Before and after Garden Pictures

We have done this before on GC but I was staying in the cool playing around with pictures and did a couple of comparisons.

Front of House in 2008 when we were doing works, then this year ...



The entrance to the proeprty is above first picture, and now ...



Please feel free to add your own changes here.

 

You kind of miss those days when you were changing things and making alterations, I know I do. I dont have anything grand but its mostly stagnated now.

 

Sadly yes, but I can't do it physically now. but I still enjoy pottering.

As I don't have recent photos without the jungle, I had Jim go out and he got on a lladder to take a new photo ... in 1997 when we bought it and now with the the naked Sand Garden ...

 

That’s a magnificent transformation @Victoria, you have created a delightful home and garden

 

Thank you, very much appreciated. It was seriously blood sweat and tears, mainly on my part as this is not Jim's thing. We paid builders for the house transformation and Jim dug some holes with a pick axe for shrubs (now trees).

 

Terrific load of work and a great outcome @Victoria. I understand you wanting to get it done because of advancing years. I've been taking advantage of the unseasonably dry weather we had earier, and ripping out stuff, sorting a shared fence, and re building things etc, because I know it'll be beyond me in a few years. Like you, it's me that does the work - due to being on my own though.

It's very satisfying to look at what you've achieved- and you can enjoy taking more photos and making minor changes/alterations that are much easier on the back...and the pocket!
I wish you many years of doing exactly that.

I've built a small pergola and have put the bench under it. I might even actually sit on it now and again...

 

It looks great now. I like the brick path.

Are you really happy for others to add before and after photos? I have a lot of my garden. I've been making it for the last 4 years. I wouldn't put lots here, that would clutter up your thread!

 

Thank you @fairygirl. Al of the hard work is done now, thankfully, just maintenance, and we have people for that. I just keep the garden in order where I can (I have balance issues following multiple mini strokes) and a gardener a couple of times a year to tame the shrubs and trees. I admire you building s pergola and I would like to see a picture of it. At 77 I have no intention of manual labour any more.

 

Hi @Busy-Lizzie Please feel free both of your properties. I love looking at your pictures and the differences in the properties. The brick path is terracotta tiles.

I started this thread for us all ... to look back and see the progress we have made ... and enjoy and gloat.

 

Sorry to hear of your problems @Victoria . I've always been relatively fit and able, but I'm becoming increasingly aware of old age creeping up on me, and we never know what's waiting for us round the corner do we?
I'm 10 years younger than you, but I'm rapidly feeling that a long day on a few hills is a much easier option than the garden! I've had a lot of minor injuries recently, as well as ripping my rotator cuff some years ago, which has prevented me getting out on hills, but I find it hard to not do stuff. I take after my old Dad.
I'll take a couple of photos of the pergola and post them. The planting will take a while to rejuvenate around it, especially the early clematis that I had to dig up and move in April, but that should look better next year. I have a few sweet peas to put in at the opposite end, so that'll help for this year.

 

Interesting reading about adapting the garden as time moves on @Victoria and @fairygirl . Over the last few months I've been reducing the height of all my shrubs and hedges to a height that I can maintain without using a ladder. My garden is on two levels and they both have sloping borders. I'm clumsy and fell twice last year, luckily only damaging the plants that I landed on - that woody Lilac needed to go anyway .

Here's a few before and after shots of my garden.

Before, 2013.



Now.





Before.



Now.

 

Interesting to see how all your gardens have evolved, and they'll keep evolving.
I have lots of before and after photos on a thread I started about my own garden progress so I won't put them on here again (my photos are all jumbled up anyway so it would take ages to find appropriate ones.)

I didn't know you'd had all that work done @Victoria, it's such a transformation from when you bought the property. Now I would think you're glad to have it out of the way so that you can concentrate on the plants and enjoying your garden.

 

I love your garden @Plantminded a(although it is too precise for me as I decided to go for the overgrown look here, which has been beneficial to me in later years. You have made a peaceful haven but I can't figure where the lawn is situated, on the top level?

 

Michael, I obviously follow your thread.

Yes, it took four years of renovation before we could move in. Back then in the days of Escudos, ruins were cheap (we paid about £25,000), now they are nearly impossible to find. I sit out every morning for about an hour or two of filtered sun and we sit out every evening before dinner. I started with Hibiscus and then Adeniums as they take up little space and I can manage them. The rest is minimal care.

 

Found another comparison with the Patio ...