That looks like a very well maintained garden to me. Neat and tidy without being over manicured and also mature and interesting. I hope I can keep a garden to those standards in 20 years time!🙂
There are some tools out there which make gardening a little easier if your parents would find that useful. The Wolf Garten range of poles with changeable heads mean that you can have small cultivator heads, hoes and little rakes etc on long-reach lightweight poles. Those are very useful for tidying the middle and back of borders when you don't want to / can't stand in the border or if you can't get down on hands and knees.
I also have a long reach pruner which makes it a doddle to dead head those roses etc which are just too far away to reach with secateurs.🙂
Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
I am sure that a garden that has been so carefully nurtured for so many years and with strong curves has interest in January, whether it be snowdrops, evergreen shrubs or the like.
The OP asked for comments on the garden in its current state, and the consensus is that it's beautiful. I'm sure that their father, (like my own), is well aware of the passing of time and the effect on us all. He already has someone to help with cutting the grass, and it is pretty certain that as time goes on it will be necessary to make things even more easy to care for, or get someone in to assist.
For those of us who love our gardens, it's a reminder that we all need to adapt as we age, and l suspect that in his heart he is well aware that the time is fast approaching when he is able to do less and less. I wish him joy in his garden, whatever fate has in store.
So now for ADVICE from a contemporary in a similar postion ...
The work load needs to be cut down drastically. Gradually bit by bit things have to go. A radical simplification. Old friends must be ditched.
What does your father think he will be able to do next year? Does your mother agree? Create a 5 year slimming-down plan.
Do you need two busy borders? Both could be slimmed. The LHS one could be eliminated completely. Bedding plants in pots are a luxury - out.
Roses can be hard work, all that pruning and spraying and snagging your hands and legs - out. What If you fall? Some of the other shrubs look as if thet need/get regular pruning too.
Their garden DOES look lovely in January with evergreen shrubs and trees and me and my siblings help carry his pots of daffodils out to be on display.
For your information, I potted up the dahlias in pots for him for him as I know he loves them. He has stopped lifting, storing and replanting his dahlia tubers as he realises it is a lot of hard work. He has also stopped planting his annuals and we are slowly replacing them with low maintenance shrubs. I went to the gardener centre with him so he could choose some geraniums to plant in the border and I planted them when we got back.
As a family we will continue to help him keep his garden looking as lovely as we can whilst he continues to potter around and enjoy it.
I told you once before to not comment on my posts, please adhere to this. What was a lovely positive thread has been contaminated by your addition.
There's absolutely no reason why they shouldn't continue to have pots of dahlias, bedding plants etc as long as they can manage the watering and get help with moving heavy stuff (compost, pots) about. If the necessary regular watering becomes difficult or impossible, that's soon enough to give them up. Deadheading counts as gentle pottering if things are reachable without undue stretching or bending.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
Posts
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
There are some tools out there which make gardening a little easier if your parents would find that useful. The Wolf Garten range of poles with changeable heads mean that you can have small cultivator heads, hoes and little rakes etc on long-reach lightweight poles. Those are very useful for tidying the middle and back of borders when you don't want to / can't stand in the border or if you can't get down on hands and knees.
I also have a long reach pruner which makes it a doddle to dead head those roses etc which are just too far away to reach with secateurs.🙂
The OP asked for comments on the garden in its current state, and the consensus is that it's beautiful.
I'm sure that their father, (like my own), is well aware of the passing of time and the effect on us all. He already has someone to help with cutting the grass, and it is pretty certain that as time goes on it will be necessary to make things even more easy to care for, or get someone in to assist.
For those of us who love our gardens, it's a reminder that we all need to adapt as we age, and l suspect that in his heart he is well aware that the time is fast approaching when he is able to do less and less.
I wish him joy in his garden, whatever fate has in store.
Their garden DOES look lovely in January with evergreen shrubs and trees and me and my siblings help carry his pots of daffodils out to be on display.
As a family we will continue to help him keep his garden looking as lovely as we can whilst he continues to potter around and enjoy it.
I told you once before to not comment on my posts, please adhere to this. What was a lovely positive thread has been contaminated by your addition.
Well designed and maintained too. I do not think a few weeds here and there, will spoil the look of it.