What would you do?

[ohmygoodnessss]

Relatively new home and we are trying to sort the garden / jungle out and make it easier to manage. We have fenced off this area of the garden to stop young dog escaping. Thinking of digging this lot up and putting grass down (it was originally grass I think and made into bed by previous owners). Would you grass over? It looks so unsightly and we don't have time to manage it.

You have some gorgeous evergreen herbaceous perennials there that just need mulching underneath once a year and enjoying for 364 days of the years
why on EARTH would you dig them out

and why can the dog not hide under them

Disagree that it's unslightly

If its more of a maintenance issue then yeah grass.

I think it looks lovely

That’s not unsightly! It will be glorious come next spring. There may be bulbs in there too; leave it a few months until you know what you’ve got.

Thanks I was thinking of moving the larger plants to the borders where there are some bald spots. We are garden novices!

I would leave the garden for at least a year after moving in before doing anything substantial to it - you need to see what's in it and what it's like through the seasons.

There's a little RHS book on pruning which you might find useful in terms of maintenance work to do on shrubs.

We dug out a corner border of shrubs this year (been here just over two years) because they were completely overgrown, a buddleia was encroaching on the living room window and everything had grown into a huge tangle. I've replanted it with things we like.

Everyone is different ,I know someone who's idea of a perfect garden is manicured grass and no plants .

But I think if that is a chosen aesthetic then concrete it all over and jet wash every few months .Concrete would be low maintenance .Grass will be hard work and I doubt it would thrive under the tree .

I would love a garden like those in the pictures .I hope you will come to love it .

What you have is lovely, and low maintenance. It's plainly been planted because it grows well, unlike grass, which is a lot of work to keep looking good and doesn't grow well under trees.

Beautiful plants - agree with pp to leave for a year and see what there is.