A Special PLACE
Upon moving into a new home, people invariably focus on refurbishing the interior, leaving little time nor budget to spend on the garden. It’s an opportunity missed. A room can be repainted in a weekend, whereas a garden takes years to establish and mature and, the earlier work starts, the sooner an outdoor space becomes an inviting extension of the home. It was the actress Audrey Hepburn, whose lifelong love of gardening started when she was a little girl, who said, ‘To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.’ And that means starting today, even if it is just to plant a tree and a handful of evergreen shrubs as a first step towards creating a framework for the future.
One potential pitfall of a piecemeal approach is that the end result can be disjointed, with early stages out of tune with the more recent. The most appealing gardens, whether filled with plants to tend or designed for chilling, not chores, are harmonious affairs that started out as little more than an outline plan. Any plan should be based on how your garden will be used – entertaining, growing plants, unwinding from work, children at play, or growing-your-own – and will focus on the essential elements, providing continuity over the long term.
Initially, if money is really tight, consider partitioning
