Uh oh. Guys. I had a wave of inspiration about our garden on the walk home tonight. Hit the decks.
There I was, on the train reading about the ‘foliage style garden’ in the RHS Encyclopaedia of Garden Design (review coming soon!) Now, I fundamentally disagree with playing by rules. Show me a rule and I’ll break it. So over the last couple of years I had been resisting the ‘tropical’ style so often talked about in gardening because it doesn’t sit right with me – too many greens, orange, yellow – too much!
Reading this chapter however, it’s clear that unintentionally, like it or not, I have been creating a Victorian inspired foliage style jungle garden. After all, that’s what Victorians did. Tropical, colourful, loud brash, in your face!
Let’s finish this!
The truth is, last year our garden wasn’t finished. Building work made it impossible to do everything I wanted. There wasn’t time or money for finishing touches. My allotment and RHS studies have distracted me.
With the seed of the RHS foliage style garden rattling around my empty head though, the sun on my face and a feeling of ‘being on top of the allotment’, last year’s ideas all came flooding back to me with a new realisation of what our garden was, is and will be.
Victorian gardens are not stuck in the past. Victorians were all about the future. I always wanted our garden to feel like an overgrown jungle, but with neon colours that made it feel alien, futuristic and otherworldly.
In my mind I had been toning things down, but no more! What I need to do is crank things up.
In a flash the whole garden was mapped out in front of me and tonight the plans are being made. Come summer, our future jungle will be real. I can’t wait! 😀 I leave you with the one tiny snippet from last year that is setting the tone for our entire garden, make of it what you will…
This sounds overwhelming! Just remember that Rumbles has to find a way in for food and cuddles. And you may, occasionally, want to be able to find Chris. And leave space to water the vertical garden.
And I’ve often read about crowded trains but having to walk around one on the way home takes the biscuit!
Good luck! Can’t wait for the next instalment.
Haha! Thanks. Would you believe that I have actually created little paths through the bed for Rumbles? He’s currently outside defending the garden from an intruder cat. So Rumbles should be able to find me for snuggles. With Chris, we just need to be able to hear each other 😉