This is our Auckland garden, mid house sale. It was also the middle of July so while everything is looking uncharacteristically neat it's also clearly in need of sunshine and a warm burst of spring weather. It had just had a much too vigorous clip and shape when we decided to put it on the market... I'm sure it looks a delight now.
You can see a paint brush on the arm of one of the benches... I think I was probably touching up the walls (again) while no doubt praying that the fence behind wouldn't fall down under the weight of our neighbour's awful towering palm trees - at least not before auction day.
You may remember the garden had more hedging which after much agonising I eventually pulled out. The old hedges had started to die one by one and removing them was the best thing I could have done. It really opened up the space and we all used the top level so much more... lots of mini soccer matches and lounging on the bench with a glass of something good as the sun went down.
So what have I learned from my last garden (apart from the fact that I still have a lot more to learn about gardening)?
I don't like too much green on green and would much rather have a colourful, productive space - more fruit and flowers next time. The pink roses around our new house make me smile each time I catch a glimpse.
I do like the back hedging, a combination of pittosporum (the lighter slightly grey leaved plant) and griselinia - a glossy green hedge plant that thrives in Auckland and would no doubt hate life in dry old Melbourne.
I do love the colour of the brickwork. Before the previous owners painted it was a mess of sandy coloured bricks and sandstone and hideous grey blockwork. The colour is Resene's Fuscous Gray and I will use it again.
I was going to say something clever about the idiocy of paint colour names and then looked up the meaning of fuscous... after two years of sniggering whenever I heard it today I find out it means 'dark brownish grey'. Another lesson learned.
