woodland garden 2014 - phase 2 finished

There's nothing more satisfying for the compulsive list maker than to cross something off.

entrance with beech hedge invisible!

make cup of tea
complete woodland garden - phase 2
put on chip pan

There. It's official. The journey that began during the Christmas holiday 2011is now half completed.

Log edged chipping paths have been laid. Structural plants (albeit baby ones!) are in and an under-storey of bulbs and perennials has been planted.

rhododendrons will screen us from views of sheds

Hollies and cotoneasters screen the boundary with Lamins Lane. There are ornamental elders and hazels, rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias. Native hollies and elders are being encouraged. The entrances to the garden from the drive have beech hedge screens planted that will be topiarised eccentrically.

Different species and varieties of sweet violets, monkshood, epimediums, geraniums, tiarellas, ferns, bergenias and snowdrops amongst many others

shrubs have been planted to shield the drive border from the garden

are ready to start massing beneath the trees and shrubs. The intention here is to have simple flowers in flower for as long as possible. Ivy's and other climbers have been planted to scramble up trunks and through branches.

Bird and bat boxes are fixed to trees and stumps. And everywhere logs for wildlife - some stacked horizontally whilst others are set into the soil in groups reaching up like grasping hands.

All aimed at meeting the needs of wildlife and our desire for a beautiful garden.

Gardening on a budget means that 'instant gardens' are not for us. Many of our plants are small at this stage of the garden's development but we hope that they will thrive and fill out wonderfully in years to come. Our hope now is for a warm growing season but with abundant rain.

And no talk about the plans for next year.... Let's just enjoy the completion of phase 2 for the time being...