Chapter 2 - Trees

In retrospect, I think we have been over-enthusiastic in our tree planting - well that probably applies to everything in our garden, but trees grow much bigger than perennials, don't they. 

In 1997, we acquired a very small Dracaena draco or Dragon Tree in Gibraltar.  Mick was doing work experience in the Alameda Botanical Gardens at the time and we carried it with us all the way round Europe before coming home.  As it was tender, it had to be contained in a pot so that it could be brought inside for the winter so, fortunately, it grew very slowly as it lasted for about ten years and became quite heavy, but alas it did not survive.

At the present time we have seven trees, one of which, the Buddleja, is not strictly a tree, but as it grows to 10' or 11' high each year, I'm including it.  As I said before, it has been in its present position for many years and, although they seem few and far between this year, butterflies are reputed to like them, so no doubt it will be staying.  We do cut it well back each year, but despite this harsh treatment its beautifully perfumed, large purple blossoms never fail to arrive.

    

2005 and alongside a Cornus alba 'Aurea' 2012

                                                                    

In February 2003, Mick bought me a Salix caprea pendula for my birthday.  Better known as the Kilmarnock Willow, it is a weeping tree which has been top grafted onto a trunk.  It started its time with us on the right border, but now stands on the edge of the rockery where it can be seen from our landing window.  As the garden is raised up so high from ground level, this is best way to get a good view of the whole garden and I often stand there watching the birds and wondering if something should be pruned back or removed entirely. 

In nine years, the Salix has reached a height of about 5' and throughout the summer its branches grow to almost touch the ground.  But it's not well.  We're not sure why, but last year, it developed rust on its leaves and, as it looked so unsightly, we decided to give it a total haircut in the hope that it would recover.  I must say, it looked quite peculiar at the beginning of the year with its little stumps sticking out of the top and I thought we might have killed it off, but no, it has grown just as much this year.  In the beginning, the new leaves were beautifully green, but as they began to drape down to the floor the rust appeared again.  I have discovered by reading up on the internet that it is a problem that often affects the pussy willow and is caused by a variety of fungi and bacteria that can be deadly.  As the solution can be time-consuming and not necessarily successful, perhaps it will have to go.   If we decide on this drastic action, we may at least leave the trunk, suitably treated, so that we can grow something up it rather than having to dig out the roots.

   

      

 2007  and  with a cropped top in 2012

Amelanchier lamarckii was bought from the Horncastle Garden Centre in 2004 when we were working as campsite managers at Woodhall Spa, in Lincolnshire, and is planted in the right border not far from the patio.  It is tall and still slender eight years later, its white blossom looking very pretty in the spring.  Unfortunately it doesn't seem to last very long, though the leaves do provide good colour when they turn bright orange later in the year. 

    

      

2007                   and                 2011

The Corylus avellana 'Contorta' or contorted hazel is both a blessing and a curse.  Another Horncastle purchase in 2005, it really has pride of place in the large centre bed, which is rather unfortunate as the dark green leaves which cover it all summer are rather horrid.  We tend to grow tall delphiniums or other sky-reaching plants in front to hide it, but it is redeemed in winter when its wonderful curly branches reach in all directions - and enhance indoor flower arrangements too. 

      

                                                

2007                   and                    2012

In 2004, I decided I would like a fruit tree and we decided on Prunus persica 'Rochester', a peach.  It too is planted in the right-hand border, at the back of the patio and near the Amelanchier.  The only peach that matured, untouched by grub or bird and beautifully formed, was ready for picking by the beginning of August 2008 and I hung a chiffon scarf in the tree to catch it in case it fell off.  This was a good move, as I found it in the scarf the day before the judges from Doncaster in Bloom arrived, so I'm afraid we ate it there and then.  It was delicious, beautiful white flesh and very juicy.  The following year, we were blessed with more than twenty and looked forward to an ever-increasing crop in future years, but since then the fruit has either not set or small wizened examples have fallen off before ripening. 
   

     



 Harvest of 2009          and            2012

No doubt the changeable weather has had much to do with this.  In addition, however, we have had leaf curl which isn't pretty.  We normally treat the tree for this condition, but neglected to do so last winter, though I am led to believe that they don't like rain on them either and there is no way we can prevent that.  Its position is not ideal either as its lower branches reach over the patio and interfere with anyone sitting there.  So, do we cut our losses and get rid of it or should we show it some sympathy and give it another chance. 

