A snowy blanket in April

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Snow …… had to dash out with the camera, even the grottiest outdoor space looks good under a blanket of snow!
Here is the front of my place.

I moved there from a house on top of a hill with a distant view.In 2000 the beech hedge was all as tall as the arch over the gate.It felt quite claustrophobic, besides I may be tall but not tall enough to keep it trim, so I spent the first year or so gradually lowering it.I developed the arch to counteract all the verticals and soften the lines a bit. I still can’t reach to trim the arch, but my neighbour very kindly does it for me when he trims his side of the dividing hedge. Now I can see the roof of the stables opposite from my lounge window so don’t feel quite so hemmed in.
The front garden is long and narrow, divided by the footpath leading to the front door.
This is the western portion. I shortened it by adding a flower bed between the hedge and the end of the garage with an arch over the grass footpath leading through to the vegetable garden. The lawn was still boring and I had always fancied picking different varieties of apple from the same tree so …… and the tree needed protection from teenagers charged with using the lawn mower so the elliptical island bed came into being.

On the other side of the footpath was a smaller squarer lawn. The new owners of my last house very kindly agreed to the contorted hazel moving with me ( my husband and I had chosen and planted it together shortly before he died, so I am rather attached to it). I made a round bed for it in the ‘middle’ of the small lawn and rounded off the lawn corners ( again to soften the lines but also to make lawn-mowing easier).
A concrete path leads down the eastern side of the house to the back garden. When I moved in the fences were naked, the flower beds dominated by cranesbills but the dominant feature was the leylandii hedge. In our second year I started adding shrubs to the long border and clothing the fences with plants.
Two years ago my son fulfilled his promise of digging a pond for my birthday. The soil removed was used to make a mound; in due course I hope to have water trickling down it through a collection of rockery type plants. From the french windows I can monitor the growth of those plants and watch the antics of the fish.
Close to the back door I have an octagonal herb planter which tries to mask the drain cover beneath. The terracotta pots are a souvenir of my recent trip to the Cerdagne, sited on the edge of the lawn to deter learner drivers and their friends from taking too wide a sweep onto the drive. I hope to use them for culinary plants to keep the existing Bay tree company.
I don’t suppose the snow will be here long. I renewed my aquaintance with the mower this time last week and left it on charge over the weekend so that I can tidy up the lawns at home and up the road at Shenstone later this week.

• 7 Apr, 2008
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