Sacha wrote in news:BD57BC45.2341%
:

....lots of good advice

Get some good looking pots and put a variety
of plants in those at intervals around the paving.

I'd elaborate this to suggest that in your pots, you go for some plants
that are either evergreen, or where the plant is an interesting shape /
colour even without leaves.

Colourful summer flowers are great, but forget the watering once or look
at it out of in winter, and it can look really dismal.

Aim to have some tough plants in your pots and borders that will create
an all-weather shape for the garden (box is nice, or mini conifers, or if
you are in a fairly mild area, cordylines. Or grasses can look very
stylish potted. Or if it's very shady, what about some evergreen
ferns?).

These plants are usually a bit more expensive to buy than some things,
but they are very long-lasting and hardwearing.

Your borders look very square, marching round the edge like that, so what
I'd do (apart from Sacha's idea of taking up some of the slabs to soften
things up a bit) is plant some low flowing things at the edges - maybe
trailing campanulas in the shadier areas, and perhaps aubretia, or maybe
even Soleirolia soleirolii if you are feeling brave (Ok, it spreads, but
it does look great with ferns, and there's no lawn here for it to get
into. And you only need a bit!)

Let those low things flow over the hard edges onto the paving a little to
create a softer edge.

Sacha's already suggested training climbers up the fences and overhead
(what about a vine? they grow like mad, and have rather lovely leaves?
Or grow runner or french beans, and get flowers and beans too!)

To add to that, what about removing 4 of the slabs, and growing something
lovely up a garden obelisk? (make one from timber, or buy a metal one
from B& Q). Go for an evergreen climber on it - maybe Clematis armandii
- and you get a striking shape in the garden and flowers in season too.

You might want to make your shed more fun. At the moment it's trying to
hide in green, but in that space, it's always going to be pretty
prominent, so you might as well make it a feature.

I'd be tempted to paint the door and roof edgings a different colour,
give it a large characterful doorknob, and maybe colour contrasting
hinges, (but then it is well known that I have no taste). Look out for
pictures of those expensive beach huts that go for vast sums: that's the
sort of thing I mean...

Hope this helps!

Victoria


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gardening on a north-facing hill
in South-East Cornwall
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