I decided this year to get rid of the grass / buttercups / dandelions and had to take out the fruit trees as the crab apple had become diseased. When I decided to re-design the resulting space I decided I wanted a garden to reflect in and to have a little sanctuary with planting that can be continually renewed.
From the centre the plot is divided by five spokes of lavender ending with a solar lamp marking out a pentagon. The line between each solar point are filled by hazel saplings.
In each corner of the central plot there is a tree, each symbolic of ancient protections - a yew, an oak, a rowan and a holly. There is also a bramble and elsewhere in the garden I have black elder, an alder and a couple of crab apples.
Besides the air of tranquillity I can follow the sun - from sitting in the bower chair round the bench and chairs on the patio to the rocking chair situated to catch the last in the evening. There is a corner of 'wildness' with a bird table and feeders tucked away behind the gooseberry and I have dug a new pond with a 'alpine' area above it as yet largely unplanted. This is the outer side of the garden and so will have the skull wall created along it and I will also have a place for my carnivores plants.
The design reflects my beliefs and incorporates ideas inspired by symbolism and my love of plants as far as a small wee back garden can be filled to bursting. The main block in the centre of the garden is now outlined by a square of slabs. I have laid small gravel paths running roughly north to south and east to west. In the centre there is a slate sundial surrounded by 7 patio stones with 7 different thymes all within a circle of white and the start of a spiral of gravel.
The planting is in spirals outward from the centre. I'm trying to use plants that are either special to me (sea hollies for example), are particularly bee friendly or have some magical connection. I have used different heights to give movement and to create different vistas within a tiny space. The garden can be seen from above from my bedroom windows and the shapes are clearly delineated but from the ground a different perspective is to be had and walking across the space continually changes what you can and cannot see.
