I found this lovely link to a small dorset Garden. Take the time to take the tour. It's lovely. http://www.alfresco.demon.co.uk

knew i forgot something. thanks maggie!

Thanks wolfie, I just had a worry that I should have asked first! Sorry!

There is nothing more fragrant or lovely than an English Garden, and no place else on earth where grow as well as in the chalks downlands of the Scenptered Isle. *sigh* I need to get back there. My genes are getting restless...

see what happens when you are thinking of the nasty comment of septic isle?! It is Sceptered Isle, of course

At the moment things are growing all too well in the Chiltern hills - I shall have to get out weeding!!!! septic isle indeed!!!

Weeding! I spent my entire childhood weeding the rock garden and promised myself never to have one. I kept thinking how easy it would be just to remove the rocks and mow the entire place, but my mom, being a proper mom, would have said 'No!'

Do you still plant things like Bachelors Buttons and Sweet William (very nice), Pinks and pansies in them? Phlox?

In my rockery that E. & I built cos Dad never got round to it. pinks, yes, pansies, yes, loads miniture hardy geranium (incredible magenta small flower) large hardy geranium (largish pink flowers) (nothing like pelagoniums) anenemes (don't look right spelling) miniature dutch iris aster - low growing variety, big clump thyme - corsican an absolute pest called 'fox and hounds' that i can't get rid of crocuses a smallish evergreen tree that T. liked and i didn't so i put it in there and the d**** won't die irish ivy (big green leaves) covering the fence behind alliums (two foot tennis ball head ones on spindly stalks that end up in the pond) that keep coming up and look out of place, but I keep forgetting to move them once they've flowered. a supposedly 'dwarf' lilac tree that is probably going to get cut down. It's only a little rockery!!!! with a pond and a sort of waterfall that isn't used cos I can't afford a pump for it. oh and don't forget grass that keeps coming up and is a PAIN

mulch....one word for weed control and if any should get through, they're easy to pull.

your garden sounds lovely to me....

Oh yes, I forgot the Iris and behind them against the huge sweet-gum tree (Liquidambar) were day lilies. Far in the back for spring color with the crocus was a lovely forsythia. Mulch is just about impossible because everything grows so close to the ground. Nowadays perhaps there is ground-up mulch but back then I had to work fallen leaves into and under the little plants and we just piled the leaves on top of the whole garden in the winter.

you can get it shredded up in bits and pieces and work them around the little plants...

yeah, done that all over, but doesn't seem to work in the rockery. the big pest is the fox and hunds, i got it from a herb centre and there was no warning. it just loves it round the pond and mothers everything as it spread. it is quite pretty, bright orange flower heads on stalks that turn to seek puffs. it's a surface rooter but strangles everything it comes across. t'other problem is grass coming up between the path and the edging. it's really horrible to get out. in the end i may have to resort to weedkiller which i am pathalogically against. i think grit will work best in the rockery once i've cleaned it out yet again - a good thick layer. i'd love to get the waterfall going into the pond, but haven't been able to get a pump or put the wiring in. it would be most pleasant on summer evenings in my suburban dump.

try irish moss in the rockery. that'll look pretty and serve as a mulch. it handles being walked on too.

I recently came across a bit of information that English Gardens are becoming very popular in Japan. It would seem that the Japanese are becoming quite fond of planting and maintaining proper English Gardens. They go to meticulous care to make them as authentic as possible. I'm currently browsing through a book on teas, including green, black, and herbal. In the entry on chamomile one of the facts noted is that chamomile lawns were sometimes planted in England. When walked across the plants gave off a lovely apple-like scent.

Ugh! Flagstone paths! We had them, also. Guess who weeded and trimmed the grass on her hands and knees...Yup! Me =) No herbicides nothing but my blisterd and bashed in knees. Looked lovely, though...

Japanese nitpick their yards and everything else around and inside their homes. An English Rock Garden should be perfect for them. They put specially selected rocks in their gardens anyway... At least the ones here, do.

We hae a really horrible japapense garden (and it other settings i love them) at the centre where I worked. The rocks and bamboo and stuff are Ok but the gravel - its terrible, always kept coming into the computer lab and lecture hall on the students feet.

Over here we leave our shoes at the door. Outside. Good practice!

I can just see all our students doing that!!!! At home we have nowhere to leave shoes and things. It's a real pain. I would love a porch or conservatory!

How about in the garage or just inside the front door on a carpet which is washable?

My son has taken the tradition to California with him, and when you step into his carpeted condo, you remove your shoes in a place set aside with a carpet which is easily shaken and washed. Looks great, and so does the pearl grey carpeting throughout the place.

I wish I could get all my room mates to do that, but it's a stretch. I've tried putting shoe racks on the door and signs, but it's tough one to implement.

It would be a great help...and your wood floors would appreciate it very much (not to mention your broadloom rugs and general cleanliness involved.) I stand at the door with a cleaver offering a choice. Shoes off or they can eat and party outside. Even the repair people remove their shoes!

No garage, very narrow hall, no room. pain. I settled for cork floors downstairs which i can sweep easily. Back to topic - the blue bells are just starting to bloom. They will be spectacular in a week. A bright blue haze under the trees.

Oooh...can daffodils be far behind? In my garden the Cestrum nocturnum (night-blooming jasmine) is in full bloom and is so heavy in the still evening air it makes me wheeze. Lovely fragrance for the folks three houses away, though...!

The daffodils are in full bloom now. Spring is here even though we have had snow twice in the last week, and large hail stones and frost. The lily of the vally by the front door are showing.

Oooh. Lily of the Valley! My favorite flowers. I always wanted them in my bridal bouquet, but I was married in August...! Before that it was my silver pattern and I have one solid silver spoon, then Gorham discontinued it. *sigh* I guess it was just not meant to be.

I'm sorry i forgot to scan that postcard i sent you - it would have looked good here. I shall think of you each time I walk past the lily of the valley coming into my house. there are not a lot of them yet, they seem to take quite a while to spread.

It is incredibly lovely. I thought of that when I opened your letter and showed it to R. I shall get a scanner one of these days and do it for you. I love the spiral-cut topiary tree in the garden!

please scan that post card!!

Yup...ASAP

England in the Spring - Bluebells carpeting the woodland - The English Garden God Planted From Maggie

When the light is right, it's like a blue haze shimmering. Makes my heart sing in praise to God who made it.

Is there a fragrance to that many bluebells? Cannot remember their fragrance though I have gotten on my hands and knees as a child to see if they had one....

Not strong, slightly lilacy. Just now the overpowering fragrance is from oilseed rape - the bright yellow cabbage related plant. It's grwon in my area in HUGE quantities, massive fields of it, and the aroma is very pungent and causes many allergy problems.

my GOd, they're beautiful!!!!!

A typical English suburban small garden (Maggie's parents)

Containerized is the only way to go - hardly any weeding that way!

it's lovely! but lots of watering (well, maybe not in england, but here, oh my, lots of watering)

Oh yeah...unless God does it for you like here...*smile*

yup! it is but they seem to enjoy it, and as long as they can manage it's OK and uplifting to have the riot of colour outside the window. My brither's filling in the fish pond as they can't cope with maintaining it any longer. *sad* the borders ae well established and hardly need much weeding.

That's what I thought we had kids for. To maintain our fish ponds when we are too elderly to do so for ourselves...*sigh*