May 23rd 2009. Let's give it a go!

13 comments

This is my first attempt at anything like this and i’m slowly overcoming my technophobe hurdles !

I have 2 gardens that are roughly the same size …. 30′×30′.

The front is mainly lawns, divided by a central stone path.
This is a very sheltered garden.
On either side boundary is a hedge (planted by me), the left is a young Pittosporum (Wendel Channon) hedge that’s about 14 months old now and coming along nicely.
The right hand side is an Escallonia (Crimson Spire) hedge, these i bought as ‘established’ plants and were about 5′×5′, they’ve been in just over 2 years now and just coming into the mass of flowers that these plants do.
At the end of autumn they got a bad case of black-spot and dropped 80% of their leaves. I was NOT happy.
Infront of each hedge is a border of flowering perennials ….. the Pittosporum hedge faces south and the border contains plants that get baked in the poor thin soil there.
The Escallonia border faces north and again has flowering perennials that suit semi shade.
Through this hedge i grow Clematis Arabella, Lagoon and Jackmanni superba and they all ramble nicely through it.

The back garden faces south and is on 3 levels, mostly lawns but with shrubs around aswell.
The middle and lower lawn are divided by sleepers that i’ve ‘softened’ with plantings of prostrate Rosemarys , Stipas (tenuissima), Lavenders (low 8") and Ugni (molinae).

The uppermost lawn is sunbaked and has a lovely view over the town below, i have 1 of 3 seating areas there !
Behind the seat is my ‘bronze border’ where i have bronze leaved shrubs (Sambucus, Pittosporums (1 cut hard back now) , Phormium, Heucheras, Physocarpus) which have Clematis pilluu through them and some gold leaved heucheras too to prevent ’overkill.

On the lower level there is a rock garden to the side of the lawn, here i grow Alpines which i adore.
Behind there is a dry stone wall which houses frogs and insects …. which my 2 cats love to watch !!!

Here Millie sits ‘listening to the wall’, she sits and waits for interesting things to come out !!!!!

23 May, 2009
13 likes

Comments

Bernieh

Lovely garden Louise - lots of very nice plantings in your terraced back garden. I particularly like your rock garden. You seem to have overcome you technophobia - great blog!

23 May, 2009

Bluespruce

Agree with Bernieh, lovely plantings indeed, Rockery also looks great, and wouldn't mind seeing some close ups of the plants at a later date, a really miniature conifer would look great there to :0)

23 May, 2009