Forgotten Island Garden

Hello.

I live here, x marks the spot:



We started renting it about 5 years ago because it was the only place we could find at the time that allowed dogs and had a decent garden - we've stayed mostly out of convenience (dogs) and sentimental reasons. Will probably move somewhere else in 1-3 years though, so I want to do something with the garden while I have the chance.

I have some ideas, but would also like some ideas as to what would work.
The pictures in my head have the place turned into a fantasy jungle-ish-but-not, abandoned makeshift farm with lots of weirdness, placed in the middle of an industrialised area. So...Weird then. Help!




Garden:


What lives here:

1 sweet cherry tree (?)
2 Apple trees
3 Plum trees
Various other trees, unknown

'To the left':


What lives here:

Ornamental bamboo that makes an incredible amount of mess
One of the apple trees + some of the various
1 fern (by the steps)
1 bush of unknown origin
1 large rock with flagpole
Lots and lots of lilac trees

Behind the rock:


What lives here:

A lily of some kind, purple flowers
Another unknown, a thorny push of some kind
Moss
Yet more lilac trees behind the camera

Front of the rock:


What lives here:

The rest of the plum trees + unknown trees
1 ugly ornamental maritime ball thing....
1 Tractor tire

and to the right there's...:

..an old pond and a dog rose hedge.

Finally, to the left of that:



Woodland area at the back, someone planted hostas there ages ago and the tree next to the steps has yellow flowers, but I don't know what that is either. The flowerbed keeps some kind of peony. To the left of the camera there's a rhododendron as well.

Other side of the house area/No-name area:


Jasmine?




Been told it's clematis.


Not really sure what happened here.... Not much worh mentioning except for the blue pinething to the right of the photo that is considerably bluer in rl.

There's more behind the wall, but cluttered with furniture at the moment, so not showing that yet.

Thanks for looking.

 

I like it do you have any summer time pics?
From above it looks like you can privately roam 2/3rds of the island

 

I'm not sure what to suggest, but I know whatever you decide, it can be done.

I used to live in Sheffield. The north side of Sheffield (where I lived) is still a bit industrial, yet straight through the middle of the most industrial part runs the Five Weirs Walk. When you're on the Five Weirs Walk, you can very easily forget that you're in a city at all. In the summer it is full of flowers and wildlife, and as natural as it looks, its no accident. Its been nurtured that way on purpose to create a haven from all the noise and smell and greyness of the heavy industry.

Here's a bit of it (not my photo)

 

Sorry - lost them all when my last computer died.
And yes, we're free to use most of the island as we want. Great exercise for both humans and dogs.

 

The frost leaves in early May where I live, and temperature is usually around 20-25 C (68-77 ºF ?) in the peak of summer. In the winter the temperature can be anywhere between +10ºC- -15º C (50-5 ºF). Will have to focus on annuals and biannuals for several reasons then.


Edit: Corrected temperature.

 

There are plenty of perennials that will survive prolonged exposure to -15'C. The range increases if you can be bothered to provide some protection in winter.

I read a while ago that there are even some palm trees that will survive that sort of cold. A few winters ago we had prolonged temps of -10'C and I only lost the more tender stuff. All my shrubs survived, which includes plants more often associated with the med, like rosemary, sage, thyme, as well as plants like buddleja, roses, a bamboo, and flowers like dianthus and leucanthemum and a few others. I have some late winter/early spring flowers that keep surviving like primroses and something whose name I've forgotten, and of late summer flowers I have sedum spectibile (I think - certainly one of the taller sedums) and gladioli, all of which survive.

Maybe they might struggle a bit at -15'C, I don't know, but they were happy enough at -10'C.

In fact, all I really lost, and I kind of expected to lose them anyway, was the marguerites. The old lady next door though lost some of her shrubs. They were eunonymous I think. It surprised me that she lost them, because others haven't. I'm wondering if something else other than the cold got them.

Long story short, I think you have a lot more choice than you might think. You'll be asking for trouble if you plant stuff known to be a bit tender, but most stuff listed as hardy should be fine I reckon.

 

I think you're right! I did a thorough search after reading your post and there seems to be several different exotic plants that will do just fine in our temperatures.

Thanks!