2020 Garden Visit No 4 - Canadian - Andrew & Ingrid Parker

 


Our front garden in 2005

The front garden in its early incarnation

Ingrid and I purchased the property in 1998 as the future site of a Bed & Breakfast Guesthouse that had been a long-term ambition for us.

The property at that time was two-and-a-half acres with an old house on it. The property had been owned by the Hocking family for at least two generations. It was rural at that time as none of the housing subdivisions to the east of Canadian Creek were even thought of back then.

The old house had been fenced off from the majority of the block which was completely overgrown and neglected. The site where our house and garden are now, was completely impenetrable, overgrown with gorse, blackberry and cape broom. There was also a derelict cattle loading ramp and the remains of what was once a tennis court. At the rear of the block was approximately one acre of derelict chicken sheds.

Over the next few years we gradually cleaned up the land and removed all the shedding.

In 2005 we commenced building the house, moved in at Easter 2006 and opened as a Bed and Breakfast at the end of that year.

At the time we opened, the flower garden consisted of just two sections, the one at the front between the two driveways, and a two metre strip across the back of the house. The rest of the block was grass. (capeweed!)

The garden you see now is half an acre and evolved slowly from there. 

Callistemon Citrinus 'Endeavour'
The front garden features many dwarf and groundcover conifers




Standard Iceberg Roses





Honeysuckle growing on screen to hide the water tank













Old apple trees recently espaliered

Potatoes
Peas
Simple storage for surplus soil, mulch etc.

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