Sacha writes
"Flower Bobdew" wrote:
Sacha writes
On 4/9/05 12:01, in article , "Flower
Bobdew" wrote:
Yeah, don't worry, I'm not going to bore anyone rigid with my tales of
misfortune, it was simply my way of briefly saying how such a positive
effect the discovery of gardening had on me. Something that I really
hadn't expected.
Oh, I don't think anyone would be bored though I suppose a few might thud to
the floor in a faint along the way! ;-)
Ahhh... A few hip operations in here, too, eh?
I'm certainly looking forward to expanding my knowledge in here.
There's only so much you can glean from reading books. [In fact, as
good as some of the books can be, I've often found they raise just as
many questions!]
It's pretty amazing just what is covered in here, really. And being a
newbie to gardening gives the rest of urg a clean slate to work on. ;-)
[Glances out of window]
Ummm, well, its not exactly a clean slate out there now. It may've only
been a couple of years, but I've been, ahem, a bit enthusiastic!
Right, I'm off to post my first urg question. 
And don't forget to give us a description of your garden and what's in it
now
Blimey! All of it?! % }
Actually, that's one thing I'm really annoyed about. Having started with
that proverbial clean slate - aside from two established fir trees, a
rampant grape vine and a lawn that would otherwise disgrace the name - I
wish I'd done some before/during/after piccies. [Not that it would do a
lot of good here, as I don't actually have anywhere to display them for
folk to see.]
Briefly...
which way it faces
Enclosed rear garden faces a very sunny south... Now a third patio and
two thirds garden: 30 ft long by 20 ft wide.
any particular pros or cons it has etc.
Hmmmm... Pros and cons; I guess that's quite difficult to nail down...
Being surrounded by high fences/walls, despite being south facing, there
are some *very* shady areas - particularly the west facing fence [as one
of the big fir trees is to the south of it and swallows up a lot of
light!] - so that has been a challenge. Pieris failed there [wrong soil!
But they've recovered well since being put in pots with ericaceous
compost.
], and now I have some slow growing Skimmia [yeah, I know,
but they're surviving!
, Euonymous, Pratia and a dwarf bamboo in a
small gravel area.
Generally... I was keen to get some structure in the garden, which
means, quite a few shrubs and evergreens went in first. Oh, and quite a
few pots on the patio - shady side/sunny side. The lawn is now a
meandering curved shape [I actually turned one of the fir trees into a
standard, shaped the lawn in an arc and underplanted - that has worked
surprisingly well.]
Favourite plants, so far, and established well in the garden: Choisya
ternata 'Sundance, Acer palmatum 'Sango-kaku' coupled with Cornus
stolonifera 'Falviramea' [red/green stems looked great last winter],
Carex Buchanaii and Carex dipsacea either side of a Phormium Flamingo,
with Parthenocissus henryana climbing up and through the two
pyrancanthas [one orange, one yellow] on the back wall. Oh, and a
tremendous Lavender x sawyers [a gorgeous colour silver, and has grown
huge in its sunny spot]. And the best Pittosporum tenufolium 'Tresederi'
I've seen!
Favourite pot plants: 4 Acers [love 'em!
], Pennisetum alpoecuroides
'Hameln', Robinia pseudoacacia 'Lacy Lady' [looks great in leaf and even
better without, with its twisted stems], and something I was told might
be temperamental but has looked wonderful this summer; Myrtus tarantina
grown as a mini standard.
That'll do, for now... Have you nodded off yet? I told I was keen! : P
whether you want to grow veg
Don't really have the room or inclination. [Although, having seen them
on Gardeners' World, I'm tempted to try potatoes in bags next year.]
have a pond
No. However, I'm possibly leaning toward a water feature of some sort.
attract wildlife
Being just off the Frome Valley we're quite lucky in the bird
department. I didn't think there were too many birds in the area until I
put up some feeders. Wow! And we've even had a family of Wood Mice
raised in one of our pots. Not all good news, though... Two cats moved
in next door a couple of months ago; bird numbers are definitely down
and *all* the Wood Mice have been despatched. I actually found the two
adults on our lawn on consecutive mornings a couple of weeks ago. Not
happy. : 7
etc. etc.
Oh, enough already!
BTW... Visited your web site Sacha. Stunning. Do you live on site?
--
Flower Bobdew
South Facing Garden
South West: UK