My Secret Garden

Family of Gardeners

Great Britain are a nation of gardeners and we always have been a family of gardeners … all with their favourite plants and garden styles. As an 8 year old child I remember Grandpa Bromley’s roses, dahlias & magical stickleback stream at the bottom of his tiered back garden. As a teenager I loved relaxing on Grandpa Marsh’s perfect back lawn & eating sweet green peas fresh from the pods of his post war plot, whilst at the front the annual beautiful lilac azalea & smiling faced pansies. My mum & dad always enjoyed their apple tree, gooseberry and logan berry bushes & back lawn together & she kept a lovely tidy & colourful front garden. Later the annual standout stunner was always the pink camellia donation that was a Mother’s day gift from me. My brother Martin likes his acers & for me its my spring azaleas, camellias & rhododendrons then through to clematis, summer roses & fuschias then autumn cherry tree & acers with their turning point leaves.

Martin’s Acers

Clearance Work

In recent years I have had a lot of clearance work done on the borders, high fence ivy has been cutback plus the high shrubs & cherry tree were lopped in order to create a garden that could breathe again & is bathed in sunlight at different times in the day. New climbing plants were £ bought and some of my lovely mum’s ashes were added.

Tess

It was important to make it safe & accessible for my dog Tess to potter round as her health began to fail. Trip hazards were removed . However I couldn’t relax in it because of feeling anxious about Tess falling over after her stroke because her balance was affected. She had also had poor eyesight & hearing … she wouldn’t settle in one place & fretted and barked so I was on constant alert therefore it was easier to spend very little time in it. I lost Tess in late summer 2017 and found it so hard to reconnect with the garden after without her at my side.

Garden Evolved since 1987

My garden has evolved since I bought my house in 1987. I have enjoyed each phase of planning, planting, designing, creating, changing and adapting the various spaces to the different stages of my life. The one constant throughout x30 years has been my beautiful cherry tree.

Cherry Tree

I love it for in all seasons but especially Spring = for the two weeks of stunning pink blossom stages it gives me. Then I enjoy watching the blossom petals drift down in the breeze and settle to create soft pink borders. Summer gives a lovely green canopy and welcome shade from hot sun and then Autumn leaves turn golden . The birds also love it whatever the season.

Sensory Garden

Plants that attract wildlife big or small. I love the scent of herbs especially lavender rosemary mint & thyme, the smell of freshly mown grass, the scent of roses & pinks. I revel in the sight of birds, bees & butterflies. The touch & feel of leaves of different textures. Especially the sound of blackbirds & robin birdsong in the morning and evening.

Wildife

I like co-existing in my mini eco system & watching all my creatures … birds, butterflies,, spiders, bumble bees, hover flies, bugs, beetles, woodlice, ladybirds, worms, squirrels and even a baby hedgehog. All have their place do their work. Less welcome are aphids, earwigs, flies, wasps, slugs, snails & ants !

Rose border

Calm Corner

Camellias / Azaleas / Rhododendrons

Front Border … Spring

Bluebells

Classy Clematis

Summer border

Acer border

Kitchen Courtyard

My Cats … Bobby Big Boy & Psycho Suki

Birds

My next door neighbours on either side have various bird feeding stations. On my side of the fence my gardener Steve keeps the borders clear & lawn cut each fortnight so I can enjoy watching the birds from my kitchen window & den chair view as they hop around, flit from shrub to shrub, rest high up in the cherry tree, dig for worms on the lawn or borders or perch up on the fence tops garage wall. It’s a constant joy to have numerous daily visits from the robins & blackbirds & listen to their beautiful song.

Just love watching the goldfinches eat their sunflower hearts on the feeder just over the fence.

Birds

In the last X2 seasons I have enjoyed visits from blackbirds, blue tits, coal tits, collared doves, goldfinches, great tits, jays, long tailed tits, magpies, robins, seagulls, sparrows, sparrow hawk, starlings, wood pigeons, wrens and even a pheasant !

