Garden Design anyone?

Is anyone interested in throwing some ideas around for my garden? I could post some photos etc to give an idea of what it's like now and perhaps with your help an overall work plan could be drawn up. I'd need to limit ideas to some extent i.e. not prohibitively expensive and say that the overall aim is to reduce maintenance (the plot size is about an acre) but have loads of flowers!

 

I'm sure if you put some pictures on then you will be swamped with ideas linlin. That's what GCers like most.

 

LinLin. We would all be happy to throw in a few ideas. However what I did when I started was to look through several books of garden pictures and try to work out in my own mind what sort of style I liked. ie Formal with lawns, straight lines, small hedges etc, long herbaceous border, cottage style, minimalist - all gravel and one stone, prairie - large areas of grass and single perennials etc.

 

Thanks for the comments. The style I think I'd like is to reduce the vast amount of work involved. Although I enjoy gardening, it can take several days to make it look good and I don't want to become a slave to it. At the moment, I have a four day plan - day 1: clear mole hills and other debris from grass; day 2: use petrol mower on corners and edges; day 3: use ride-on mower; day 4: trim edges. I'd like to enjoy it without being too exhausted!

If I could have wild flowers growing on most of the lawn, that would reduce the mowing. BUT in the spring there are so many rabbits, they seem to eat everything. I'm already planning a new flower bed and hope to get that dug this month then I'd like to make some rabbit-proof fencing for the veg patch.

I only have one suitable photo at the moment, which I'll have a go at posting:


This is just the back garden!! At the top you can just make out a laurel hedge (I've been cutting that back today) and behind that is another section where I have bonfires. To one side of that is an old stone ruin - I've found it inhabited on the 1841 census. Ideally I'd like to make something of that - more wildflowers maybe (bunnies permitting), but must have somewhere for bonfires.
The photo is taken from the back of the house. On the left are three greenhouses (all fairly shabby), on the right are two sheds - one large tool shed and a small, old shed I use for garden tools.
I'll take more photos another time and include the front garden too. If anyone knows where I can buy wildflower seed in bulk I would appreciate knowing.

 

I think I would plant a few Silver Birch trees in one corner with some wild flowers underneath. Silver birch I find gives dappled shade this would alow wild flowers to get established.

Trevor

 

linlin - I appreciate the problem of space and maintenance. Like you I would be inclined to sow a large part of the lawn with low maintenace flowers. My inclination would be try part as prairie planting.

This is the trendy style that Piet Oudolf has popularised. It consists of large areas, like huge drifts, of a single species, mixing grasses with prairie perennials. eg http://cambo.moodia.com/GARDENS-and-WOODLANDS/Planting-Themes/Tall-Grass-Prairie-Planting-Themes.aspx

By having huge drifts of possibly self seeding plants, there would not be much maintenance as they would crowd out any weeds. And with large drifts you won't be having neighbouring plant groups growing into each other. You would have to grow the plants from seed. I would want to choose long flowering plants. They will give colour over a long period. And some like Astilbe (not strictly a prairie plant) and tall grasses would give winter interest as well

One of my favorites would be Centranthus ruber (Red Valerian) - again not strictly a prairie plant, but I love it. Its pretty, it flowers for an extremely long time - up to 5 months, and it self seeds, so it would replace itself and not let anything else in.

 

Hi Linlin love your flower bed behind your patio pity about the rabbits I dare bet they eat anything on sight...they're only good for the pot! :D

I can well imagine all the work involved just keeping on top of your garden I wish you luck finding a solution to reduce your workload after all gardening should be a pleasure not a chore. Helen.xxx.