Andy went off to photograph a few rare birds so I dug up the front lawn.
BEFORE
I didn't need to plan what I wanted ... I just wanted flowers. That meant no lawn but I would need a way in to maintain it: that meant a path. The garden isn't very big but there are three points of entry so the path had to be a sort of 'y' shape that curved round to the pond at the gate ... easy!
AFTER
There will be sweetpeas covering the obelisks in the coming weeks; the large lupins have come from the allotment and I bought a tree peony to go in the centre. The plants are obviously small at the moment but there are lilies; delphiniums; foxgloves; penstemons; aquilegias and a fuschia in there and a handful of poppy seeds.
I attempted to make a more rustic obelisk with willow sticks cut from the allotment. I followed instructions from You Tube. I pushed six long sticks into the ground then tied them at the top. I used another couple of sticks to weave in and out whilst crossing them over between the base of each pole and tying in the ends. It took nearly an hour and looked a right mess! We had a good laugh then I pulled it down before the neighbours saw it!
I'm not sure about the grass. I made it wide enough for the lawn mower but I think I would prefer some pale stones. Anyway it will have to wait until after the wedding ... only two weeks to go (how fast do finger nails grow!!).
Hi Patricia - I thought you had gone off the radar - I haven't been getting posts through for some time now! I think your garden re-vamp is a great improvement and will look fab when it has filled out a bit.
ReplyDeleteHi Elaine, Thank you and nice to hear from you. I haven't been blogging much since last September when I went back to work for a while ... all behind me again now! The garden didn't get any attention then either so I've had a lot of catching up to do. Very busy and loving it!
DeleteNo photo of the rustic obelisk? Once the flowers grow it will look lovely.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting. The rustic obelisk really is best forgotten! Two of my poles bent in opposite directions and one was shorter than the others .... it looked so easy on the video!! ;)
DeleteHi Patricia, wow, you have been working hard! And what a change you have achieved! I love the shape of your new flower beds and also the grass path. I wouldn't take the latter out, since I find that green grass always has such a soothing lush effect. But I live almost in a desert, so anything that is green (and stays green for that matter!) is highly adored by me. I am curious to see how your flower beds will evolve. I am sure they will be awfully pretty and full of blooms in a few month when everything has filled in! Wishing you a good start into the new week!
ReplyDeleteChristina
Hi, I quite like the grass but mowing it might be a bit of a bind. I want the plants to grow over the path eventually ... to be honest I don't want the path to be visible once everything has been growing for a couple of years so a hard path will have to be created by then ... it looks GREAT in my imagination!!!
DeleteFifteen out of ten for the re-design and you are right tending lawns/grassy bits is a pain.
ReplyDeleteI love it!! I think it's fabulous! I have an ellipse of grass in my back yard that the dogs need to roam but I"m always chipping away at it, too. But it is very pretty on paths. At least you tried the obelisk. That's the most important part, in my book.
ReplyDelete