Pollarding The Hawthorn
Monday, November 11, 2013
Knowing it is going to rain for the next
five days Rosemary and I ventured into the garden. The toughest job (and
dangerous) is to pollard our very old English Hawthorn. This requires me to be
on an unsteady ladder (tembleque is a very appropriate Spanish word) and snip
with my secateurs the long branches that stick upwards. No matter how careful I
am I manage always to have bleeding fingers. Luckily today I did not hit my
head against any of the very spiky thorns. And I do wear my glasses.
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| Rebecca Stewart & Hawthorn |
It was a few years ago when I defied
gravity thanks to the hawthorn. I was pruning it but I had not asked for help
from Rosemary. I was alone on the ladder. The ladder slipped and fell. But
something strange happened. I swear my body in mid air waited for the ladder to
fall before I plummeted on it. I fell on my side and I knew I had done damage
to my ribs. I could hardly breathe. A neighbour heard me and called an
ambulance. The ambulance came and took me to UBC’s Emergency where I was
patched up. From there I phoned Rosemary (who was extremely surprised) to come
and pick me up.
In my fall scan I have some spent
sunflowers, an ordinary hydrangea, a leaf from my Acer griseum and two roses.
The white one is English Rose, Rosa ‘Crocus Rose’ and the second one is English
Rose, Rosa ‘Eglantine’.
