GBDW: Front Gardens

Click to enlarge image if needed.

Paired photos from top to bottom: Top - The usual kind of modern housing estate front garden; Middle - my version of it from the side and above; Bottom - common design issues: drain covers and extra parking spaces

Regular readers will know that I very rarely show my front garden here on the interweb. That's because I don't really want to reveal exactly where I live in Chippenham. However, for this month's Garden Bloggers' Design Workshop I've cast caution to the four winds and roped in a few of my neighbours to help out too.

Our house is 10 years old and sited on a fairly typical modern housing estate. This means the gardens are small, especially the front ones. The minimalistic planting provided by the builders tends to be just like the top two pictures: a minute patch of lawn surrounded by a hedge of something tough like Lonicera nitida, or side boundaries comprising a single species like the pictured Rose of Sharon (Hypericum calycinum). The lucky ones will also get a specimen tree or two. The deeds to the house will often come with a covenant saying how the householder must treat this more public part of their property. This is usually along the lines of keeping it well tended and sometimes - like our last house - not to alter it, so the integrity of the estate's original design (no matter how plain) is maintained.

Of course most house owners bend these 'rules' a little, just as we have done with our current property. We weren't 'given' a boundary hedge at all and as the front garden came with no less than 5 drain covers plus a telephone junction box, these were in plain view and very ugly. Our covenant says we must look after our front garden so that it's in keeping with its neighbours, so I was soon planning changes to our sloping semi-circular shaped lawn.

Money was tight at the time, so I moved some of the tough as boots shrubs from our side garden where they were becoming shaded by the trees and starting to suffer. To this I added some of the shrubs like the Euonymus I'd been using to add height to winter pots displays which were now outgrowing their home. This is a north facing garden, so I also added lots of spring bulbs such as snowdrops and daffodils to lighten the gloom. For summer I planted lots of different alliums and I've used variegated thymes to make a scented edging.

Later on I built a metal archway (echoing the railings at the side of the property) covered with Clematis 'Guernsey Cream' and 'Arabella' to make a more attractive way through to the gravel area at the side of the house. I also added a couple of 'mirror' beds either side of the dining room bay window for some of my Heucheras and more bulbs. I have a hanging basket plus pots close to the front door filled with something scented to welcome my visitors. Whilst I'm happy with the overall design, as is usual at this time of the year I can never make up my mind on whether the summer yellow leaf/pink flower combination of the Spirea 'Goldflame' is attractive. In spring and autumn their orange or fiery colouring is much better, which is what's letting them stay for now.

Having what NAH calls 'drainsville' in our front garden, I came up with several solutions to this common problem which are all shown in the bottom left picture. How many drain covers do you think there are? It's not one, but three. The left hand pot is covering up one of them; the large coin shaped stepping stone - which takes you to the gravel area at the side of the house - covers another one; and finally I've used the prolific trailing and ground hugging properties of various Sedums to hide the other one. This plant is ideal as the soil is rather poor and stony in this area, so its succulent properties are extremely useful for keeping this area looking a little greener.

Finally, I can't leave a piece on front garden design without saying a little about the issue of our disappearing front gardens in this country. More and more front gardens are being paved over as houseowners seek off-road parking for their cars. You can see from the bottom picture that this is happening around the corner from us, despite the builder's designs having room for at least two cars. I just wish the house owners had thought a little more and incorporated further planting in their re-designs for the areas where the car can't get to. So far at least they've used a relatively permeable material instead of the dreaded tarmac like the builders gave us.

Garden Bloggers' Design Workshop is hosted by Gardening Gone Wild.

Comments

  1. Sylvia (England)23 June 2009 at 09:22

    You have done a good job with your front garden. I know what you mean about the pink/yellow spirea, I am inclined to prune off the flowers! I do like your coin stone - I will look out for one of those. I do think this is a good example of modern English gardens - including the weedy lawn, most lawns are like this in the UK.

    Best wishes Sylvia

    ReplyDelete
  2. Arabella Sock23 June 2009 at 11:20

    I'm another pink/yellow spirea pruner! It's rare that nature comes up with a more ghastly combination of colours.

