The garden itself is situated in a town called Stockport, which is about six miles south of Manchester in the northwest of England. The environment is very much one of suburbia, very built up, but with a wide variety of gardens and a good mix of housing. Our soil is based on sand, so dry periods are very trying and becoming increasingly so as our summers get drier.
It all started some time ago now. When we moved into this house in March 1974 the garden at that time (if you could call it that!) consisted of a lawn at the front with a rather handsome alder tree; the back garden was completely flagged with concrete slabs, where the previous owner parked his sailing boat!
After a year or two, I slowly became interested in gardening. In the front garden I planted a mixed hedge, comprising hawthorn, berberis and holly. I planted another alder tree in the lawn and started making beds. In the back garden the first thing we did was slowly remove many of the slabs to create planting areas, put in a prunus tree and put down an area of hard wearing bricks in the centre to make walking around the garden easier.
At first, the garden was strictly for the birds and the bees - a wildlife garden using native plants - so I grew some rather frightening "plants" like a nettle bed, hemp agrimony etc. We dug out an area near our back door for a pond and sat back and waited for Nature to do the rest. She did! It became something of a wilderness in no time! This was a low-maintenance garden all right. But, I grew restless for more colour and variety. So I started to plant "exotics," slowly at first, a few bulbs, then single flowering varieties of hybrid perennials for insects. When the roses finally went in I just knew I was hooked.
So, I've been gardening "properly" for about fifteen years now and, as for most people, it has become an all-consuming passion. Having a tiny garden is very frustrating at times because you just don't have the space to grow all the plants you want to. So I solve this problem by growing plants up and over shrubs. Clematis are one of my favorite plants for this and, for example, a large rambling rose up the alder tree. This way I can maximize the space. Once you have covered the ground, the only way is up!
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