Garden Before and After

I have always been inspired by the English and European style of garden, must be part of my heritage I guess. I love curved pathways around garden beds and the magic of secret gardens. At the same time I love the formality of hedges, toparies and the balance and symmetry. Roses and creepers, rusty gazebos and urns....so...here is my garden. Hope you enjoy my journey in my Brisbane garden...

(Please excuse some of the photos as they are older and a tad over exposed taken with my previous camera).

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My front garden embraces garden beds in shapes that have been followed by existing garden bed edges. Being quite an established garden around the lawn I was loathe to take out the existing tropical foliage which determine the boundary of the yard. It seemed such a waste and has now grown into a screen of privacy.

I had to find a way to bring tropical and semi-formal together. Sound like a weird combination? Well I think it works. The catalyst was when I fell in love with an iron gazebo that I thought I would make a feature of. The gazebo was placed in position and we basically dug up all of the lawn around it.

This is a 'BEFORE' shot  of the front lawn with the new gazebo being placed into position. Yes it looks wonky but this is the initial 'placement' stages, you can slightly see the pink paint outlining the pathways and the garden beds.

The lawn was of poor quality and very badly laid with craters and holes beginning to appear. Little did we know that the storm water pipe that ran through the garden had been previously crushed and covered over with lawn. I am convinced it would have contributed to the uneven ground level for years.  That plumbing problem was only recently fixed.

This is the view from upstairs looking down on the front yard. It gives a better perspective of what I was trying to achieve. We recycled some old cement pavers that were around the pool and laid a fine white 5ml chip stones in between. The garden beds are odd shapes which I love.

Photo not the best, taken through a net screen! Sorry.

The best part begins! The planting....I could not plant a garden without my beloved deciduous tropical birch trees, geraniums and roses.

Existing tropical on the left down this pathway, frangipani, palms, and strelitzias. More formal on the right, box hedging, orange Jessamine and a row of five conifers that are now planted on the right - a larger photo below.. My bit of Tuscany!

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It's all coming together.

Apart from the initial watering until plants were established there is not much maintenance at all. As the lawn has gone - no mowing either!

Always something to take photos of ...flowers from the garden this morning...

My front garden has been a labour of love for the past 3-4 years and changes madly with the seasons. The rose patch is combined with colourful cottage garden annuals and perennials that appear to co-exist harmoniously. Geraniums are cut back when they become unruly and grow back even more lush. Gardenias and jasmine contribute to the sweet scent in garden when it is their turn.

Can you tell I am infatuated with this garden?

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