View current garage door (pretty much face west). |
View from corner of patio (pretty much due east) |
So in stage one of garden design, there are two main areas I am interested in. Firstly the little section down the side, which is 3m wide and 7m deep, so big enough to use.
This part of the garden gets the morning sun and depending on the planting along the fence, it will get sun until about 1pm. We currently have two main ideas for the area; a Mediterranean style courtyard with fruit trees trained along the walls. This would make the most of the fact that one of the walls is south facing and it really holds the heat well. The problem would be that it means we have to use low planting along the fence line, so it may feel quite exposed. The other idea is to make it a more secluded shade garden. Planting taller screening plants along the fence and then ferns and under-planting in the rest of the area, creating a more lush place to sit. This will give us more privacy, but will obscure more light from the rooms.
The second area that will be worked on straight away is the succulent bank I am planning for along the front of the patio and then going down the south facing fence. To give an idea of the size, the patio is 6.5m wide (5.5m available for planting) and it is 7.5m to the garage.
My thoughts here are to build an L shape bank along the wall and fence. This would start quite sparsely planted by the patio steps, and would end more lushly planted by the current garage door. If I have enough material I would like to build the bank to the height of the top of the patio wall. I have no doubt that all the agaves, yuccas and cycads will be very happy there.
The next few weeks will be spent doing some sketches and surfing for inspiration. By which time the garden should be ready for me to start work. No doubt I'll keep you all updated as my thoughts come together. Until then, keep your fingers crossed, that the builders do actually finally move out!