Look - pretty.
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| Pretty Things |
There are bits of the garden that I still don't know what to do with. One area around the back of the house has got lots of little cute paths and arches.
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| Up The Garden Path |
If you go through the arch you can see in the above photo you get to this lovely little area.
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| Back Courtyard |
I love this area but it is very shaded and I am thinking hard about what sorts of plants would do well. I want a pretty cottagey look but am not sure where to start. It is very shaded however it will still get very hot (40 degrees celsius plus in Jan/Feb) in summer. Any ideas from garden guru type people will be gratefully received.
Now for a complete change of subject. There has been a hair disaster on The Farm. Farmgirl got the scissors and gave herself a little trim. Well a big trim to be perfectly honest. The end result was shaggy, unstructured and scarily mullet-like.
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| Farmgirl With Scary Hair |
I took her to the hairdresser who gave her a complete pixie cut. There wasn't anything else to be done. The hairdresser said it was the best (?worst) effort in the "child DIY haircut" department she had seen for a while. I must admit that the new pixie haircut really suits Farmgirl and she is pulling it off with aplomb.
Our harvest is ongoing and the weather is finally behaving itself. I am very grateful.
Hope everyone is having a wonderful Thursday.
17 comments:
Ok when it comes to gardening in drought and shade and crap soil, I'm your girl.
For the shades area you need bromeliads, pity you didn't live here I could give you tonnes of pups. Get them from your friends. Altho a tropical, not a trad cottage plant, they look good and multiply like crazy. You also need liriope for the shade. And grey succulent like agaves will grow there too. And Joan and Black knight salvia- where bouganvilea thrives they do too.
I'd be putting lots of succulents about and some plumbago- drought tolerant and is pruned well into a hedge. I LOVE your garden!!!!
Farm Girl looks like Mia Farrow. xxxxxxxxxxx
Your garden looks gorgeous! Blue flax-lily, Black flax-lily, Liriope, Little Jess and I'm a big fan of Clivia. There are some really beautiful colours in the rarer breeds.
Loving the hair cut. Fortunately, only my boy went the DIY route and you couldn't tell because of the mass of curls.
TDM xx
clivia is fab...but so slow growing ans spensive, excelleny idea Distressed mother x
Not much help on the gardening front, sorry.
Don't you love it when kids do the self haircut?! My daughter lopped of some hair on the top of her head about a year or so ago and had a bit of a mohawk thing happening for a while. Thankfully it has grown out now...
That back courtyard is absolutely crying out for a couple of rustic stone bench seats at the far end by the fence. Get curved ones to follow the curve of the brick paving. Hydrangeas love the shade, but apart from that I'd google shade loving cottage garden perrenials.
Totally seconding the girls on bromeliads and cliveas. The structural parts of your garden are superb. The haircut is impressive, I too was immediately thinking Gwyneth Paltrow in Sliding doors and was impressed that the hairdresser could see it as well. melx
Thanks all for the excellent garden suggestions.
xx
FF some of them are frightfully spensive! Specially the ones that are beautiful, soft colours xx
Can't very very helpful on the plant front. I have the opposite problem, what to grow that will survive the winter frosts and full sun in summer. But it's a great journey to getting it right!!
I remember my children's 'haircuts'. One grew into a hairdresser - should have, too, with the amount of practise she had on her brothers and sister!
Where we live, I find that I don't worry too much about the full sun bit(except for bulbs and roses) as our sun is so very strong things will still do well in filtered light. I've found a great groundcover in aptenia, succulent looking with tiny hot pink flowers, seems to love the filtered light. don't go for anything too thirsty as you'll be forever watching them wilt. Those big trees will suck up a lot of your moisture too. Do not even think about cutting any down! Farm gardens need their shade!
some yesterday today tomorrow bushes would do well, Gardenias, I see some aggies they're-good. What about a very special japanese maple, you probably want it all fast too. Murraya and Viburnums for filling up the back as they are big(can be pruned small and shaped well into hedges) but are fragrant too-a little thirsty, Photenias for colour just fill it on up, go for fragrance- most cottage plants focus on that. wow, such potential. Have you got a good nurseryman/lady? they can come and have a look and they will know what works/survives in your area. Or join the garden club or invite a member over.
That DIY hairdressing was my worst nightmare as my kids hardly had any hair until they were about 2.5, I kept all my scissors well hidden up high. I Only had one attempt at a fringe by miss MDK when she was about 8- so it was a bit styled. At least farmgirl's hair will be low maintainance!
Roses are actually surprisingly drought hardy, but not for your shady area, they need the sun to keep away the nasties like black spot. Do you have an open garden scheme in your area? I've found that they are brilliant for finding out what works in the region, plus they often sell plants.
Farmgirl's haircut looks similar to what I did to myself. My sister however cut her cabbage patch doll's hair - no amount of hairdressing could fix that.
Loving all these suggestions. Roses grow exceptionally well here in full sun or part shade as long as they have enough water - I have plans to plant a stack but not in this shady bit. A few of the trees are planted way to close together or way too close to the house so some will have to be culled for survival purposes (particularly survival of our roof and walls!!)
No real nursery at all here unfortunately but a couple of friends who are brilliant gardeners have made a few suggestions. I also have a few plants that I can't identify so am considering a blog post about these so people can have a guess!
I love the garden! We live in an inner city apartment and have no garden or wide open spaces whatsoever. My heart skips a happy beat seeing gardens and farmland. Not sure I could live on a farm but I could do with a nice little garden hideaway.
I have absolutely no suggestions for your garden and reading through those above has made my head spin. All my gardening is done with fingers crossed. Enjoy your weekend... gxo
It looks like your house is downhill from this garden so you won't be able to flood it to water, which is what I do here in this black soil. Have to agree on the cull to save the house, is the big one a lemonscented gum? otherwise known as widowmakers due to them being renowned for dropping large limbs without warning! You could replace with a deciduous special tree. I call them botanic garden trees!
Some of the new varieties of roses are ok in filtered light but the old varieties want at least 6 hrs of sun otherwise they are spindly and have no flowers, leave them for a big open bed. no nursery, look at treloars,fabulous roses! Diggers do great plants too! there's lots of online nurseries out there for we bushies.
good luck!
I love jasmine. I need to plant some here just for tghat amazing, sense awakening smell in early spring.
Don't tell her, but I'm quite impressed that your little one managed to cut so much hair off the back of her head.
The haircut is priceless! My boys have only done it to their toys so far. Fingers crossed it stays that way!
How is garden going? My mum is a brilliant gardener. Their garden is part of the ABC open garden scheme! Anyway, happy to ask her any questions you like. xx
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