The Mystery Tree

Near the bottom of our garden, and right on the border with our neighbours, is a large tree.

As the leaves have developed, I'd hoped to be able to identify it, but I have to admit, I'm stumped.

I thought at first it was a lime tree - the leaves are a similar shape, but they are thicker and now there are some fluffy looking flowers to further confuse me.

So far, the websites I've checked haven't been able to help. Here are some pictures:



The tree itself is tall with quite a narrow canopy (although I think it may have been roughly cut back at some point.

As you can see, it's covered in ivy, so it's hard to see the bark, but I managed to get this close-up. It's slightly rough and a browny-grey colour.

Here are the leaves - these ones are not quite fully mature. They round out a little more and are quite large - roughly 3-4 inches across at the widest point.

Finally, these are the flowers (lots of which are dropping off right now). They are approx. 2-3 inches long. They have this cottony fluff and little black bits inside. Here's a close up:

Any ideas? I'd love to know what it is, so please add a comment if you can help.

Starting my Garden Design Course

Last week was the first of 6 sessions on my Garden Design course.

We've been talking about styles and also have our first homework - to measure up our gardens!

Luckily it has stayed dry and I have managed to produce this:

Tonight's lesson involves turning this into a usable scale diagram. Let's hope I haven't made too many mistakes, although I suspect there are a couple of miscalculations due to taking the easy option of counting fence panels.

Meanwhile, in the garden itself, the leaves are coming out on the trees and one of them is just about to burst into blossom - I promise to take a picture to share for next time. With warmer weather, finally the grass has started to grow and it's now looking nice and lush. One slight concern is whether our extension lead is long enough to enable us (I mean, hubby) to mow right to the end of the lawn!

Also starting to grow are the inevitable dandelions and dock leaves - plus some bluebells which seem to be the only bulbs we have.

I have my fingers crossed that, by next week, I'll be able to report our first meal eaten outside - although I may settle for a glass of wine......

A few visitors

Our garden may still be a bland space, but it's attracting lots of visitors.

First up was next door's dog who managed to find a gap in the fence and take the opportunity to have a mad run around. However, he then made a dash for the front (we don't have a side gate yet) and straight for the road - followed in hot pursuit by our neighbour. Chicken wire seems to have solved the problem for now.

There's no keeping out the neighbourhood cats however - we've counted 5 regular visitors already. And this doesn't include our own, Freddie, who has been staying tucked up indoors while he gets used to his new home.

We've had a few squirrels, but so far birds have been limited mostly to wood pigeons and magpies. I have seen a pair of coal tits and there are other birds around. However, without binoculars, my eyesight hasn't managed to identify anything small with confidence.

Then, the other morning we were greeted by this fox

who had a good sniff around before wandering into the next garden.

Can't wait to see how much more wildlife we attract when we actually start growing things.

Help is at Hand

It's now 3 weeks since we moved in and I have to admit that the only thing we've done in the garden so far is to mend the fence panel which came down in the high winds and put up a rather ugly, but necessary, storage unit.

But I have taken the opportunity to take a closer look at the garden and discover some of its quirks. For starters, it's not as flat as I first thought. And the lawn is distinctly lumpy - so no chance of practising my golf putt (OK, that was pretty unlikely, even if it had been Augusta standard). We'll have to wait to see how it grows once the weather finally warms up, but any areas we decide to keep as lawn may well need replacing anyway.

Secondly, only a small area will be sunny throughout the day. The house and relatively high fences plus the mature trees in the surrounding gardens means that most areas will be shady. So I'm unlikely to have much choice in the position of the sunny patio I have in mind.

And I still have no idea where I'm going to put the shed.

All rather daunting.

Then I spotted an advert for a garden design course run by Fat Grass Garden Design - 6 weeks learning to plan your own garden. Perfect! Not only does it cover all the things I want to know but it's being held just down the road and starts in a couple of weeks.

So all decision making is on hold and I can spend the next couple of weeks thinking about the elements I want to include without worrying about practicalities.

Moving In

Finally, we have moved in to our new house.

Needless to say, most of the last few days have been spent unpacking. Inevitably, first out were the Christmas decorations (most important in March), while it took 24 hours to find the feet for the sofa so we could finally sit down and relax!

There hasn't been much time to think about the garden, except to admire the blossom and appreciate the view from our French windows. Unlike in our previous house, it's lovely to be able to see the garden from the living room.

The main thing I have noticed is the number of mature trees in the neighbouring gardens - and the cockerel living somewhere nearby who keeps crowing. Not exactly what I had in mind when moving to the city!

Choosing a Style for my Garden

The first task I've set myself - before I even start putting plans on paper - is to decide on an overall style of garden.

Now, I've always rather fancied having a Japanese style garden. Serene water features, oriental statues, bonsai and perfectly pruned maples.

photo credit: **Mary** via photopin cc

But somehow it just doesn't seem right for a suburban back garden in Manchester. And I suspect rather high maintenance, not to mention cost.

So I've had to look for rather more practical options.

I'm not really a country cottage person - although I do love climbing roses.

At the other extreme, an ultra contemporary design with lots of hard landscaping seems a little cold and unnatural. Not to mention straining the budget to bursting.

A wildlife garden has it's appeal - and I certainly want to include some wildlife friendly plants and features - but many of the examples I've seen do tend to be, how can I put this, a little scruffy at times. Wonderful in summer but less attractive in winter.

photo credit: London Permaculture via photopin cc

So what I've decided is to go for a style I'm going to call "Urban Oasis". Lush with touches that reflect its city location (not exactly sure what yet).

I'm using Pinterest to collect some ideas. If you haven't discovered this yet, I'd recommend it, although it can be very addictive. If you'd like to follow my garden board, click below or the box in the sidebar - I'd love to follow your garden boards too.

We have Blossom

I made a short visit to the garden this week - we are having some work done on the house before we move in and I'm staying some distance away.

Identifying the existing plants is always an intriguing part of a new garden and I wanted to see if anything unexpected was coming up. So far, it doesn't look like the lawn is hiding many secrets - no sign of snowdrops, crocuses or other bulbs.

But some of the trees are starting to come to life with some early blossom.

Not a great picture but it was very grey and overcast and these trees are pretty tall so the camera was pointing up into the sky. I'm guessing these are some variety of prunus but I'm going to need a closer look and probably some leaves to identify them.

Also coming to life is this stump which is displaying remarkable resilience and throwing out some stems which are in bud. Any ideas?

It doesn't look like I'm going to have many constraints when it comes to design - all the trees are at the edges of the garden and I should be able to work around them.

I don't plan to do anything for a while until we see which areas get sun. So for the next few weeks, I'm going to be thinking about the style of garden I want and the features I want to include.