My six this weekend are all about the boundaries because I am celebrating getting my privacy back. Long term readers of this blog will know that my old neighbours neglected their garden and it was overgrown with a thick barrier of ash and sycamore trees between our two properties which gave me reasonable privacy.
When the new neighbours moved in 3 years ago they did what any of us would do and cleared the garden. It was quite alarming for me as I suddenly felt like I was in a goldfish bowl. All the screening above the fence line was gone. This might not seem such a big deal but our gardens slope up from our houses and so with all the angles you often feel like you can be seen by your neighbours in your garden and they can see you which I don’t like.
Then to make matters worse because the garden had been neglected for so long the fences hadn’t been cared for and in some places it was only the trees and shrubs that were holding things together. So over the past two winters the fences have disintegrated or have bits missing and it has looked a real mess.
Not any more, they have had the fences replaced and we now have a lovely 6ft fence which is rather beautiful. Sadly, for the neighbours, as they are at the end of the road they are responsible for all the fences around their property so this must have cost a lot but I think it is fab. Suddenly, I have my privacy back and it brought home to me just how much I had missed that privacy. I think there is actually even more privacy than before as the fence is higher than the old one.
Not only have I got my privacy back but I have gained about a foot along the fence line. I need to fill in the trench left from where they dug out all the old tree roots etc but once I have done that I can play around and give some of my plants more space. I had left some Hawthorne seedlings grow up in recent years in anticipation of new owners clearing the garden and now I think I will cut the Hawthorne trees back to create more of a hedge along the fence which will in turn allow my Liquidamber tree to have more light and thrive.
The new fence at the end of the patio. The fence here was previous held up by a variegated ivy that I planted which was OK. The bamboos in pots were added when they cut all the trees down as it meant they could see straight from their garden down on to my patio which was horrid. The new fence is higher and somehow I think has obstructed the view but I think the bamboos may stay. Now they have a smart backdrop I may think again about what is around them and smarten it up.
As I am fixated with fences at the moment I thought I would include my back fence which you can just about make out through the undergrowth. The garden slopes up to it and last year I removed the path that used to run along the top of the garden as it was never used and was a waste of growing space. I am encouraging a wild and hardy exotic look up here. There is a huge thistle which has appeared from somewhere which sort of messes up the look of the planting but I was intrigued to see how big it would grow. Behind it is a fig tree which I had to prune hard last year as it had a lot of long branches going off at angles and I wanted more height than width. This year it is smothered in figs. I need to work out when I am meant to harvest them and what to do with the fruit as I don’t think I’ve eaten fresh figs before.
And finally my side fence which is the same style as the neighbour’s new fence but shorter. I thought I would include this as my final six as it another boundary photo and includes my marmite rose which I included in a previous post. I inherited this rose when we moved in about 16 years ago and for years and years it had one or two flowers. Then my other neighbours also indulged in some heavy handed pruning and cut everything back hard meaning that the rose suddenly benefited from light and more rain and this is the result!
For more Six on Saturday posts visit The Propagator’s blog.
I’m off to Yorkshire later today garden visiting for a week so I hope to have some interesting gardens to share with you soon.
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