A question of good taste or va va voom!

Gardening and decorating are sometimes a balance of good taste or va va voom. This spring it has been a question of  a) should i plant restful, romantic, delicately interesting, planters or opt for b) all out va va voom! Decisions, decision - what would I feel comfortable with to decorate my life, let alone my garden? and so like most people I opted for a compromise a quick fix of fashionable for the short term and a classic combination for the long term.

For the terrace coming towards the front door, I choose a vibrant mix of spring flowers, only partly anchored by the blue repetition of the err vibrant blue Hyacinths and for an urn that we managed to drag back form the Italian Garden in a wheel barrow, where it largely went un noticed, a frothy delicate frou frou Hydrangea redolent of romantic Victoriana.

I must say that I choose my spring pots after looking at the Easter weather forecast to cheer everybody up after the long hard winter and hoped that they would give the added bonus of filling the evening air with the delicate scent of the Hyacinths. Bright and cheerful I left the bulbs in their original little pots and will distribute them in a rather less technicolour order through the garden for next spring, when they have finished flowering. The  urn however was more of a long term plan - i originally made the little alcove nearly twenty years ago in the little sunken courtyard behind the hall and had always planned to put an urn their one day ......and the years passed and occasionally i would look out of the hall and think "yes urn" and then move on but this year the courtyard has acquired a sightly Victorian air  of mossy ferns and draping palms and again my thoughts turned to planting a centre peace to the halls window view. An urn it had to be and finally my eye alighted on an old urn bought from David Lays sales and driven home in the passenger seat of our old Volvo many years ago and voila a more long term fruition of a restful fancy. (Indecently top tip if transporting an urn - don't! or at least don't rely on draping a seat belt around it as it only tightens when you put the brakes on - lesson learnt!)

So there you have it, a compromise of taste and pizazz - great to kick over the boundaries sometimes but nice to come home!

I painted the mock arches on the wall many years ago
(also myself and the dog)

I've tried to make the little space as interesting as
possible with lots of contrasting foliage shapes

The pretty white Hydrangea

Last years tulips that I planted in the car park have done well again
and really do reflect the light
particularly when guests come in after dark

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