In a weeks time it will have been a year since Roland and I left our humble beginnings in England to begin our new adventure in Wales, UK.  It has been a very interesting journey for both of us and we have both learned and grown in the last year.  We have made new friends and lost old friends along the way and there are several who have stuck by us through it all.   This is how our adventure started:

and how it has progressed over the last year:

    

Although there are some plantings, statues and garden structures it is time to do more, to finish this blank canvas and bring some colour to an otherwise dull painting.

We had a garden designer named Tilly Jones come and draw up some plans for this new garden of ours and I do have to say that I have been very excited about it since she finished them late last year.  I want spring to hurry and get here so I can get outside and feel the damp earth and plant and watch them grow into a beautiful palette of colour.  Here are the plans:

  

We plan to move some things around and add new structures like six foot willow screens for privacy, willow wheelie bin screen to hide the ugly rubbish cans, a new arch over the path through the rose garden, new planters and pots dotted around the yard full of wonderful plants and trees, and a new solar water feature for the rockery:

       

I have decided to include a picture of all the plants and the botanical names:

Herbaceous plants:  Agapanthus umbellatus ‘Blue Umbrella’, Agapanthus umbellatus ‘White Umbrella’, Ajuga reptans ‘Braunherz’, Alcea rosea ‘Halo Red’, Alcea rosea ‘Nigra’, Allium giganteum, Anemone blanda Blue, Anemone blanda White, Aquilegia ‘Black Barlow’, Bergenia ‘Bressingham White’, Blechnum spicant, Campanula carpatica f.alba, Campanula poscharskyana, Crocosmia ‘Emily Mckenzie’, Dryopteris affinis ‘Cristata The King’, Echinacea purpurea ‘Magnus’, Epimedium grandiflorum ‘Lilafee’, Erigeron karvinskianus, Eryngium planum, Euphorbia X martini, Geranium ‘Sabini Blue’, Helleborus niger, Hosta ‘Blue Angel’, Iris sibirica ‘Snow Queen’, Iris sibirica ‘Temper Tantrum’, Miscanthus sinensis, Pennisetum alopecuroides, Penstemon ‘Raven’, Persicaria affinis ‘Darjeeling Red’, Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Inverleith’, Phlox paniculata ‘Fujyama’, Polypodium vulgare, Rudbeckia fulgida var.Deamii, Salvia ‘Royal Bumble’, Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’, Stachys byzantina ‘Silver Carpet’, Stipa tenuissima ‘Pony Tails’.

Shrubs:  Camellia japonica ‘Pink’ Lollipop, Cornus Sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’, Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Glam Rock’, Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Zebra’, Lavandula augustifolia ‘Hidcote’, Rhododendron ‘Golden Wedding’, Rhododendron ‘Gumpo White’, Rhododendron ‘Mother’s Day’.

Climbers:

Trees:

Prunus incisa ‘Pendula’, Cornus ‘Venus’, Cercidiphyllum japonicum ‘Boyd’s Dwarf’, and  Pinus Parv. Hobbit Conifer.

So there it is and it will take time to get it all done but it will be worth it in the end……will keep you all posted with pictures as the work progresses.  So till the next time from the Duskweald happy Spring!!!!