Butterflies

My Haiku poem

Butterfly flutter by … you and I … are moving on

common blue
cabbage white
brown & orange
holly blue
red admiral

My Roses

I just love my roses … such a lovely mix of sizes, colours & scents

Makes Me Smile

My garden sometimes makes me smile … like Suki my daft cat sitting or sleeping in front door tub or just catching sight of the cheeky squirrel scampering over on his way to & back from raiding next doors bird food! Magical moments so far have been witnessing the robins sharing a brief sexy moment mating on my bird perch and the bats swooping round our gardens feeding on dusk flying insects.

Causes Me Stress

Equally it causes me stress … like when my old cats Bobby & Suki cornered a fledgling blackbird between them which needed Mark my neighbour wildlife rescue help … or the young local cat on the block prowling around & even having the nerve to come through the kitchen door cat flap which I chased off with a golf club!

My Key £ Plant Places

Season by Season

Season by season … I have a lovely succession of seasonal plants which add a burst of colour to my tubs & pots and I always enjoy visiting our local garden centres Port Sunlight, Burleydam & Goredale. I also get the best plants of the week from my florist friend Gina. Most special is my blue wellbeing family pot on my den table which I look at whenever I relax in the afternoon to watch tv.

Photography

Photography … My garden gives me an outlet for my very personal photography. I enjoy sharing iphone photos of whichever plant or bush or climber is at its seasonal best with my family & keen gardener golf friends Marj & Jackie which keeps us all connected. I also take photographs from a more creative angle to add to my garden seasons mac computer slideshow or to add to my website.

My garden reflects my moods … whether positive or negative … it can be a wellbeing place or inspiring space. Equally it can be overstimulating or overwhelming . It’s not a relaxing space yet for me.

My Kitchen Courtyard

However my kitchen courtyard area always stays manageable & is my mini seasonal garden . Its a mixture of herbs, climbers and seasonal plants

My Memory Plants

My Wellbeing Garden

daily connection with nature
changes weekly
takes me away from my busy head after wensite work
helps calm me
sense of space
sensory plants
good for my soul
feel the universe watching over me
clears my head
outlet for my creativity
share my garden photography
heals me
helps me be patient
I like knowing my plant names
nurtures me
gives me pleasure
colour

Thrive

Thrive is a national charity that use gardening to bring about positive changes in the lives of peoples who are living with disabilities or ill health. I downloaded their pdf leaflet = Gardening:The feel good factor which focuses on how gardening can improve mental & emotional wellbeing.

My 2018 Garden

My 2018 Garden gave me :

a reason to make it lovely for me to enjoy looking at & start to relax in
a regular routine and peaceful a.m & p.m. potter time
a purpose to get myself outside for some gentle knee exercise
a break from my website work
theraputic gardening as a stress reliever
a beautiful view from my kitchen, den or back bedroom window
a sense of wellbeing
a sense of purpose & achievement
a place to breathe
psychological benefits of working with plants to nurture life

But the Hot Summer 2018 … I needed to work with what my new drought garden presented …

early morning watering can
new fresh water bowl on table for birds
summer courtyard / daily watering can pots &tubs
living green lawn is hanging on in there !
shady areas
cool courtyard breeze flow through
bumble bees red tailed & white tailed
honey bees
butterflies
early evening watering can
neighbours chat over the fence
2nd flush of roses
action to save front rhododendrons stressed = dug water moat surround
weekly feed of growmore to summer key plants
pink petunia basket
pink & lilac fuschia basket
reminders hot 1976 / preparing to go P.E teacher college / Ladybirds explosion
special moments = blackbirds drinking from & having a cool bath splash

Steve £ / My Maintenance Gardener

Steve my maintenance gardener turns up again in late March when its dry enough for him to restart his fortnightly Thursday morning work. We have a talk on jobs of the day & discuss my plans & priorities for the coming season.. I then leave him to his work as he tackles & weeds the big border, mows the lawn .I like to listen to the sound of his power strimmer & petrol lawn mower tackling the tough stuff.then it’s time for sit on the bench to have a cup of tea & a catchup. He then lifts any heavy tubs into position. Then he moves to the front border & leaves it neat & tidy drive brushed up & weed free . He always leaves me feeling so positive and grateful and is aware of how my bipolar affects my moods & how important my garden is to me .

