At last a moment for my first posting in 2008 to give you a glimpse of just a small part of my work.... I took on this job last year to tidy up and give this holiday home a pretty summer flowering garden which would also be easy to maintain... here's how things started...
I spent almost a day getting the whole area dug, bind weed and bramble roots all dug out and everything ready to plant... until the builders arrived to repair the wall... So today I went along only to discover that all the bindweed and ivy roots which had been one of the causes of the stone wall collapsing had been put all over the lovely prepared soil along with a pile of rubble... trials and tribulations eh!
So after some more digging and sorting - the area returned to the state it was in when I last left it. Time to put some edging in... wooden edging is a great solution for those not wanting to spend out on a stone wall and keeps the soil from spilling over the gravel as well as adding to a neat & tidy appearance. Once the edging is in place the soil could all be raked out and plants put in place... now for the good bit... getting them all planted!
Finally the finishing touches - adding some bark chips not only smartens everything up - especially for a rental property, but also helps keep weeds at bay and helps the soil to retain moisture during warm and dry weather too. 
The plants I chose are easy to keep and take care of, have a long flowering period such as Potentilla, Hypericum and Osteopurnum, good for attracting butterflies to the garden - such as Caryopteris, Buddlea and Laveteria and also some were chosen as they keep their leaves all year round to retain some winter interest for the benefit of winter visitors - such as Santolina, Photinia and Escallonia. All of these plants are frost hardy too considering the extremely cold winter period we had in France just before Christmas... worth thinking about when you're splashing out on plants.
Eh... voila!
For advice on planting or if you'd like something similar in your garden - all sizes of garden catered for- if you'd like some help... do get in touch!
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