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The garden was designed, if that is the right word, and planted by Alan Gloak and team from October 2021 to July 2022. All the beds, boarders, pergola are new as is the planting of shrubs, some fruit trees, and herbaceous boarders.

It was a plain grass garden, very few if any real flower beds, an outside swimming pool surrounded by high wooden fencing, a kitchen garden, some shrubs and a large lawn of meadow grass.

Planting began in October 2021. As there was no height in the garden or surrounding area, height had to be introduced by the use of trellis. It will be seen over time if this works, but it has to start somewhere.

In what was a virtually barren site of bare soil and meadow grass, a few fruit trees, some shrubs and large Leylandii hedge, a garden is now beginning to appear!

The idea of the garden is to give pleasure to the eye and provide a better backdrop to the bungalow. Patios have been introduced, the pool has been removed as it was impractical in English weather and a garden room has been built as there was no direct view onto the garden. Bulbs have been planted, as have many herbaceous plants and we under planted with Snowdrops mixed with Daffodils  and Tulips in the spring to ensure constant green and colour.

This flowery ‘room ‘is enclosed by a green path with views through rose covered trellis and a pergola. Two ornamental pools and fountains have been introduced and fish from Coombe House have been given a new home. You can step down from the main patio onto the lawn reclaimed from the meadow grass and enjoy the colour and scents of the many and various plants which now make two large boarders. Sharp eyes will notice the pans and urns from Coombe House now placed and planted in their new home.

The main Patio is completed with lots of pots, a fountain and pool. The high fencing which used to stand here has been removed to open up the garden, paving this area makes it a more attractive site under a wide sky. It is planted with Mediterranean style plants, also Datura’s, better known as Angles Trumpets, and Datura’s Thorn Apple. In the summer, we set out a range of Citrus and BRUGMANSIA, with their evening heady scent. The pool has been designed to offer stone slabs for sitting. In one of the many terracotta pots lives a fragrant Rhododendron called FRAGRANTISSIMUM.

The Patio provides a raised point from which to view the ornamental gardens as a whole; a garden secure and enclosed with shrubs and trees, A MACLEAYA grows in the one of the boarders beds, a thug plant, but if kept under control most welcome.

The pergola built by George and modelled on a Frank Lloyd Wright theme is planted with a mixture of Rose and Clematis and vines of a sweet white grape. The patio has also been planted with a mixture of sub-tropical and tender CANNAS and Japanese banana Musa basjoo.  A grassy walk takes you round the back of the boarders, past a Fig and down the side of the new Garden Room. This bed will contain a selection of shrubs and perennials.

There is at the end of the patio a hot house with its mixed collection of plants. A green boarder separates the main garden from the kitchen garden. The pathway continues round to two beds of mixed shrubs. Its a work in progress.

You now find yourself in the front garden. This area was planted in the spring of 2022 and has yet to reach maturity. The overall ‘texture’ of this garden is from the collection of shrubs, which give a spring display, with two flowering cherry trees, and two beds one of Hollyhocks, Lupins, Foxgloves and Cannans. The other Echiums, climbing plants and shrubs are planned for the walls and either side of the bench sit two White Hydrangeas with black stems - a welcome present from Paul and Angie. Two Cyprus pines guard the entrance entrance between the front to rear gardens. 

It has yet to be seen if it all comes together.!

There will of course be changes,. Plants envisaged may not come to be planted. But no garden just comes together, it requires a lot of hard work and without the help of George, Angie, Paul, Angie and Finn this garden would still be meadow grass. So we move on; beds need softening with more shrubs needed, walkways will be changed. A garden is a living thing and my garden is still growing.