We have been away for a long weekend, and when we arrived back, I discovered that suddenly an old tree stump was totally covered in honey fungus, Armillaria mellea. Today, Adrian and our neighbour have partially removed two fence panels, and removed all the fruiting bodies, (toad-stools), then they have dug down about 2 feet around the stump and roots in an attempt to remove infected soil, and are now to trying to burn away the tree stump over a peiod of days. I have dug up 2 infected climbing roses, and removed quite a few plants and disposed of them to create a bare space of about 3 metres around the stump. This bare earth may be covered with black polythene for a year or so to see if we have won the battle.

It's just as well that our garden is no longer in the Royal Horticultural Society's 'Gardens Open Scheme'.