My favourite tree is the Catalpa x erubescens 'Purpurea'.  This was also purchased  in 2003, but didn't get into the ground until 2005, when it was still quite small.   We were told when we bought it that it would be unlikely to flower for about eight years, but it has flowered since 2007 so perhaps that's a record.  It stands in a small bed next to the water feature and, despite slight pruning last year, its tallest branches are now 16' or so.  The book says it can grow to 50', but we are trying to keep it smallish so that we can enjoy the canopy.  It is a lovely tree with broad ovate leaves, about 10" long, which break as purple and then turn green.  It also has the most beautiful white panicles of small flowers which are marked inside with a yellow and purple colour and stand up in the manner of those on the horse chestnut tree, though of a bigger and rounder dimension.

 

 2005                  and                        2012

Another one bought in 2003, but not planted until 2005 is Viburnum opulus.  Again, it could be a shrub as it has several 'stems' not really thick enough to call a trunk, but it is shaped like a tree and must be 10' or 12' high by now.  It is sited in the centre bed across the path from the right-hand border and has lots of those lovely white snowball flowers in spring or early summer.  Sadly, as it is the ornamental variety, it doesn't have the beautiful red berries that can be seen in the hedgerows in the autumn.  I'm afraid I didn't realise this when we bought it, but it's too late now so we just get to enjoy the flowers which have multiplied year on year.

    

                                          

2007                         and                        2011

Because our garden is so small, we generally remove the lower branches of trees or reduce them to a minimum so that we can grow other things underneath, but I feel a nice tree adds that something extra to a garden - and the birds love them too. 



Chapter 1 - Beginnings

It all began about twenty years ago, I suppose, the beginning of a dream which has now been a reality for half of that time.  All those years ago, my mother mentioned that she was thinking of selling her terraced garage to the family next door.  But this was no ordinary garage, it was a very old, possibly 17th century, one-up, one-down cottage next door but one to where I had been, not exactly born, as that had been in a nursing home, but brought up and lived until I married in 1965.

No. 4 Lower Sprotborough had been condemned in the mid 1950s as unfit for human habitation and the man living there had been moved into more suitable accommodation following the building of council houses which had taken place following WW2. 

As a result of my objection to its sale, I later discovered that in April 1996 my mother had decided to gift it to me and, as she lived longer than the required seven years, it duly came into my ownership after that time.  But she wasn't quite ready to give it up at that time and, as it happens, we didn't have the money needed to make it habitable either, so she continued to park her car in it until sometime during 1998, at the age of 84 and following operations on her hands for carpal tunnel syndrome, it was decided that perhaps she should give up driving.  And so, in March 1999, plans were drawn and the renovation began. 

Two or three eventful years later, which may in time be recounted elsewhere, on the 6th of December 2002 to be exact, our furniture arrived from store, we moved in and, before too long, we began to think about the garden.

The front of the cottage is paved, with only a very small patch of soil remaining under the front window and two small diamond-shaped beds over which the car can be parked when necessary.  The main garden, then, is at the back, measuring approximately 35' wide by 50' long.  At that stage, it couldn't be called a garden, as during the renovation of the cottage, it had been covered by piles of old bricks, stone and miscellaneous junk surrounded by lots of increasingly pot-bound flowers and shrubs that we had bought, there being no visible soil in which to plant them.  With the cottage renovation complete, what materials were still scattered around would be used to create the hard landscaping, and so we began to consider the design.

March 2004

Mick, my husband, had completed a Diploma in Horticulture following his redundancy from British Gas in 1995 and so was well able to take this on, but by this time we were working as camp-site managers in Lincolnshire during the Summer season and so had to do as much as we could before starting work at the end of March.  I had my own ideas about how I would like it, of course, but compromise was necessary if we were to get anywhere and we eventually came to a tentative agreement. 

