spriggy gets his spring trim

It's a moment of slight sadness, Spriggy's spring trim. This year his hedge was gaudied about with Euphorbia, Valerian and Alkanet, and the first flowers were just beginning to break bud. I recorded the pretty flowers and set about with my shears.




This year, I'm growing Spriggy's back up, so in the end I was able to leave a lot of the creamy flowers to thrill the local bees. I'm also lifting the topiary up and away from the hedge ; you can see light under his tail and legs now. Things are looking a little spare and lumpy as a result, but the second cut (after the flowers are done) will smooth things out.

I found the head was looking a tad savage when I was done, so chopped out his long nose. He's now got a bit of a gappy, goofy mouth - and I couldn't resist giving him a tongue of some of the chopped-off Red Valerian.