walls and fences. The roses are old fashioned varieties covered in fierce  thorns.

And there's Poppi

Climbing, secateurs in hand trimming all the vines down to stumps.

The wee Elf-who-helps .

Her Mum collected all the vines, branches, pruned them down to a usable size and gave them to her father to use later on the BBQ

Poppi found a frog in the nasturtiums. 

It was remarkably tame and sat on her hand till she put it back in the green tangle

A Popp-y

And a

2 colour bougainvillia 

White and purple 

This white and purple one doesn't bloom till late September . I'll prune it myself when the flowers drop.

The stumpz