Middle Garden - Early Years
In the early years Middle Garden was a very open and sunny space. It quickly became a rather lovely mess of flowers and small shrubs - as seen in my archive photographs. Oops.
Middle Garden Archive Photographs - 2000
In the beginning foliage plants like new Pittosporums with small delicately variegated leaves, Phormiums, tussock grasses and Rhododendrons shared space with sun-loving canna lilies and dahlias.
Original waterside path
A take-over!
Oops. By 2005 Rhododendrons and Pittosporums had taken over the garden. The sun-lovers had to be shifted out for the sake of their continued good health. The daffodils I had lovingly planted waterside were long gone. Like other areas in my garden Middle Garden had become much more shady.
Shrub changes...
Shrub plantings changed, too. Self-sown Pittosporums bulked out, then were chopped down. Viburnums were welcomed at first but a few years ago they succumbed to a nasty silver/brown leaf problem. Down they came. Three nearby rhododendrons died, possibly because of the same problem (a fungus?).
Every time a space was created, a seedling tree (Sorbus, Prunus, Pittosporum), a self-sown green Phormium, or a baby Cordyline would grab its chance. naturally I was so grateful that I'd let it grow....
On this page I've brought together a collection of archive photographs taken in the 1990s. Those were the days - when Nicotianas and Canna lilies grew here happily, when the Golden Hop enjoyed the sunshine, and patches of daffodils had space in the spring to flower.