After he’s gone I love going into the back garden with fresh Spring appreciative eyes. I breathe in the smell of freshly mown grass which calms me. My cats Bobby & Suki inspect the new look and pose for pictures. Later the birds visit and peck around the new border and lawn for worms. I go upstairs to my back bedroom for the best view over the garden as a whole and smile once more at my beautiful garden.

My 2019 Garden

camellia calm corner project
left side high shrubs cut back = open up light & sun on lawn
right plants in right place
kitchen courtyard herbs
plant up new summer herbacious perennials

Summer 2019 Big Project = Right fence / Ivy

Mark my neighbour wanted to replace the entire right side of our adjoining fence panels . Initially it filled me with horror & stress ! I had no £ money for such a project and it had taken me x3 years to go out & be comfortable in it again & this would be a radical change & upheaval. I was concerned that I would have to pace Mark who has a bad back & is prone to going on a man mission ! Also that I would put myself under constant pressure & anxiety about my bad knee !!! So … we sat on my garden bench & started to talk it all through … I would have to be assertive and I also wanted Dawn to be included.

concerns/ thoughts = have a weekly meeting
one panel at a time
living ivy cutback step by step
brown bin timing
Steve high top ivy
me close ivy
Mark cut back his side
x5 panels = 8ft x 6 foot

And … so it began. For two weeks we were busy both sides of the fence. Hacking back the ancient high ivy & Mark doing endless tip runs. Slowly the old rotten fence panels started to emerge & the true extent of the old thick gnarled ivy trunks could be seen … clearly this was going to need some serious power tools to cut through ! Slowly one by one the old panels started to be removed & new ones took their place which was wonderful. I continued to keep cutting back the ivy I could safely reach with my turquoise secateurs & power secateurs … little & often was the best way for my knee to cope.

There was lots of mini wildlife …tons of snails & slugs were revealed but most amazing were the baby hedgehogs who had crawled through one one the gaps from Dawn & Mark’s hedgehog hotel & were nestled together beneath some dead ivy leaves. Mark got his thick gloves on & took them back to be reunited with Mummy hedgehog !

I decided to do a photo slideshow = before / during / after

2020 … a year in my garden

JANUARY … amazing sunsets

Succession of Seasonal Stunners

Succession of seasonal stunners… from spring to summer to autumn to winter

front pink rhododendron
big family camelia
pink camellia tub
white & lemon / salmon pink / white & pink stripe red camellia tubs
front yellow forsythia
lilac azalea
cherry tree pink blossom
pieris
bluebells
courtyard clematis alpina
pink rambling rose
pink scented shrub rose
Port Sunlight / David Austin apricot rose
red crocosmia lucifer
pink white alstromeria
varigated fuschia
lilac buddlia bush
autumn Cherry tree
autumn Acers
winter hellebore

I Love my Garden for it’s …

I love my garden for it’s:

seasonal year round colour
variety of birds
cherry tree blossom
sunlight & shade
stunning sunsets
starry nights
robin & blackbird birdsong
different corners & borders
mini micro climate
beautiful plants in their best places
summer herbacious border
bees & butterflies
calm blue tubs
living lawn
acer reflections on my kitchen cupboards
calming effect on my stress levels
herbs & scented plants
peace & quiet
symmetry & shape
welcome to my front door x2 tubs
space & silence

My special space … my safe sanctuary … my peaceful place