Above and below

The oak tree above  the greenhouse  caught my eye as I closed up. Its odd shape is due to the fact that it's been trimmed back a number of times to stay clear of the power line that comes through alongside.
It does shade the greenhouse but being to the north, not that much.

Down below, much lower - under the ground in fact - curl and creep the spaghetti roots of bindweed (extra). I've spent hours today extracting its brittle white strands from beneath the raspberry canes, knowing full well my efforts will hinder it only a fraction. Not for nothing is it called the devil's guts.

And now my hands and wrists look as if I've been juggling hedgehogs.

Mrs Grieve's Modern Herbal (1931) on Convolvulus:
"Its roots run very deeply into the ground and extend over a large area. It is, therefore, extremely difficult to extirpate, for the long roots are brittle and readily snap, and any portion left in the ground will soon grow as vigorously as ever and send up shoots to the surface, so that in a very brief time it is again spreading over the ground and climbing over everything in its way.
Its delicate creeping stems grow with great rapidity, either when found on banks trailing along the ground amidst the grass or climbing wherever they find a support. Their ends swing slowly and continuously in circles and twine round anything with which they may happen to come in contact. It has been found that a Bindweed stem in favourable circumstances will make a complete revolution in about 1 3/4 hours, which explains the rapidity of its growth."