What would you do with this garden?

[Cotherstone]

The old EA photos make it look nice, but the previous owners took all the pots with them (obviously) and the honeysuckle and clematis has been cut back so radically at one point that it's barely flowering this year. The random bit of bamboo appears to only be there to block their view of the neighbours trampoline - plus I hate bamboo. The patio slabs are old, and the sleepers holding the patio up are rotting. Basically, we need to do something for next summer to make it more enjoyable.

Plus the bizarre hedge is now entirely dead from box caterpillar that killed it in about 3 days when we were on holiday...

I was thinking a new patio in dark tiles, out the French doors and also to the left, where there were loads of pots and a planter but is now bare, as that left spot gets the most sun and would benefit from a good sofa table set. Rip the hedge out, and maybe just keep that gravelled with something big and slightly unkillable in a pot, as a feature?

We can't do too much in terms of landscaping because of difficult access and restrictive covenants, sadly.

Any good ideas? I promise you, these photos are all style over substance and it's really not a tempting courtyard right now!

your photos are tiny and hard to see, but a few things

• honeysuckle and clematis will almost certainly grow back - give them time and feed them with plant feed


• get a few pots of your own and fill them with something you like. I find hardy fuschias are decorative, low maintenance and v easy going.


• take out the bamboo and plant a nice tree. A crab apple or Sorbus would work in that space, with flowers and berries.


• what about a little pond in the middle of the gravel? with some irises near by.


• Alternatively, if you look in the garden centre for 'alpines', you will find lots of little pretty flowers that grow well in gravel. Also, google 'Beth Chatto Gravel Garden' for ideas of plants that will grow well in place of the box hedge.

Bamboo rustling is lovely..

You will definitely get more replies about this on the gardening section. I would go full Beth chatto gravel garden plant some lavender, tall grasses and verbena and a couple of roses into the gravel.