A dedicated gardener

"Oh dear", he says, quickly hiding his hanging baskets!

 

Wind the clock back a quarter of a century, and it looked somewhat different - the triangular patch to the right of the driveway was grass, with a large hydrangea in the middle and borders all around the edges - some lovely peonies in them, as well as dahlias, marigolds and numerous others. Over by the fence on the far right was a rockery area, with loads of 'snow in summer' amongst other things cascading over the rocks. Behind the lawn area was a veggie patch and greenhouse.

The back garden (not seen in the image posted) was essentially all grass with a large apple tree at the back of it, set into a sandstone patio area (lovely to sit in the shade under the apple tree).

Against the side of the house was a border full of crocosmia and lily of the valley, whilst the front consisted of a small lawn with a large border just under the window with loads of bedding plants (again loads of dahlias and marigolds amongst many others), and in the middle of the front lawn was a carved stone bowl on a large pedestal - hand crafted from two blocks of stone as far as I recall.

The whole thing was then surrounded by privet hedge (with the exception of the large fence on the far right).

 

It certainly was loved back in the day Fern - I can only assume that its the same now going by the photos.

 

It was my grandparents house, and one of my first experiences of all the different parts of a garden when I was a very young child. It seemed absolutely massive to me back then.

 

Sort of. Some of the plants left their mark, such as the snow in summer, crocosmia, peonies and hydrangeas, which I think is part of the reason that I like them. Having said that, I am a sucker for a mallow of any kind, and don't recall many of them being grown there.

I'd like my garden to be similar in as much as being an extension of the house, rather than a separate entity - so far, it seems to be happening. I'd also be delighted if my garden was even half as productive in terms of edibles, as that garden supplied apples and rhubarb that were baked into lovely tarts or crumbles, as well as potatoes, cabbages, carrots etc that tasted better than any shop bought stuff.

 

I'd say you were a pretty dedicated gardener, FC