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Garden |
Back garden as it was in 1995 when we arrived in Acklington |
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Gravel/Herb
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One of the first things we did was to take up the
chequerboard paving slabs, re-lay them and create a small patio area with
a gravel/herb area Spring 1996 |
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New border
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Then we started on the larger area of garden, marking out
and starting decent sized perennial borders in early Summer 1996 |
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New
border2
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By August the borders were in full bloom - with diascias of
course. This picture taken showing the chief turf digger and his
mate, Buddy |
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Pond
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No garden is complete without a pond. With my love of
frogs it was essential. Digging began in 1996 |
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Filling up
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Here I am filling the pond. It was an exciting moment
after breaking up huge chunks of solid sandstone! |
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Finished
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Pond finished but not yet edged. I put down some of
the grass sod wondering if that would look better, but decided to put
stone edging in, in the end. |
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Edging
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Edging was not completed until early spring 1997. I
had to look at it in its incomplete state all winter, and I'm not a
patient person. |
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Pond plants
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I ordered a group of pond plants and oxygenators. In
they went by April 1997 |
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one year on
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Pond looking good one year later (1998) |
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Water
Lily
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Water lily finally blooms in August 1998. I was
thrilled. I don't know its name. |
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Hampton Court
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By late 1997 we had been asked if we would take our diascias
to the Hampton Court Flower Show by the NCCPG. It was a big
decision, but we decided to tackle it. Here is our stand in the
Plant Heritage tent sandwiched between Angel Pelargoniums and Clematis |
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Path
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We decided to extend the path to the second garden area in
October 2000 |
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Blue/Yellow
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The blue & yellow border at its best in May |
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Dry shade
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The dry shade border in late March |
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Foxgloves
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White foxgloves appeared from nowhere. |
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Storm
damage
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Winter 1998/99 will never be forgotten. We lost the
Eucalyptus that had been here since our arrival. It has since been
hauled back into place but was chopped in half. It has bushed out,
so a happy ending. |
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Storm
damage2
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And as if that wasn't enough, a second gale brought down
half the Pine tree within inches of the new greenhouse in February 1999 |
