My first garden post from our new garden
I am very sentimental about my home and my garden. I bond with everything. I put roots down and deep, deep down they go. Well, we moved house! It was unexpected, covid inspired, and not comfortable for me.
Fast forward to the present day and I am in love with my new, “old” house.
Starting with my favourite cottage garden plants 💜💙💛
I love the neighbourhood. Most of all, I love my new garden! It is in its infancy. A clean slate, they say. Oddly, except for several mature fruit trees, it really is a clean slate. The same family had lived here since 1974, and the woman was very much into gardening. As the years wore on, the garden fell into disrepair and many of her plantings were lost. Thankfully, we have her family and her neighbours to remind us of some of her plant loves and one of them was certainly roses. That is pretty much a perfect match for our family.
One of our two apple trees 🍏
I can’t pretend the early days weren’t daunting. The renovation of the home and garden we had undertaken was much bigger than we initially thought. The actual potential for us to make something really amazing was becoming more evident as we delved into the renovations and that meant that we would probably be doing a LOT of work in the beginning to match our vision. The magnitude of the upgrades to the home might have been spaced out over a year or two but we decided to bite off a huge chunk and get everything done.
I love old favourites like the sweetly scented dianthus 💜
The garden will not be rushed, mind you. We’ve set the table and now we have years to tend to it and to watch it grow and blossom. You have to know what we had to work with to appreciate where we have come in a very short time. We have had possession of this home since November 16, 2020. Not even one year, but many long months of improvements and renovations. Every time we completed a job, another seemed to present itself.
Dreamy astrantia 💗
We replaced the old decrepit fence along the back and side of the property and began to plant perennials and shrubs and roses to have some semblance of a garden this first year. Some of the previous owners peonies have prevailed and I am so happy to welcome them. A few of her roses and lots of self seeded flowers are also making their entrance. This is perfect for me as my style of gardening is very fluid, very haphazard. I welcome all self-seeders!
These next pictures are in random order but clearly show the state the “garden” was in when we arrived and that is after replacing the fencing and tearing out the large sundeck to make a better entry into the garden space.
One of my favourite combinations.
It has only been a handful of months. I began my plantings on March 29, when there was still mountains of construction material on the grass and there could be no clear vision on any garden design. I am enjoying watching the plantings grow and imagine them in a year or two, putting on an amazing show. The garden design will also be fluid and develop as we manage to put our imprint on the hardscaping of the property and appreciate the ebb and flow of our plantings. We have so much appreciation for the fruit trees we have inherited, one cherry, two apples and a plum tree.
I’m going to let this garden grow bit by bit, in a very cottage garden style. A bit of this and a bit of that. No fancy planting plan for me. Just lots of what I love.
The top four images in the gallery below are after my initial planting of some my favourite and must have perennials on March 29, 2021. The southern exposure sunshine and watering did the rest. Gardening is the best therapy I know of. xo
This is how our home looked when we purchased it and moved in. As you can see, we have made significant changes to the exterior to enhance the look of the home. It went from drab to really pretty.
Our new house is slowly taking shape 💛💛💛