Garden Lawn Rose Arch
The entrance to the Frisbee Lawn was one of the first places to get a rose arch. And for many years this worked really well, with a lovely white Iceberg rose trailing over the archway.
This early photograph was taken in the summer of 1999, before the grass in the Frisbee Lawn had dried off. The lawn had just been mowed and everything was looking neat and tidy. The white rose seems happy in this picture, and the conifer isn't too big - yet.
Frisbee Arch - 2010
I've always worked hard keeping the narrow Frisbee border weed-free and watered. It looks its best in spring and early summer - with masses of yellow daffodils, followed by yellow irises. It has some evergreen shrubs, too, for interest in the other seasons.
Things Do Change
But things do change. The white Iceberg rose started sulking, while the conifer grew and grew.
Finally in 2009 things were completely out of hand. So I pruned the rose totally back to its base, and the tree trinmmer took to the conifer. My instruction was to trim it into 'a blob'!
Update
Yes - the rose has regrown, with strong new shoots, still reaching for that archway. Alas, so has the conifer, which is now an extremely green blob, far too large for this space.
Patience is required before the Frisbee Archway can return to its former floriferous glory. Oh well - I can wait another year or two. That's what real gardeners have to do, isn't it?