Garden Plans

Ok, anyone who has no interest in gardens, look away now...
Now I've got my new camera (Yay! :-D) I've taken photos of the garden as it currently is. I've also done a couple of diagrams in Paint to try and explain my plans.
So, the front garden.

This is it seen from the pavement.


This is the front of the lawn. You can see the lovely rockery edging which we discovered when the grass died down in the winter. (And the line of rocks that runs across the lawn at the point where the height changes a bit.)


We're keeping the little conifers round the lawn.


I'm not completely sure what to do with this bed. I'll keep the cotoneaster that's already there, and I think that a fairly big shrub might be good just inside the gate, to conceal the diagonal fence supports.


Right, so here's my plans for it.


I want to put miniature rose bushes between the trees along the wall, crocuses on the lawn just above the rockery edging, and quite flat plants between the rest of the trees. I'm thinking forget-me-nots and primroses, but I don't know what else.

Under the window, I was considering planting tulips and irises against the wall, and something smaller in front of them.

Right, the back garden.








As you can see, it's in a bit of a state. Fortunately, a friend of ours is good at building fences and is going to help us with that, and another friend is a landscape gardener who volunteered to help with relaying slabs and so on.

Here's my plan for the back.


We're keeping the two palm-type trees but taking out the three big evergreens. At least one of them is fairly dead already. It was somewhat like that when we moved in, but I don't think having an excited, half-dressed two-year-old climbing in it helped...
The bed at the top of the plan is going to be somewhat Oriental. I want to plant dwarf bamboo, ferns, sea holly, plants that have a restful sort of feel.
The rockery is going to have a Scottish Highlands sort of feel. I want to plant heathers and a miniature broom, but I'm not sure what else. I'm going to plant a rowan tree next to it, and the bulged-out bed next to that is going to be sown with meadow seed mix, with maybe some extra meadowy flowers such as poppies and cornflowers. The idea is to make a peaceful wild little corner. I'll plant bulbs in the grass round the rowan too.
I think the rest of the lower flowerbed will be bigger, brighter things. Since we're keeping the palms, I think it would be nice to have some colourful things in that bed, such as fuschias and freesias, and other things that I haven't thought about yet.

On the decking, we're putting trellis on the fence, and planting climbers in troughs underneath. We're also thinking about putting baskets screwed to the wall, as it can get so windy that hanging baskets probably wouldn't be hanging for long! Chris really wants a zen garden - one of the things with sand and stones to arrange. I said I'd build one for him, so that's going to sit on the decking next to the oriental-style bed.

Now that I have a camera again, there's going to be plenty of photos of the (hopeful) progress. :)