Garden project/overhaul journal..

@Nick_MSM I really like your new garden art. Playful

 

Done a few bits this week to the garden including finishing the water feature. I noticed Photobucket have removed all of my images so currently trying to figure out how to move them elsewhere

 

We're going to add a grass pathway in between the shrub hedge and lavender bed as there's a lot of space there. The bay on the far right was planted yesterday in the hope it'll cover up some of the ugly leylandii hedge opening. Also started to add a willow screen behind the shrubs until they mature and fill in gaps. Got another few meters to do this week.

To the left are two new pittosporums. The camellia wasn't doing very well so that's been moved to a big pot. These seem to do well along the wall so hopefully they'll catch up with the other pittosporums before too long.



The water feature is nearly finished - I did try a liner but it looked rubbish so I ripped it out. I just need to scrape the glue away now! The fountain looks pretty although as it's solar it doesn't work brilliantly (read it stops if the sun isn't blazing). I may build a bigger feature and install a proper pump..



The ornamental grass bed is maturing nicely..



Finally I planted a montbretia yesterday too. This bed needs a bit of height at the back so I might add another one a few feet to the right of this one.

 

Impressive Nick
As a "grasses" guy I esp like your raised grass bed.
Maybe a couple of convolvulous cneorums too to soften the edges.......tactile, velvety silver foliage and brilliant white flowers? Just a thought but it all looks great :rasp:

 

Thanks for your comments. That sounds like a good idea, the bed is quite full but should have room for one of those! If not I am sure I can find room elsewhere in the garden.

Gutted all of my pictures have gone, I'll try to restore them.

 

Looking great

 

Still annoyed Photobucket deleted all of the images. At some point I will restore all of them elsewhere!!

Anyway, looking for some ideas please. There is an area at the front of the house that we would like to make a little more private. Issues are: north facing, potential wind tunnel and as we seek privacy needs to be evergreen (as well as planted in large pots!) Height wise anything around 1.5m would be good but I can obviously trim to shape/size. Here's a pic below, we are looking to plant where the red stars are :D

 

Viburnum tinus? Aucuba?

 

Lonicera baggins gold, easily shaped, easy to grow, any aspect

 

How about Garrya elliptica "James Roof" - would certainly grow in a large pot, evergreen, provides privacy *and* you get the lovely silvery "tassels" at this time of year. Would exceed 1.5 metres but easy enough to keep under control.


silk tassel 'James Roof'

 

Ohhh just noticed all of the pics have been restored Now we have been very busy with the garden this year! Some areas have been completely replanted/designed. Leaning towards a formal look, especially in the front garden. Pics to follow ASAP but a quick pic here..

 

Few more pics of this year's work.

The bed to the left was a bit of a waste of space and not really to our taste, we also wanted to extend the patio towards the wall for a garden sofa.

This how it was:



And this is how it is now. A row of pleached hornbeam, a low buxus hedge surrounds the trees and three salvia sit in the middle for colour. We also dug up the old path that ran behind the bed and have doubled the width creating a new contained gravel path (this isn't 100% finished yet).We had some garden lighting installed along the path which is a huge help when walking back from the drive!







View of the old path (saved the old bricks for other jobs) and the new (well nearly!)







In the front garden we added the bays and buxus as in my last post, on the other wall we have added a lot of new plants to the bed. This is the only REAL densely populated bed in the garden so we have gone for a really warm bed of reds, yellows and oranges.



More pics to follow of the new path shortly. Also have some new shrubs further up the garden, acers and a lovely yew ball.

 

Garden is looking great! Its good to see the before and after pictures to get a feel for the work that goes into gardens. I find it helps my own sanity at times when the enthusiasm is fading to look back on the changes that we make.

 

Thanks, yes it is satisfying looking back at pictures from two or three years ago to see the progress. Amazing how much some of the shrubs have grown too.


This is the border towards the top of the garden. I think there might be some previous images in the thread somewhere. Over the past few months I have planted two more Japanese acers to compliment one I had planted a year or so ago. Recently planted the yew ball as there was a big open space in the bed. In fact I am tempted to buy a second one too as I love formal shrubs! As you can see the lawn needs levelling off to meet the new path. More work!





Another big job to complete in the spring involving a new yew hedge and wrought iron gate. I must be a sucker for hard work!