Gardening
A pleasant way to spend time
(and money).

I do like a nice garden, mine or someone else's, and I suppose I should list visiting garden centres as a hobby.

Every few years I make changes to the garden, and in 2002 a lot of time and even more money was spent making what are probably the final touches to the garden. Now large is not a word that anyone would apply to my garden - even bugs have to take it in turns to get in! However, as the old saying goes, all the best things come in small packages, and the garden has been described as being a little bit of paradise. On June 4th, 2002 I took a few photographs to record the (almost) completed garden.

 (Question - is a garden ever finished?)

This is a view of the part of the garden nearest the house. Its an area of decking next to a pool, which on this side is raised. My style of gardening is to pack the plants as closely as possible, as the photograph shows. I'm also a believer in container gardening - most of what you can see is in pots (I have an addiction to blue glazed pots!). The strange effect on the chair is due to the fact that they need repainting - a job for the summer.

The pool takes up a lot of space. There is an oriental feeling to part of the pool - the bamboo and oriental lantern creating the look.

At the top of the garden there is an area that has been described as the 'Secret Garden'.

The photograph above was taken at the only time of the day when the sun shines into it - late afternoon. The rest of the time it is shady, cool and a little mysterious. The light catcher in the middle of the photograph is hung from an arch that separates this small part of the garden from the rest. The arch is covered in roses and honeysuckle and help to create a mysterious air to this area.

In my opinion a garden does not take over your life. It should be a place in which you can relax and think - with a cup of coffee. As a result the garden has a number of areas in which to sit.

Near the house is the decking area, shown both in the photograph above and in the first photograph. This has two areas - a 'dining area' with this table and chairs, and a 'sitting room' with arm chairs. Further up the garden is a paved area. This includes a bench which eventually will be in a cosy arbor created by an arch that has one of my favourite plants trained over it - Cytisus batanderii (Pinapple Broom) - and eventually will be shaded by a honeysuckle.

They are all pot grown (naturally) and sit in different spots on slate chippings. The garden has no lawn - too much like hard work. The largest Acer is Acer palmatum Bloodgood, which is in the centre of the view above. This shady side of the garden also has my three bonsai trees, which do not really stand out in the photograph above.

The garden has also recently acquired lighting.

This photograph shows a very similar view to the previous one, but taken at dusk.

The garden is also a place for birds - room has been found for the bird bath shown in the view above, two other places for birds to drink, a bird table and a hanging bird feeder in the centre of the garden.

The garden will never win any prizes - but it's the way I want it and that is all that matters. After a day at work there is nothing nicer than going to the bench and sitting with a cup of coffee basking in the late afternoon sun. 

The nice thing about a garden is that it is constantly changing - either I cannot stop tinkering with it, or obviously the plants grow. Click on the flower below and the link takes you to another set of pictures.