It's a peculiar patch of garden, and we suspect the previous owners hadn't done much with it since the house was built in the late '60s. There's a roughly triangular mossy lawn with a large round conifer in it, surrounded by weedy flower beds, surrounded in their turn by a really hideous stone wall. Now I like stone walls when they're done properly, but this one seems to have been bodged together by someone who didn't really know what they were doing, and looks a mess.
There's a huge expanse of gravel on the drive side of the garden, which means there's more than enough parking space. But because the garden is triangular, the entrance to the drive is really narrow - you can't put the dustbins out if you want to get the car in and out, which seems daft. The gravel is also really deep and loose - like a stoney beach - so not great for trundling bins or wheelbarrows across it.
On the other side of the garden from the drive there's a path leading to the side of the house. This is also not ideal as it has a steep step at the pavement end of it - and there are more steps up and down along the side passage - which makes taking anything from the front to the back garden a much bigger effort than it should be. Alongside the path there's a hedge composed entirely of yellowy Euonymus, and in front of the house, in a small gap in the stone wall, there are two huge yellow Choisya. All the yellow is a bit overpowering for me.
The front garden faces north north-east and gets very little sun, so this month it's looking pretty bare as well, apart from the weeds. There's a lot to do, and I don't know where to start. Hopefully this year's end of month views will help me see what's there and how I can best change it. If anyone reading this has any ideas, I'd be glad to hear them!
For more end of month views, visit The Patient Gardener's blog
3 comments:
It's lovely to meet your new front garden. It does look very 60-70's, but that's ok, you can change that over time.
I have a North facing border, my Long Shady Border which is the focus of this years EOMV's for me, and I'm learning a lot about the wonderful world of shade-loving plants. I've also learnt in the last 2 years that even parts of North facing gardens get lots of sun in the middle of summer, and part-shade outside of winter - giving you even more options.
I see what you mean about the stone wall. Maybe it is salvagable if you grow the right kind of plants in/next to it? Or maybe it would be easier to step back and think about what you do and don't like and take it from there? Don't be afraid to rip out anything you don't like or move plants that isn't where you want it to be. Given the issues with the path and the gravel, maybe let your imagination run wild and completely redesign it?!
Your front garden has lot of potential and I look forward to seeing your thoughts and ideas develop over the year.
It sounds like you'd like to start gain from scratch with this garden, perhaps starting with the access/steps problem which will take some work to do, but probably worth it if it's going to save you a lot of effort with bins etc in the long run. That might determine what the shape of the garden you're going to work with and then you could take it from there? It looks like the wall has some soil in it, or could have more added. Perhaps you could grow some tough spreading plants and bulbs such as snowdrops to disguise it/make it more attractive?
Thank you both for your comments, and sorry I haven't replied before - I've been snowed under with other things this month!
Yes, in the long term we really want to rip out the entire front garden, including the wall, and start again. I'm currently thinking about some curvy paths which won't need steps, and beds with lots of bulbs and things like Geraniums, Heuchera, Primulas, and Corydalis (and maybe some Cornus for height and winter colour).
In the short-term though we can't afford to do that as we can't remove the wall and path ourselves so we will have to make do for now. I'm mostly planning to spend this year digging up the plants I want so I can put them somewhere safe before the workmen move in!
Julieanne - I'm really sorry, I keep meaning to spend some time looking at your blog properly and keep failing to have any time ... . I have had a few quick looks and will be over for a browse as soon as I can!
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