Ask louise

1. How did you come to join Gardeners Corner?
Searching for different gardening sites to the other 2 i'm on because i wanted a change, this one just jumped out at me, plus i liked the sense of humour on here !

2. Name the countries or counties you have lived in?
Lived in Florida, USA. for a year when i was 29.

3. Describe the type of work you do.
I'm in the medical 'field' and work out in the community making house calls to elderly people.

4. Describe how you first got into gardening?
At about 9 years old when i'd trail around our large garden after my mother - watching every move she made.
I was given a space in the greenhouse and could 'play' in there, i grew sunflowers and made mud-pies !!!
Had my own first garden (and home) at the age of 20.

5. What would be your dream type of garden and do you think you will ever be able to achieve it?
I have several 'dream type' gardens !!!

A wildlife garden set in pretty Devon countryside.
A tropical garden a la Abbotsbury
An English country garden in a pretty Devon location.

I didn't say i was easily pleased :WINK1:
Doubt i'll ever achieve any of them

6. Have you any particular favourites in celebrity gardeners, flowers, shrubs and/or vegetables?
Geoff Hamilton, Alan T, Carol Klein and Joe Swift.
I love all perennial plants/flowers, love to the bend gardening rules and succeed with plants that shouldn't be hardy, love bronze coloured plants, pink flowers, and loathe red flowers !
Love clematis, irises, gerberas, alstroemerias ....... the list is endless :D

7. Have you ever entered any of your plants into shows?
No, because i'd want them to be perfect and they're not !

8. If you had a garden created in your memory, what plants do you think would most adequately sum up you and your life?

A large typical English country garden and this song .....

 

As i have 2 gardens, 1 front and 1 back, i have 2 styles here.

The front is a cottage garden, lots of billowing colours and heights (low-high) and a lawn that's more of a path and surrounded by 2 hedges and 2 house walls.
It's a very hot, very dry, very sunny and very sheltered garden.
It's gently sloping.

And the back is a 4 tiered area, because of being on a hillside (previous owner levelled the steep lawn that was).
Those tiers comprise of ....
* 2 lawn and shrub areas
* 1 gravel area (top tier and v v dry) surrounded by shrubs
* 1 rockery area - this had only alpines in until earlier this year when i replanted the area to be more of a rock 'garden' - put in a low Hebe and a low (hardy) Fucshia.

The back has no shelter from other houses/roofs because they're all 'below' me .... hillside again !
So it's battered by south westerlies - not cold but can be destructive, so i've planted tall shrubs to become a bit of a windbreak.

The soil throughout is stoney, alkaline and poor, i enrich it in areas that i want to plant specific things and leave the rest au naturel !

Reading that all back makes it sound like they're both huge .... they're not, they're tiny !
The back's about 25'x25' and the front about 30x30' !
I once read that a small garden is made smaller by 'thinking/planting small', so i make sure that i 'think big' :WINK1:

I've not tried bronze fennel but will look it up now :WINK1:

 

That would be a stunning addition to a border, thanks, Shiney