This was my first attempt, in 1996, to create a garden from scratch. I kept the leggy herb garden although it never amounted to anything apart from a clipped bay I had planted slightly too close to the house and I found homes for the old Hebe my neighbour unceremoniously threw over our garden fence with the instruction that I needed to plant it up quickly before it's roots baked in the sun!
I pretentiously wanted a Vita Sackville-West all white garden (as you will see from my monochrome border in my current garden I haven't lost the fascination for white plants – the way they glow in the dimming light when everything has faded into the night is glorious) and I stayed true to that until my Grandfather passed away, starting what has become my tradition now – I bought a rose to remind me of him. It was deep orange and stood out like a sore thumb in it's peaceful surroundings but it was reminiscent of him. He had grown flowers in the sixties and seventies for my Grandmother who loved dahlias & chrysanthemums in bright, garish colours. They were all the rage then and I'm glad to see, that like fashion, if you wait long enough they come back into favour. It's wonderful that “anything goes” in a garden. I also made sure I had some of his original Zantedeschia .... (calla lily) which had always drawn admiring comments from the family and graced many family member's gardens. Both my Mum and my Auntie Shir still have it in their gardens. Sadly, when I last moved the bit I dug up didn't survive so I have bought a new one (half price as it's already flowered) from the local garden centre. A little patience will reward me when next Spring it raises triumphantly from the soil to shoot up great tall flowers which are commonly used at weddings and funerals.
What I started with and one year on.
Design.
A design was a rather grand description of my little pocket handkerchief sized garden's plan but in the end it was one of the main selling points when we moved. “A truly beautiful garden” is how it was described which impressed me no end. Me? Designing a garden? But I suppose I did design it. Bit by bit it changed until it had a little circular lawn (which only evolved as I kept hacking into it to make more room for yet another plant), a living willow seat and arbour I made after attending a two hour willow planting course. It ended up growing taller than the rooftops and had to be lopped down when a swarm of wasps took a liking to it. I also introduced water to the garden in the form of a teeny pond made out of an old washing up bowl sunk into the ground (it wasn't that bad, honestly and attracted dragonflies and birds who used to drink from it) and an expensive bespoke pergola and decking about eight months before AlanTitchmarsh made it so very popular, situated in the only place left in the garden which wasn't planted up. Luckily for me it was also the last place the sun visited in the evening so I could sit under the wisteria and jasmine which had climbed all over it and enjoy it's scent on a balmy evening from my steamer chair. Around this deck I had cobbles to evoke the beach and even a little sand on the very edges which amazingly never got used as a cat litter by the numerous visiting felines.
On the cat theme, when I first started gardening I didn't use gloves but that changed when I picked up what I thought was a large slug from the branches of the Hebe. It fell apart in my hands, emitting an instant and horrendous smell of cat poo! Lessons to be learned with every experience!
I soon realised the importance of decorative features too; whether it was a little statue of a fairy (very twee) or an old watering can and some metal hoops. Many things can have a place in your garden and whilst they may not have a long life out in the elements they can be enjoyed as they weather and get a little worn around the edges. A favourite old wooden chair only lasted a few years before the legs rotted away but it always looked great in the corner as it promised a secret seating area, tucked behind a big ball of white Spirea. When the Spirea died it was replaced with a Himalyan Honeysuckle which was never really a favourite of mine and led to me always choosing plants that I loved rather than because it was 'useful' planting.
This is how it goes; you learn from your mistakes. If you don't like a plant you can move it or give it away to friends (I'm in the process of doing just that with two bamboo plants that I've inherited yet don't fit in with my idea of a country garden). I don't profess to be a gardener, I just love gardening. I'm sure the knowledgeable gardeners would wince at some of my ideas or practices but what I lack in knowledge I make up for in enthusiasm and hard work. And I'm doing it for myself. I also have an obligation to these little plants to care for them as best as I can so I try my best to give them the closest to their original environment as possible.
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