As will be understood by the measurement given, the garden is an oblong shape, bounded on the right-hand side by a stone wall.  Across the top was a small building, divided into two, adjacent to the gable end of a stone building which belongs to the pub next door and the left hand side was edged by an earthen path leading to the orchard of our next-door neighbour.   The fourth side overlooked, as it still does, a drop of about eight feet into our back yard.  As the garden is reached by two sets of steps, it could be described as a giant raised bed and, although it is on the north side of the cottage, because it is raised up, the sun, when it cares to, shines on some part of it most of the day. 

The building described above, which had previously served the purpose of toilet and shed, had been in a state of terminal decay for some years so that it was now falling down with a tree growing in one side of it; we decided it all had to be removed.  It would become the site of our 10' x 8' greenhouse, which had been Mick's 25 year service award from work, and a new shed, measuring 6' x 4', which, to the chagrin of Mick and much frustration ever since, was destined to hold the contents of the garage of our previous detached house which measured approximately 10' x 12'; the search for the simplest tool or device eliciting a loud clatter and a stream of barely contained abuse as said item would fall to the floor amidst a multitude of other implements, necessitating the removal of everything in sight to find it again.

From 1956, when my mother purchased the cottage, she had gardened it in a way that kept it tidy, with a few shrubs, perennial borders and a lawn.  It had provided a drying space for her washing and each Spring allowed free rein to many primroses and grape hyacinths which covered the large lawned area and the path border respectively.  After she remarried on Boxing Day 1962, my step-father, Norman, planted vegetables: most successfully, runner beans which covered his wigwam frame in profusion each year, encouraged by the prior preparation they received in the form of manure from our bucket toilet which sometime became full before the lorry arrived to empty it.  Following his death, my mother returned to her earlier system, already having enough to cope with in the garden at her own home and the primroses and grape hyacinths continued to increase until they were covered over by our recycled 'junk'.  This then was our inheritance and we set about our dig and design with enthusiasm.

The greenhouse and shed were separated from the rest of the garden with access being from the top of the path.  Parallel to these structures, Mick built a stone wall, backed by a fence, on which to store wood for the fire and this was topped by a tiled roof, matching the roof of the cottage.  A fence at right angles towards the gable end completed this space.   The earthen path stretching the length of the garden was also separated by a fence, an archway leading onto the garden from the top of the steps, creating an enclosure which is both private and sheltered. 

One of our firm decisions was that we knew we didn't want a lawn, but we did want a rockery so, having dug the whole of the ground three times over and denuded it of as many weeds as we could find, we utilised some of the lumps of limestone still laying around, to build one on the edge overlooking the yard.  Fortunately, though time consuming, the digging wasn't too arduous as, with the addition of organic matter over many years, the natural texture of the soil makes quite a good growing medium. Bearing in mind that the underlying stratum is limestone, we have found that it is possible to grow a vast range of perennial plants, though acid soil lovers are not so happy unless in pots.  The rockery was designed to cover an area of about 4' wide by 12' long, with a herb garden at the end near the steps and a planting area around two sides of the patio which we sited in the other corner.  This corner actually overlooks our neighbour's back yard so needed the shelter of the Buddleia which remained as a legacy from the garden's earlier incarnation. 

 We also decided we would like a summerhouse and a water feature, so the top corners became homes for these.  The water feature, raised up and fronted by a stone wall, with a ledge on top which can be used as a seat, backs onto the wood store and the summerhouse is such that its two back walls fit into the right-angled corner on the right.  To facilitate access to these, we decided that the path should continue in a rectilinear route from the top of the steps, through the arch, along the front of the rockery to the patio, and then from the patio to the summerhouse where it again turns left towards the water feature.  This had the advantage of creating a flower bed on the right and another on the top border, leaving a large area in the middle.  There are, however, disadvantages to this design which have become more apparent has time has gone on and plants have grown, in that it is constantly necessary to retrace one's steps to return to the archway and it can be very difficult to gain access to any plants in the large bed which need attention.  But these weren't so apparent at the time and, having made the decision, we resolved to go ahead with this plan. The good thing about gardens, however, is that nothing has to remain static and ten years on we have already had to consider as well as implement other more unexpected changes.

But between March 2004 and Summer 2005 when the first plantings were becoming established, we were very pleased with our new garden and  looked forward to viewing and enjoying the fruits of our labour from the comfort of a deckchair.

Summer 2005