Our Garden of Eden

We’re almost silenced in thought & dream. Yesterday was notable for two things.

The first was the pleasurable arrival of a letter from the new friends we met on our holiday in Italy.  They sent a card & now I look at the TV. On the table by the side is this card featuring a family of elephants, and smile. Ruth & Col have been much in my mind as we’ve played our dominoes in the garden.

The second thing is the landscape gardener came round with his designs. No one design stands out as the one. Instead we’re left trying to get a clearer idea of what we do what, how to incorporate the best of each design to suit us.

One conclusion we’ve come to is that I would like a circular path around the garden, so I have chance to do what I can to maintain the garden. I would certainly would like to look around, see which new plants are opening up, see any frogs etc hiding in the undergrowth. When we first moved her 13 years ago, I could manage most days to stroll round the garden. It was as much a part of my morning routine as the first mug of tea. These days I can’t walk that far & I can’t go by wheelchair or scooter as the ground is too uneven & there are steps on the way.

All sorts of drainage ideas are planned, the efficacy of which we can not judge. If they do work it will make quite a difference. We’re just about starting to learn to love our selection of bog plants. Now they will be dying of thirst. It is proposed to raise the whole garden rather than ramps down into the lower region.

 

Villanddry France

Some of designs seem too geometric for our tastes. We prefer the softer shapes of the curves of nature to the harsh straight lines of man. We’re not sure the idea of an essentially rectangular lawn appeals. A more kidney shape appeals more, something that doesn’t go straight up the middle with paths & beds evenly on either side. Geometric patterns reminds me a little of the formality of the medieval knot garden. Much as I admire the garden at Villandry for example, I wouldn’t want them for my garden.

I want flower beds that overflow with colour & scent, where there is so much growth weeds can’t find there way in much. I want trees & shrubs of various heights & colour. I want some evergreens to give the garden structure all year round &, at the same time, I want some of those shrubs to change at different times of the years to reveal blossoms & berries.

I want some raised beds which I can look after easily. There I would like to put some annuals that vary from year to year but give us plenty of colour & pleasure. The herb garden at the front has got the idea. Now the sage & curry plant dominate. The sage is purple& green leafed, with blue flowers at times. The curry pant is silvery leafed with yellow flowers. In another spot the oregano spreads out, now full of bees supping on the white flowers. There are the unusual shapes of the leaves of the southernwood & the woodruff. Textures, shapes, shades of green, colour all vary. High above everything comes the feathery fennel just starting now to open it yellow umbrels. Some lavender & hyssop peep their purple flowers through all the greenery. The chives are between phases of pinky purple pompons. This garden only takes a couple of hours attention a year just to tidy it up a bit at the beginning of spring, to cut back some of the excess growth to allow other plants to see the light, to add a few extra plants if any bare patches have appeared. Very few weeds ever appear. I want all the beds in the back garden to have a similar sense of controlled wild abundance, full of colour & scent, & above all requiring a level of work I can cope with.

 

A large lawn does have a certain appeal. It is comparatively easy to get someone who can mow a lawn, particularly if it’s not too complicated a shape. Finding someone to weed is a different matter.

Ideally we want a feature at the far end to draw you in. Our ideal would be a Barbara Hepworth sculpture but I can’t see us affording that! A seating area has been suggested but we just don’t see us ever sitting up there. A seat or two along the pathway maybe, but not at the far end. A summerhouse perhaps, but that would need maintaining. We’ll have to think about that one.

In a way I’m quite reassured to know that if the work goes ahead we will be watering an army of workmen for about a month. If it’s going to take that sort of time I feel it will be carefully done. We’re just going have to buy a lot of tea & coffee.

Maybe before we come to any firm conclusions & make any commitments we should have a tour of some garden centres & gardens to sort out what we really want.

We just want our Garden of Eden, a paradise!