Bury Gardeners: The absolute last sort out for 2016

We got a gap in the weather a week or so ago, so we were able to go out and get the last of the tidying up done.

This was smothered in two clematis and a yellow rose for the season but it wasn't too bad to clear away. I cut through the stems about a foot up from the base of the clematis and then teased out the tangled mass from the trellis..... then trimmed back the rose.

the trellis in June

I have three little pergolas in the garden that have clematis growing through them so, again, they need a trim a few inches above ground and the rubbish pulling out. I like these as they add a bit of structure and something to look at in the winter.

All I did in the front borders was cut back any overhanging vegetation so the pavement was tidy again and nothing was flopping on to the lawn. The rest can take care of itself.

I have eight (four pairs) climbing roses on some trellises in the back garden. They were very badly massacred to allow the new fence to be put up last Christmas and they did almost nothing this year - very spindly, unhealthy growth with a handful of flowers. This is one of the pair of white roses on the side which wasn't replaced and they did reasonably OK and have cut back for the winter in the usual way. That said they hadn't been disturbed and still weren't great (???)

This (below) is one of the New Dawn pair which looked just awful this year. New Dawn is as tough as old boot so I am surprised. I really don't know what to do for it. I didn't have a single decent lateral to tie in and trim back to. This felt like the best I could do. I may leave it at this and see what happens next summer after a rest and good feed or, the other thinking is, I get really brave and cut every stem down to a foot above ground and see if we can start again. I would welcome opinions if anyone has sorted out an old unproductive rose.

Our first snow came early this year - 18th November. It was only a smattering and it got rained on but because the temperatures stayed low it lasted a couple of days in our neck of the woods.

At the same time as looking out at that a couple of my plants were still doing their thing beautifully inside the house.

This orchid has been flowering since August. Its last bud has just opened and I have 32 wonderful flowers smiling away at me in the sitting room. If there is a downside it is that it simply does not look real. I assure you it is and I am very proud of it. This came to me as a nice enough little orchid from Tesco which did its five or six flower thing quite quickly. I cut back the stem and parked it on a windowsill expecting the leaves to die. It got a teeny bit of water now and then and that was it. Gradually it grew to this.

This little goer is a common enough -a Christmas cactus which thinks Christmas comes about four times a year - it is off again. You really need to get up close and personal and really look at how wonderful each flower is.