Got back last night from a lovely week in Cornwall, where the weather had been warm and foggy. All the weather reports for the South East had been annoyingly cheerful and Mum told me that she had been sitting outside in her Southend seaside garden all week! I have not yet planted a single bulb in my own Twickenham Jungle and was hoping to get a chance today. Sadly, the day has so far proven to be dismal and I am grumpy as a result.
This time last year when I returned from the same lovely Cornish retreat I was unable to garden at all, due to a broken ankle. Before I left for that fateful holiday I had started a project in my front garden, removing what was optimistically called "lawn" (rank grass) from the area nearest the car parking. All the shrubs and grasses that I had planted around the edge of the "lawn" had all but taken over so I decided it would be much better to bow to nature and replace the dandelion nursery with gravel.
A year has now passed and the progress on this project has been NIL. Not due to the ankle so much as a lack of time for my own patch and lots of time in other people's. So, the winter being time for a bit of a rest for the other's gardens, it is the ideal START for the Twickenham Jungle projects.
Looking out of the bathroom window I am amazed, as always, by the gorgeous autumn colours. The Osakazuki is still clinging onto most of its firey red leaves and, right in front of it, the Callicarpa's brilliant purple berries make an astonishing and eye-catching explosion. WOW. The rest of the Japanese Maples further down the garden, create a lovley backdrop, with "Omurayama" creating a filligree of rainbow colours.
I am very pleased at the mature look that the back garden has acheived in such a short space of time. I only really started the designing and planting about 6 years ago, when I became a self-employed gardener. Up til then, working full time and looking after a child had meant that my gardening was always a bit haphazard. The expense of the plants themselves is a factor, but if you have a bit more time to plan and some patience, a great effect can be acheived with small groups of immature plants which will look amazing in even a 12 month period.
This time last year when I returned from the same lovely Cornish retreat I was unable to garden at all, due to a broken ankle. Before I left for that fateful holiday I had started a project in my front garden, removing what was optimistically called "lawn" (rank grass) from the area nearest the car parking. All the shrubs and grasses that I had planted around the edge of the "lawn" had all but taken over so I decided it would be much better to bow to nature and replace the dandelion nursery with gravel.
A year has now passed and the progress on this project has been NIL. Not due to the ankle so much as a lack of time for my own patch and lots of time in other people's. So, the winter being time for a bit of a rest for the other's gardens, it is the ideal START for the Twickenham Jungle projects.
Looking out of the bathroom window I am amazed, as always, by the gorgeous autumn colours. The Osakazuki is still clinging onto most of its firey red leaves and, right in front of it, the Callicarpa's brilliant purple berries make an astonishing and eye-catching explosion. WOW. The rest of the Japanese Maples further down the garden, create a lovley backdrop, with "Omurayama" creating a filligree of rainbow colours.
I am very pleased at the mature look that the back garden has acheived in such a short space of time. I only really started the designing and planting about 6 years ago, when I became a self-employed gardener. Up til then, working full time and looking after a child had meant that my gardening was always a bit haphazard. The expense of the plants themselves is a factor, but if you have a bit more time to plan and some patience, a great effect can be acheived with small groups of immature plants which will look amazing in even a 12 month period.
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