Wisteria Wars..... and taming the garden

I needed to take my car for a warrant today, but thought i would just weed the vege patch before I went as it was such a lovely afternoon. Such are the joys of being on holiday... there are choices. So I weeded the veges; and swept the path and made it all look lovely. Then I thought that I might just see if I could get the Old Man's Beard out of the camellias... it is growing from our neighbour's side of the fence and is a noxious weed here - going to have to say something to them but their English is limited! So I did it, and then I pruned the camellias, and the rhododendrons, and a few other plants on the back fence... Here they are "before".... which is a pic I took of them last year but gives you the idea.

Meanwhile my partner trimmed the clematis that is threatening to take over the roof of the house, in between scraping and filling and sanding and painting the window trims on the garage.....

This is all familiar to him - here are two pictures of the back garden of the house when he bought it...

and here - after extensive hacking back, with the vege patch and the clematis in flower in spring

After enlisting some of his extra muscle to sever the bigger branches of the camellias... I looked at the wisteria.....and suggested we thin it a little. You might remember it; I have put pictures up of it before...

in spring:

in summer after we oiled the deck...

So we thinned it... and thinned it some more... and then evened it up, and before we knew it....

It will regrow, and at least it will let the afternoon sun into the sleepout for the winter, but I wonder if next time I should just go and get that warrant!!!