Your garden extends beyond your white post and rail fence to the far hills beyond, as a borrowed landscape. You don't want to block that out or interfere with its impact too much, which is why a dense evergreen hedge would not be my choice.
Ordinarily Id agree wholeheartedly with that, but I think in this case with the quite formal lines of the garden, Id be looking to frame the view behind rather than try to blur the line between the two. And as per Fire's question, if the trees are yours I want to remove the 4 central ones to open up the view more.
Plenty of choices to make though, and it is an enviable decision to have!
Time to enjoy the summer and appreciate what you have, I'd say. Enjoy the process of it might become a chore. As you read more and visit more, you'll get a sense of you like and don't like.
What is the drainage / water run off like down the slope? Any probs so far? Has it been tested yet with major extended rain / local flooding elsewhere?
I realise not everyone shares my enthusiasm for growing edibles, but my first thought was - Wow! A ready-made support for fruit trees! You could buy 1 year old "maidens", as the trade calls them, plant them in front of the uprights and train the branches along the horizontal rails. They'd pretty up the fence without blocking much of the view, and the bees and early butterflies would like the blossom. They'd need a bit of cosseting while they get established, and pruning thereafter. On the plus side you can get fruits that you'd never find in a supermarket, and you can eat them fresh and ripe, rather than buying them hard as bullets and watching them rot before they ripen.
Whatever you decide to do, you'd best leave it until the autumn when the ground has had time to recover from the drought. In the meantime, go and get lots of gardening books from charity shops/ the public library, maybe call at the offie on the way back, and dream away the rest of the summer in a deck chair.
some food for thought to help you visualise it. The fruit trees would be a nice option, but if the weeds are already a problem there I would worry that is just going to make it trickier rather than easier
Fab. I think your choices could be dictated by how much work / time you want to dedicated. I wouldn't say that fruit trees or wild flowers are a greatly easy option. I might go for yew without the topiary.
Inclined to agree with Fire,just enjoy it for now,look around and see what other similar gardens have. Personally I would go for various shrubs,flowering or non flowering,different heights and habits,I think you may have to be careful not to go too formal,you don't want it to become a chore,clipping neat hedges would be my idea of hell.
The whole truth is an instrument that can only be played by an expert.
My concern with having anything growing which has lots of 'gaps' - be it fruit trees, rose bushes, veggies, whatever - is that if there are weeds in the field that set seed - then (unless you weed the field each year) those seed heads are going to blow straight into your garden in the late summer / early autumn and germinate in your nice new flower beds.
I know - I have that particular T-shirt.
Some seed heads will still blow over a low hedge - but not as many as when there is no barrier. Even fewer over a taller hedge.
I think a yew hedge would give a real sense of 'importance' and compliment the existing formality of the garden. Only needs to be clipped once a year so lowish maintenance.
Loving your graphics @Jellyfire 😊. Not too sure about the wavy top to the hedge but certainly liking the idea of yew pyramids at intervals to frame the scene. Would you like to add a few either side of the path down to the bench to really lead the eye to the horizon? - they don't need to be tall - just about 4' would be plenty high enough.
Rose pillars would be good as an alternative as well..
Love redesigning other peoples' gardens - all the fun, no expense, no work🤭
Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
Love redesigning other peoples' gardens - all the fun, no expense, no work🤭
haha, exactly! Yep I agree Id put some verticals along the path at the corner of each step too. I planted a short bareroot Yew hedge last year, theyre not the fastest growing, (although its put on a surpising amount of growth already) but they are easy to maintain and clip, forgiving of clipping mistakes, easy to grow, and can give a nice solid barrier against those weeds
Bolt, is this feeling like it could be a life's work or generally a PINA? Putting down a wide area of weed membrane and a thick mulch for the time being might be helpful in keeping down some of the weeds.
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Plenty of choices to make though, and it is an enviable decision to have!
Whatever you decide to do, you'd best leave it until the autumn when the ground has had time to recover from the drought. In the meantime, go and get lots of gardening books from charity shops/ the public library, maybe call at the offie on the way back, and dream away the rest of the summer in a deck chair.
Personally I would go for various shrubs,flowering or non flowering,different heights and habits,I think you may have to be careful not to go too formal,you don't want it to become a chore,clipping neat hedges would be my idea of hell.
I know - I have that particular T-shirt.
Some seed heads will still blow over a low hedge - but not as many as when there is no barrier. Even fewer over a taller hedge.
I think a yew hedge would give a real sense of 'importance' and compliment the existing formality of the garden. Only needs to be clipped once a year so lowish maintenance.
Loving your graphics @Jellyfire 😊. Not too sure about the wavy top to the hedge but certainly liking the idea of yew pyramids at intervals to frame the scene. Would you like to add a few either side of the path down to the bench to really lead the eye to the horizon? - they don't need to be tall - just about 4' would be plenty high enough.
Rose pillars would be good as an alternative as well..
Love redesigning other peoples' gardens - all the fun, no expense, no work🤭