To be truthful it came to my ears that lots of readers wanted to see what I was sometimes talking of on line. My garden build .I did do a short blog on first start on the old cow pasture to hope of English gardens .
Well! here are a few of my photos that record some of the damage s man can do in altering natures plan to be wild.
Im not the greatest landscaper but I did have a full plan in my head and 5 years to do it . I have battled with nettles ,twisted 2nd World war tank lids buried in my proposed Iris bed.
Then the idiots who cut down forest woodland and released a herd of deer into my gardens . Overnight some 3000 euro worth of damage. Thought it a salad bar .Hedges of Tuja clipped to the very trunks . Roses cropped to ground . It was heart break and panic attack at daylight next morning .
I had worked day and night to build a garden set .I had ploughed in cash and had not planted a single plant until all borders had been made .Double dug weeded dug over again and finally black plastic and car tyres on top over winter and following Spring . Weeds kept coming up in furry .So spent months digging them out. Not until all had gone and only annual weeds remained did I dare risk build borders of flowers . Then this happened.

I spent all I had on fences and wire rolls . It worked so from seed planted up .The folly built and painted.
The above photo of main drive way with farm fields behind was blasted with deer that ruined hedges both sides so had to plant rose Rugosa hedge Hansa to right of photo behind sunny border as nothing was left of 5 year old Emerald green Thuja hedge .Some 23 trees devoured to stumps 6 inch tall from 5 feet high young plants .Fences only way around such a problem .Lost not just hundred plants over all but time lost growing hedges cant make up for another 5 years . Bambi was lucky it did not end life in my oven as payment for loss. Then people who chops forests down are more to blame I suppose
again. The hedges have not been replaced . Only what remained that could be saved are in the gardens now . Trouble is with fences weeds love to grow up them .Spray is my only weapon.
What you see in these photos is what took my plan to the winning line .Sheer grit and English determination .At 72 it was a feat I never thought possible. Then look at the land it has been wilderness perhaps since time began . A head on collision with a garden builder after 60 million years must have shocked Mother Nature as it took the strength out of me .

Im now on way to having my dream .A garden of beauty and just weeding planting pruning and mowing .A garden lovers job . A garden finished .
Then is a garden ever really finished ?

and plans and changes. For now I like to do a bit then sit and view . Do an hour more then tea and cake in my folly. “Tottering by Gently” as some one dear used to say . David Austin bred a rose using same name but it is too gentle for this set of gardens . Here, we are zone 5 but suffer minus 30c in winters . Summers of 32c .Hot and moist to very dry . Plants are all tested before being planted from pots and seed trays .
The work goes on and maybe next year my last big job the Roman water fall bath .
Thank you all for being with me reading this. Yours Sir Kevin.
Copyright Kevin Parr Bt2022


Reaching the festive season soon. So have a good rest and enjoy what you can. Here ,as in Britain greed has risen its ugly head. Food prices following Jeremy Clarksons stupidly nasty comment that all food was too cheap. All prices now up 200 % higher across the whole board. Winter heating briquets a ton…
Letter from Latvia, winter 2022
Hello to all . Christmas just around corner but we have started early with unexpected snow falls. Colder days now and still planting iris tubers in the warm insulated soils covered with inch of snows on fields and gardens . Time to rest in front of the great log fire in lounge room in house.…
Hero
Group leader Wing Commander of 617 squadron heavy bomber command Guy Gibson had flown 172 missions for RAF before taking over as Wing Commander 617 squadron .In 1942 he was only 24 years old and faced his greatest task .Bomber Harris and Churchill saw a need to stop German production of arms and machinery in…
I lost many of my old roses from England and was able by determined searches to find Canadian bred Morden Research station roses that can stand the winters here without cover. John Davis ,John Cabot are but two of the best roses to buy. Both climbers that can reach 10 feet x 10 feet . Here not a rose can cope where I grow these two explorer roses. Then Kordes of Germany roses. One or two can survive .I was surprised when finding Madam Le Gace de Sant Germain shrub rose as it is hard as old boots and a lovely old French rose of pink many petalled with yellow centres. It flowers all over and lasts 6 weeks . Scent it truly has
Solet an old lovely Moss rose also is a stunner and just as hardy. Big bush it makes and one treasure to find outside of France .Fabien
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