What you need is a plan.

As a former teacher I know how much importance planning is given in the day to day running of a classroom and although too much planning can be the death knell of creativity and spontaneity it surely identifies the important points you need to consider going forward.

I have found much to my surprise that when I remember or am forced to plan it improves the creative flow as you have a structure to either adhere to or dismiss. This makes decision making easier and quicker.

So enough of that as you probably came here to read about our garden.

This is what we started with which was perfect for the dog to run around in. We had a small electric lawn mower and it took on average 4 hours to mow. I began to get a measure of the ground fertility as the grass grew 3 times as fast as our previous small lawn in the city. I was chuffed with the diagonal stripes but this amount of lawn.....!

It was spring and I was desperate to garden but I didn't have a plan just lots of plants that I wanted to buy. I began buying things I liked plus I had brought some favourites in pots with me.

This lovely wisteria is still not in its final spot but I couldn't resist it- a supermarket buy.

I had my city garden designed through a promotion in the Good Housekeeping magazine 30 years ago and I was pleased with how the designer had managed to transform a long narrow plot into something more interesting. I wondered if he was still designing gardens. After a long search on the internet I found contact details for him. He was still in business.I decided to only get him to plan the main enclosed part of the garden at the back of the house. Money is always a consideration and I thought that the smaller areas of garden around the front of the house I could perhaps manage myself.

I started to take photographs of the garden from different angles from the house and from the garden to the house to give him an idea of the site. Then on graph paper I began to measure out and draw the outline plan. This took several attempts. I put together a list of shrubs and trees that I liked and what kind of features I wanted as well as soil type and pH. Off went the large envelope and I waited for what seemed like ages. That was last January 2019.

Meanwhile digging began......

One of the ideas I saw whilst I was browsing through Pinterest was for a border with Hydrangea Paniculata and grasses

I

thought that a whole border at the front of the house would make a real statement. I found one of the hydrangeas in a local garden centre and was shocked at the price... I calculated I needed at least 10.....

I found some variegated plants Acorus gramineus at half price and bought them all.

Instead of the Hydrangea Paniculata Limelight which is greenish white I bought the Diamant Rouge above.

A neighbour of my dad's gave me a very large box of Narcissus and Daffodils which I planted in between and I just waited to see how everything would do.