And So To Bed

We snuck off for takeaway curry tonight so rather than taking a picture of the hideous Indian fiesta here is a picture of one of our garden beds in progress.
When we bought the house a year ago this bed was full of old pine bark which had been used as mulch and the soil hadn't been conditioned or even fed for years. There were a few excellent plants already in the bed including a couple of good, solid, but in need of a haircut buxus and a fantastic ornamental cherry. I removed almost all the bark, a couple of hebes which were past their best and also discarded various grasses obviously planted for low maintenance. I added flaxes, gardenias and a daphne.



The idea of this bed is to create a scented garden in green, white and red with an emphasis on lush foliage and plants with structure. Most of the plants have white flowers and the reds come from the flaxes and the cherry fruit. All the plants are evergreen although the gardenias and the daphne will need a little protection from frosts.
To finish the bed I will dig in a lot compost and fertliser and mulch with pine bark mulch rather than the pine bark chips that had been used previously. This mulch gives a much softer finish and leaves the bed looking less like a council garden project. Other low profile 'filler' plants such as Orange Berry will be added to complete the bed.
Before any of you cheeky buggers comments, the fence will be water blasted and painted by the end of labour Weekend.