Garden renovation

We are aiming for a very significant change in the landscaping and Roger is currently greatly enjoying himself cutting down absolutely everything. Somehow the pile of brush is not as impressive in the picture as it is in person. He bought the biggest loppers he could find--in part, I think, because he observed Hamish with similar loppers and there has always been a certain level of competitive tool ownership between them. Roger is very happy with his.

I will try at some point to figure out how to get the new design into the blog but for the moment you will have to trust me that the goal is to transform the landscaping from the rather scruffy azaleas in the right picture so something more like the bed of grass and Joe Pye weed, photographed at Wisley, on the left. We have a very good design by a local landscape architect and will follow it slavishly in the front of the house and not so slavishly in the back. She has drawn a design that removes all the bushes in the back that she doesn't like, including some very well grown ones. I prefer to work around what I have. In the azalea picture, by the way, are two colors--one that I like and will rescue and one that I dislike and won't.

The whole front will be grass of various types--and since I have never before gardened with grasses, it's been a steep and interesting learning curve. You do see them in local gardens a lot, although rarely by themselves. We'll see how it goes. The first step will be to put in a different and better fence, fence the vegetable garden and replace the concrete walk with stone like the patio in the back. We're waiting for our contractor to have time for that.

And I realize, looking back, that I've put in pictures of all Jean's grandchildren and none of Theo and Jenni who came from DENVER for a weekend in Scotland, which is a major effort. So here they are, both on the top of a hill with Mungo Drake (who led us on the hike, explaining how to avoid the bull) and at the evening party after the Games where we all drank champagne.