Everyone loves a makeover don’t they. Remember when Plain Jane Superbrain on Neighbours had a makeover from Charlene? And was instantly transformed from nerdy speccy type to hot chick who went out with hunky Mike who rode a motorbike.
I don’t want to say our garden transformation is exactly on the same level of makeover as that. In fact currently we are in the ‘transformative stage’ where everything looks worse than it did in the first place. And it’s going to get even worse before it gets better. “Soon this place will be looking like Basra” says Matt our landscape gardener cheerfully. Oh good.
But it’s exciting to start the work and to visualise how it will look when the garden makeover is complete next summer. Our lovely land is currently out of control with a multitude of plants growing on top of each other, many in pots. So we want to make it more maintainable, get the 3 plots ready for our holiday houses and also return to a more natural Cornish look, with less of the Asian planting. The idea being that the ornamental gardens by the house will gradually merge into the wild and natural land beyond. Although I’m sure we’ll still find room for a Buddha or two.
So far, Matt and Jim have cleared all pots from the entrance up to the decking by the lake. That may sound like not much but have a look at the pot pictures below – Aggie in there for size comparison, yes some of those pots are taller than she is!
They’ve also attacked the waterfall pond to take out plants which we want to keep and get rid of those that we don’t. We will re-landscape this area to to become a natural flow of water tumbling over boulders of Cornish granite into a stream below. The bank of plants behind the waterfall which looked ok on the surface actually turned out to be a hotbed of horse-tail, a nasty weed that grows like wildfire and wraps round the roots of other plants. So the bank has been cleared, will be sprayed to get rid of the weed doom and then eventually re-planted in a ‘Wild Cornwall’ style, in keeping with the landscape.
Waterfall Pond Before & Now:
Yes, yes I know it looks worse! ‘Transformative stage’ remember. It’s the chrysalis before the butterfly emerges. Hopefully.
Before
Now
Before
Now
The Lake Before & Now:
You need a magnifying glass for this one but the eagle-eyed will notice that the reeds are all cleared from the centre of the lake so you can see the view down to the 2nd decking and beyond. Nice work Jim!
Before
Now
The Stream (now):
One of my favourite parts of the garden, the stream that forms our boundary. Clearing out a row of pots of bamboo means you can now see the lovely stream as you walk down the path.
Before the end of this month the diggers and our tree surgeon will be coming in to start the re-landscaping in earnest. Look out for the ‘before and after’ photos on the next Postcard from Pengelly.