… does it take to get a rose back over a pergola? The answer is a lot more than you’d think.

But why were we trying to move the rose?

The story begins in about August of 2023, when the old pergola began showing signs of terminal decay. It had been there a long time, built by me when the rose was a lot smaller. The first signs that all was not well were when the gates back out to the road stopped latching properly, then one of the key uprights came away from the top structure. We cordoned the area off from access by our visitors and called in Dan of treehouse fame to come up with a design for a new pergola.

He came up with two; one traditional and one a bit more futuristic. We chose the traditional.

So far so good. Dan came over in October and helped to remove the rose from the old pergola and help dismantle it. The latter took about five seconds when I leant on one upright and the whole thing collapsed! Yes, the rose was holding up the pergola rather than vice versa.

Now we were all set to start the replacement. Dan took careful measurements and put the post supports into the ground and went off to fabricate the pergola in his workshop.

Then, disaster. Dan ripped his bicep trying to move a large piece of the structure and so was ‘off games’ for most of the winter. This gave the rose ample opportunity to redefine it’s growing angle, choosing to head off over / through the laurel hedge.

Eventually last week Dan declared himself sufficiently repaired to bring the framework over and start assembling. In fact it didn’t take too long despite a few tweaks needed to make it nicely squared up. Whilst Dan was putting the big bits together I was despatched to the yard to make the oak dowels which would secure all the bits in place. Probably the most boring job I’ve ever done and I’ve done a few!

Anyway here it is in all it’s glory. Note the exquisite dowels!

All that was now needed was to get the rose back in place. Sue and I spent a frustrating couple of hours, complete with my winch, and only succeeded in getting it out of the laurel hedge – just. More bodies were needed!

Fortunately Mick was due up a couple of days later to finish off another project and was bringing Mark with him. “Please, Mick ……..”

Eventually, with the help of various straps, strings and a number of garden implements – not to mention quite a bit of cursing as the rose thorns found their mark (and mick and me) it was pretty much back where it was meant to be. Well done guys.

It won’t be long before it looks as though it was never moved, although the same can’t be said of the clematis on the opposite corner, which looks to have succumbed and will be replaced.

All we have to do now is re-arrange the gate at the back and sort out the fence which I couldn’t get near beforehand and it will once again be a thing of beauty for all you lovely visitors.

PS The drawing at the top of this blog is AI generated based on the text of the blog. It sort of ‘gets it’ but I’m a bit unsure what the long handled thing being wielded by one of the surrounding bushes is meant to be!