Show me your gardens for inspiration

[Lorddenning1]

We have just done a major build on our house, all lovely and we moved into our home in august. Now it's time to do the garden. It's currently a concrete mess, left over bits from the build and a horrible garage that is coming down.
We have had 2 people come round so far to give us quotes and designs but it's just the basics in the sense of a new fences, flags and grass, but I was wondering if you could show me pictures of your gardens for inspiration, fence colours, plants etc.
Here is mine now.

Back of the house, which now has doors and is finished.

First thing is to think what you want from your garden.

Play space for kids? Dog space? Sunbathing? Shady seating? Veg production?

Do you like to garden, or is it a chore?

Here's ours. It's never been a blank canvas so we worked with what we had, and it is very different to your space!

We splashed out on a sofa and chair set, which has made the patio much more usable. The fence is new, our back neighbours put it up at the top of our garden, (it's called hit and miss, and it doesn't have a "bad" side) so we replaced the side fence with similar.

It looks nice and private.

I have a back yard a bit smaller than that and I maximise it by growing climbing roses, ivy and clematis up every wall. Depending on which plants suit the way the wall is facing. I'm planning to add climbing hydrangea, jasmine and maybe wisteria this year to make all 4 sides as green as possible.

I have a fold away patio table and 4 chairs which stack away when needed. I have loads of different sized pots with various plants in including patio roses from David Austin, a real luxury and gorgeous. I put Virginia seeds around and they grow adorable little flowers from the cracks in the walls that keep coming back. Also love my window boxes and I cheer it all up with fairy lights and bunting.

We don't have space for any grass but there's plenty of enjoyable gardening ("yardening") to do in the pots and the bed at the side, and it's a colourful pretty space for sitting out and dc to play in.

Do you actually have decent soil? In your picture it looks like a lot of rubble and hardcore. If this is the case I think I might go for something involving more paving and pots, unless you want to replace the top-soil?

This is mine

4 years after make over

Love your garden, Fiorentina. What are the flowering trees?

@florentina1 Your garden is lovely and has given me some inspiration for mine which I am at a loss as what to do with. Its a similar size to yours too. Did you have somebody in to do the paving?

I'm all jungle perennials, it looks like the Somme at the moment.

@florentina1 I’d like to know what those flowering trees are also!!!

Resized photos, lawn needed cutting, but as I said lots of Stuff in mine - it's a perennial jungle, not for everyone

I love your statue! Very dramatic!

The flowering trees are Amalanchier. I got my landscaper from the Marshalls catalogue. If you download the catalogue you can put your post code in a list comes up. You don’t have to use the pavers. I had to go out of area.

I am not sure if it is still here, but I did a thread at the time with photos of the garden and plant lists.

The post was under my old name of Granny Garden. 10 December 2016.
It’s called “the landscapers are here, it’s better than the arrival of Santa”

It was so much nicer sharing the journey with the really knowledgeable and kind Mumsnet gardeners.

I thought they might be amelanchier.

I am really tempted, but we are quite chalky, not sure it would thrive.

Loving the pictures. Pictures of mine wouldn’t help though as it’s not the same kind of size.

I think you are right. They need a lot of water.

Hmm. Is it the water, or the alkalinity, or both, do you think?

I am really struggling to decide on a tree!

I am guessing it is the water. I think chalk is quite free draining. A brilliant site for choosing a tree is Barcham nursery. They are also very helpful if you email them a query.

I see one of their Chalk recommendations is Liquidambar. That is a beautiful tree. I would love one , but don’t have the room.

Hmmm. I am flirting with the idea of a judas tree. We have a gingko already in place. Now I shall go google liquidambar.

Sorry OP I hope this is vaguely helpful for you! Didn't mean to hijack your thread!

I remember you doing your garden florentina! What an inspiration.
envious of gardens that aren't overlooked.

Sorry @Lorddenning1
That looks like a potentially lovely space
Like others have said, make a list of what you want from the space..

Children's play area
Sitting out area
Pegging out washing?
Grass
Plants
Veg patch
Tree for shade

Measure it, make a rough outline of the space on a piece of paper and play about with lawn, borders, patio areas..
Take your time, see where the sun is at different points of the day.
Read loads, look at Pinterest etc for ideas

It will be loads of fun happy gardening