    The front garden question is interesting particularly if you are constricted by regulations. I live in a terraced road with tiny front gardens about 6' x 10' - and then you have to get your bin on somewhere. Nevertheless the imagination that most people have put into their design is quite astonishing, sculptures, mosaics, par terres, etc. It makes walking up the road more interesting viewing than some of the show gardens.

    ReplyDelete
  3. VP23 June 2009 at 16:16

    Hi Sylvia and Arabella - I've stopped short of snipping off the blooms because the bees love them. However, I'm also missing the lavender hedge which I used to have in the side garden until it got too shaded and leggy, so that could be a good substitute...

    Arabella - most people around here aren't that inventive (or perhaps they're not keen gardeners), but there are a couple of gravel gardens and a box edged knot garden which are rather nice.

    ReplyDelete
  4. VP23 June 2009 at 16:20

    Sylvia - I've seen the coin pavers in a couple of places. We first saw them at a garden centre in Somerset which we visited for apple day a few years ago. We kicked ourselves for ages for not getting them at the time. Then we went away for a weekend near Winchester and found them at the garden centre attached to Hilliers. I'm sure if you keep your eyes peeled, you'll find someone stocks them close to you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Victoria Summerley23 June 2009 at 17:37

    I think front gardens are the most difficult things to get right, and keep looking right. Unless you're lucky enough to have a doll's house type property, with a central path to the front door, they often end up looking lopsided especially if a parking space is involved. (Which reminds me, I need to sort mine out...)
    Personally, I feel that if something works, go with the flow. Your spiraea looks lovely and textural compared to the other front gardens pictured here, VP.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Unknown24 June 2009 at 02:53

    It is such a shame that people get rid of beautiful areas like these front gardens. That will never be me. My gardens may not be perfect, but the bees seem to like them anyway!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Helen/patientgardener24 June 2009 at 10:07

    I live on a similar estate but older. Our deeds say that we mustn't erect fences at the front of the property. So everyone seems to have gone for hedges to give some privacy.

    I like the bit in your about being in keeping with the neighbours. In some cases that would mean total neglect!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Mr. McGregor's Daughter25 June 2009 at 17:10

    Your solution to the drain cover problem is wonderful. Utilities present such a challenge, as they need to be accessible to workers, yet they are such eyesores.

    ReplyDelete
  9. VP26 June 2009 at 08:36

    Victoria - quite a few of the properties got either a Spirea or Euonymus hedge, so I just altered the theme a little.

    Cinj - paving over front gardens happens all too frequently here as car ownership is increasing and a number of councils are starting to either ban or charge householders for the privilege of parking on the streets. Then there are the issues with the increased rainfall runoff all this paving causes. It's such an issue that our government's introducing legislation to encourage more permeable surfaces to be used in these instances. I think there's a role that the gardening profession can play too by giving us examples of simple and good designs which still manage to incorporate a good amount of planting whilst acknowledging the practical needs of the householder. There's a similar need for the incorporation of all the unsightly wheelie bins (aka trash cans) which we're being forced to use. I'm with you though, anything I can do to encourage the bees has to be a good thing even if it does mean keeping my lurid Spirea for now!

    PG I suspect that's why the estate's original design had lots of little hedges so no-one would put up any fences.

    MMD - coping with 5 drain covers and the junction box was quite a challenge! I'm quite proud of the idea of incorporating 2 of them as stepping stones to another part of the garden. And that's a good point you've made - access to them is still there if anyone needs it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anna26 June 2009 at 21:48

    An interesting post VP. Sadly many of the front gardens in this neck of the woods are moving over to the paved over look :(

    ReplyDelete
  11. VP28 June 2009 at 16:39

    Anna - that's exactly what's happened to the estate in Chippenham we moved from. It looks really ugly. A lot of people have used gravel as it's a relatively cheap solution and of course, is relatively permeable too when compared with a lot of the options available. However, most of them haven't contained the gravel at all, so it's gone all over the pavement and road :(

    ReplyDelete

New comments are not allowed.

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it ...
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl...
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape...
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing ...
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the...
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee...
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi...
Read more

The Resilient Garden

Image
  Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around. Tom Massey's Resilient Garden  at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen. It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's  sponso...
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter, ...
Read more

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Image
  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener...
Read more