Saturday in the garden

We spent the afternoon in the garden weeding, pruning back Azaleas and shredding those and remnants of the past few weekends' work.  The shredding is a hot and dusty chore but it reduces everything to a large surface area mass that composts down quickly and efficiently.  I also cut back 3-4 feet high bamboo that has sprouted in the last couple of weeks or so.

This Clematis has been with us 3-5 years now and is in its prime.  It's twin in the opposite bed didn't come back this year.  It was one of the many casualties of the variable temperature swings in the long spring this year.