Over the years, our gardens have evolved. The front garden has become more private as we have had walls constructed, not only to denote our boundaries, but also to provide us with privacy. The rear garden had been designed from scratch, after the demolition of our small stone cottage. Over the years we’ve tried to add colour and interest, by planting bulbs and having potted plants with many kinds of blooms and flowers. But, come winter, we always felt that the gardens were a bit on the depressing side. No more colour. Bare plants. Fallen leaves on concrete or faded bark chippings.
So, this year, with two new gardens which fill us with so much happiness because they are both EXACTLY what we want, we’ve ditched the colour and gone for green, The new walls are rendered concrete and painted white and we wanted to create a feeling evocative of the Mediterranean – southern Italy, Greek islands and Andalucia. No more pinks and yellows and reds and purple. Just green. Structural in design and with the promise of still looking largely the same in the winter. With white walls, white pea gravel all around the gardens and house and minimal furniture, I think we can now sit/lie back and enjoy the remains of the summer in our structural havens…
A tiny splash of colour – silvery grey – with the succulents, which are now tumbling out of this beautiful vintage, wrought iron basket.
An IKEA yucca plant, which seems to be thriving well in its new concrete planter.
Australian laurel, planted up in the well which we re-located to outside the front door.
Yucca Gloriosa : Spanish Dagger plant
Potted bay trees
Pennisetum alopecuroides – fountain grasses
Miniature ornamental grasses
Miniature potted palms, in concrete pots
Aromatic potted rosemary
Potted bamboos
Tall, potted bamboos outside the garden wall, for additional coverage
Potted olive trees
Late summer evening in the garden
The one plant we have made an exception for, is the flowering jasmine. We have two of these, already quite tall when we bought them, which are potted and sit on the small balcony outside the french doors. They are now intertwining beautifully, meaning that we have a natural screen beginning to hide the building work beyond our garden. Our neighbour is building a small stone cottage, and we’re at the stage where the roof is about to go on, so we need to disguise the crane – and this flowering jasmine is definitely beginning to hit the brief.
