"Dies felices "

[Happy Days... it certainly is when I have spent it in my garden..]

There has been some interest in seeing more photo's of my poor neglected garden that is at long last being attended to.
I do believe it will be very beautiful one day.

Thursday we started working on the front...

The following photo's were taken in December 2008 before everything was burnt off by the horrendous heat wave at the peak of our summer. Very few of my plants escaped unscathed. Some died... many are still showing the scorch marks.


This is the small triangular bed on the left of the drive that you first see as you approach our garden. The radiant heat from the cement driveway on the 50+ days burnt a lot of these plants to a crisp... it was like an oven out there. I have decided to erect a pergola over the drive way and grow wisteria on it to prevent this build up of heat again. Will help keep the house cooler as well if we cut off supply of sun to the 'heat bank'.

The railway line is behind the greenery and the next photo was taken while standing in front of this bed. When we moved in this bed was sliding down the embankment along with the fence. I grubbed out all the privet at the back and tamed the lot along the front. I employed a labourer to help me dig some holes and then erected a retaining wall [topped with lattice- just visible] made from railway sleepers.

It was a big job and stopped a lot of riff-raff taking a short cut through our front yard from the railway line. I was so cross one day at a mob of them trampling on my plants that I got out and squirted them with the hose... LOL



HOME SWEET HOME...Villa Au'Roma [Odaroma, ohderoma, ohdearroma, odoroma] or da Beanpad.... OK...enuff silliness!!!

A 30's post war solid clinker brick little house filled with art deco features and a mishmash of additions by each and every owner.. yours truly being no exception.

Quite pretty with all the roses but as you wander further further up the path the neglect of this poor garden becomes more apparent!! Takes the meaning of 'up the garden path' to a new level...


This abomination and terrible mess is a 'work in progress' being consumed by weeds...

There is a circle of what will one day be a dense mat of dwarf mondo. It is bordered by a garden edge of bricks with a sawtooth arrangement. Behind the bricks edging is a ring of buxus [dwarf Dutch Box]...some of the box has been growing... most of it has been dormant or died... not surprising considering the root competition and how it has been neglected.

Stepping thru the grass will be a continuation of the slate crazy paving leading to the sideway. This path starts between the two wannabe clipped conifer 'balls on sticks'. You can sort of make them out in the middle of the picture.

This photo of this terrible mess is taken from the front porch. What a shocker. This is where Gail and I were working on Thursday... There is a lot of work to do out here...

I wish I had 'smell-a-vision' for the next couple...my front yard is very 'heady ' at the moment... daphne, freesias and now a rose... It is a delight to work out here when it smells so good...except for when you have an asthma attack..

This shot is taken standing behind the white rose in the foreground of the 2nd shot. The yellow rose that I have deliberately included is my first rose of the season... 'Graham Thomas'. Some years I have pruned it back from the gutters... you can see some very high splashes of yellow in the 2nd photo. This is my favourite yellow rose.

This small triangular bed only has yellow and white flowering roses amongst the perennials. The blue is limonium [Perennial Statice] and the spashes of cream are , of course, my freesias..


This is the bed we spent most time on. Wish I'd taken another close up 'before' shot... the 4th photo really doesn't do the mess justice!! Gail I think we need to give the water feature another nudge... I don't think it's the photo... could well be tho!! [it sorta looks ok in other photo]

The strip under the window [my bedroom] is very dry [wide'ish eaves] Cliveas up the far end are happy and I have been wanting to transplant some to this end under the camellia for what seems like fore ever! Tick!! We also planted 3 foxgloves, 2 hellebores, 1 euphorbia [smaller than the big blousey green blooms in the other photos], plectranthus, geranium... transplanted a few other bits and pieces and have some new hedging plants to put in.

The saucer pot is ready and waiting for some summer annuals. I don't grow many annuals but this is one spot where I do. The slate leaning up against the brick edging is ready for the crazy paving which I am now VERY keen to get finished.

I will post another photo when all this is done.