May is possibly our favourite month in the SGH Garden. It’s so exciting when all the flowers burst forth, and it comes to life. We have done a lot of work with the garden over the last year, and there is still much to do. Before the extension, it looked like this in June – beds round a circular lawn. We loved this part of the garden, but the rear of the garden which is often in the shadow of the old stable block, and therefore North facing, was always a bit lost.
Then the builders came, and it looked like this…. to the right is the old drive way that used to lead to a garage which we dismantled a few years ago. What was left wasn’t very pretty.
The rear elevation of the house. The back chimney had always had damp, so we were very pleased to see the back of it. And although this part of the house was south facing, we could never get anything to grow up it to disguise it’s ugliness.
And when the builders left, it looked like this. The self-coloured render has yet to be applied, but you can see some pots creeping back in.
The herbaceous border is lost. It was south west facing, so got the best of the light, and with the new layout the best thing to do with it’s space is to put seating in to catch the sunshine.
And this is what it looked like earlier this month.
We added a low, white rendered wall as a visual break up between the indoor/outdoor spaces, and it also acts as a great place to sit with friends and watch the children play.
It has been very fashionable over recent years to treat the garden as an extension of the house. But, being the contrary people we are, and very much in love with gardening, we wanted the garden to be it’s own space, with it’s own character. The area just outside the new oak french doors has been paved with Indian Sandstone. The small walls helps extend the eye, making the kitchen space look and feel bigger, whilst at the same time the Indian Sandstone paving adds a different texture from the wide plank oak floors in the new kitchen/dining space, and a step down on to the patio also helps two space have their own character.
Tulips, one of our favourite flowers, are now grown in pots on the new patio.
And under the Magnolia Susan. This was an experiment, and I’m not sure if it has worked. The grass under the tree is now quite long, and I’m torn between liking the slightly wild look, and desperately wanting to cut it so it looks nice and tidy again!
Looking back towards the house, the Magnolia flowers just coming into bloom.
There is still much to do – all the fences and walls are desperately in need of the climbers getting established, and many of the plants are still in their transitional plastic pots which they’ve lived in since the week before the builders arrived. Ideally we’d like to add more height – maybe an apple tree too. We have some space on the decking which the peonies have taken over – so more photos on this next month if and when they bloom – and a mini allotment where I’m trying to persuade The Small One and The Littlest One to take an interest in gardening. This is working to a point. The Small One has spent some days writing his name and sticking it to various pots he considers to be his. So we’ll add more photos of the decking area, the children’s play area (if it ever stops looking like a squat) and the new path over the next few months, so you can follow the garden’s evolvement with us.
Happy, rainy, Tuesday!
SGHx