The 'Nearly did not Happen' Garden Part 2

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Design time. Let's talk about colours.

Since this was a small garden, I suggested a two colour scheme. I drew inspiration from the few shrubs that were already in situ: a Leycesteria (very dark red) and Forsythia (bright yellow). One of the roses to be moved luckily had a label, so I could identify and look up the colour, badly needed since it was April, far too early for roses to flower. It proved to be Whisky Mac, a fairly bright yellow.

With my client being advanced in years but very young at heart, I suggested purple with yellow. I set to draw up a shortlist of suitable plants and armed with good quality photographs we met up.

For me this is an essential step and a bit of a shortcut. If I find the client does not approve, not much time is wasted at this stage as no plans have been drawn, plant numbers worked out and costed up.

I was lucky and my client loved the shortlist.

I shall spare you the finer details of how hard it was to prepare the site for planting, the planting and autumn bulb planting. Let's leave it with some pictures taken at planting stage, a few months after and finally after one year.

June 2010 - newly planted, new turf!

May 2011 Gorgeous Alliums with Iris 'St Crispin'

May 2010: Turf has held up very well despite hot and dry Spring

July 2011: Penstemon 'Raven' and Achillea 'Coronation Gold'

July 2011: Lavendula angustifolia and Achillea

July 2011: Dahlia 'Arabian Night'

The gaps between plants are gradually disappearing as plants are filling out to their eventual size. Work is now concentrating on cutting the lawn, trimming lawn edges, deadheading and feeding, all fun stuff in my book. Oh, and enjoying the view.

Hope you enjoy it as much as my client.

The "Nearly Did Not Happen" Garden Part 1

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The full-on rain yesterday made it completely impossible to do any outside work. I finally got round to transferring a big batch of photos from camera to computer. I stumbled upon some more transformation shots and thought they would be good to share.

In Spring last year I was contacted by a friend of an existing client. She was in the process of moving house locally and the garden at her new house needed some work. She had seen the creation of her friend's garden and how it matured over time and was adamant that I should remodel her new garden, too.

I remember, I was nursing a cold and was so poorly with it that I decided not to work for a few days to get some proper rest. Only her persistent pleading made me pay her a visit at her old property (she wanted to move some plants) and also the new property.

April is always a busy time for me and I needed another renovation project like a hole in the head. The other issue to consider was that by the time the garden was ready for planting we would be into Summer and a new planting scheme would require regular watering. Would the garden owner be around and vigilant enough to care for the new plants? If the plants don't settle in, would I get the blame? No wonder that this garden nearly did not happen.

However, this lady clearly loved her old garden and was keen to enjoy her new garden this Summer.

The new garden was mainly a garden at the back of the house, quite small, a lot laid to lawn which was in a terrible state and an L-shaped border which was narrow and weedy. The garden had been used to house chickens before and no maintenance whatsoever had been carried out for a long time.

Ivy coming over from the neighbour

Bare, barer, barest

A tiny bit of Forsythia to brighten up the corner

Flowering currant - this one stays!

After inspecting both gardens I realised that the job was not huge. Due to the size of the shrubs in the old garden and the size of the new garden, only a few plants of sentimental value would be moved, two roses and an acer.

My new client agreed to get the lawn taken up and new turf laid by a contractor. We discussed what she wanted from her garden ("no bedding - can't stand it", "lots of colour", "I really want to see a lot of bees and butterflies") and I agreed to come up with a design that would fit the bill.

My week of misery turned into a few days of joy. The design work could be done despite my cold. And for once I did not have to slot the designing into the evening after a hard day's work and family commitments, I had the luxury to do this during the day. An empty house, no interruption, no pouring over planting plans with the light fading. Best of all: not feeling guilty for not working because I was working. Bliss!