The Garden of Forgotten Wishes - Trisha Ashley Page 0,52
it?’
‘Well, I know it’s wedge-shaped – a narrow triangle – so it’ll be much wider near the back. I assume the brick path goes right around it – there seems to be the start of two paths at either end of the fish pond. The top part is much smaller and narrows towards the road, but Wen told me once that she could just remember being able to walk around it and that there was a small marble bench at the top.’
‘How about if I simply clear a way round all the paths first, for access, before tackling the actual rose beds?’ I suggested. ‘That way, we’ll have an idea of what’s there, too, and maybe I’ll have spotted some helpful plant markers.’
‘OK,’ he agreed rather grudgingly, as if he’d have liked to order me to do something else, just to assert his authority, if mine hadn’t been such a sensible suggestion. He said nothing more as I trundled my barrow past him and out of the Potting Shed.
‘What are you going to do?’ I asked him as he locked the door behind us.
‘Me?’ He seemed surprised to be asked. ‘I’m going to put in some time on my pond – I want to get the liner in soon and finish any hard landscaping – and then I’ve got a commission for a garden design to make a start on.’
I thought there was a good chance he’d be so engrossed in his pond that he’d entirely forget the garden design, though at least that was something that could be done in the evenings.
I parked my wheelbarrow by the fish pond and contemplated my task. I could see the entrances to the paths, two on each side of the pond, now I knew they were there, but they vanished after about a foot into an almost impenetrable-looking thicket of entwined thorny branches. I wondered if I might indeed find Sleeping Beauty in there, but not the Beast, because Wayne was already perfectly cast for the role.
I decided to begin with the bigger task and hack my way to the back of the garden – Marnie of the Jungle.
Time flies when you’re enjoying yourself.
I started on the path nearest the gate to Lavender Cottage, not pruning carefully, which would come later, just clearing a way through.
The old, handmade bricks of the path were laid in a herringbone pattern and slippery with algae and moss. Under their heavy mulch of dead leaves, I’d discovered the beds had been edged with those wavy-topped terracotta border tiles, probably a late-Victorian addition.
I’d filled several of the huge garden bags and was making good progress up one side of the path – though perhaps a machete really might have been better for the first cut – when Ned’s deep voice somewhere behind me startled me so much I dropped the large secateurs. I’d been totally off in a world of my own.
‘Marnie, where are you?’ he repeated, and I turned to find him standing at the entrance to the path, a huge, dark, but unthreatening shape against the light.
‘Wow! I really didn’t think you’d have got more than a few feet in by now, though I suppose you have actually been at it for quite a while,’ he said. ‘Did you have some lunch?’
‘No! Is it that late already?’
‘It’s well past one.’ He walked cautiously towards me, ducking where tall brambles reached out overhead. ‘This path is really slippery.’
‘I know, it needs the moss scraping off and then, once the light can get to it, it should all dry off.’
‘The public won’t be coming down here until it’s safe, anyway. I’ll rope it off, so they can only walk around the fish pond, and goggle at you while you’re working.’
‘I think watching me lop briars might soon pall,’ I said.
‘I’d better order another information board for in here, though there isn’t a lot to say about it yet.’
‘You were right about the old metal plant tags – I’ve spotted a few at the front of the beds already.’
I took my long gauntlets off and pushed my hair behind my ears.
‘I’d really like to completely clear each bed and properly prune the roses as I get to them,’ I confessed. ‘I think we’ll find some interesting old varieties in here. But I’ll resist until I’ve cut a way round the paths.’
‘If we have the tags, we should be able to replace any roses that have died off, though they might have changed names over the years.’