Front garden

For us this space is for wildlife with lots of pollinator friendly flowers and shrubs, a large bird bath and lots of feeders.  Other than to tend to the plants and clean/replenish the water and food, we enjoy this garden from a distance which means the birds are seldom disturbed.  The drive runs down the nearside with a set of steps between the drive and garden which means that we don't have to travel through the garden to enter the house, and once inside, the large window allows us to watch the flora and fauna from the comfort of the sofa.

We didn't remember to take a photo of the front garden when we first moved in and so this shot was taken after we had cleared a lot of overgrown trees and shrubs, once a simple stepping-stone path was set up to get access into the space.

As you can see clearly here, there are two beds, both terraced using dry-stone walling.  The larger, lower bed is raised considerably to allow the garden to be viewed from within the house. 

The survivors of the sweep were a staghorn tree with breathtaking autumn foliage at the far end, and along the top tier from the furthest to the closest, a Photinia, a hidden rhododendron, hydrangea and pieris.  An acer had been chopped to the ground in the initial sweep but later revived and has become a great feature at the very top of the entrance. 

A cobbled path was introduced to access the site better and after various trials and errors,  the bones of the garden were created with Osmanthus burkii, dark leaved hebe, Pittosporum tenufolium Tom Thumb, purple heuchera and bergenias to give year round structure. 

Roses Maigold, Margaret Merrill, and Tall Story, along with clematis Warsaw Nike, hebes, daylilies, foxgloves and crocosmias provide colour and scent, with lots of bulbs for winter and spring from snowdrops, daffodils and tulips.   There is a recently introduced ceanothus between the acer and the pieris that the bees absolutely adore.

There are a couple of tricky areas in the front garden that we struggle to grow in but on the whole we're very pleased with this patch we share with the passing world. 

In 2021 we added clematis Carnaby to the fence, left of rosa Maigold as a living memorial to my father who passed away in July of the same year.

I will share an update when that flowers.