A quick Garden Fix

When I looked at this bed in our garden, which is located at a North facing fence in December last year I "had enough". Something had to change! As you can see the bed is fairly narrow, which is a problem for planting any bigger plants there. The size is limited by a concrete border that previous owners of our property had put in, which is approximately one foot deep in the ground. Obviously it is not so easy to remove. Clearly I had to live with it until my husband and I have the means to take it out. Still I wanted to try to make the bed a little bit prettier and more interesting looking. Therefore I had only one garden wish for the recent holidays that I really wanted to be fulfilled: I wanted to fix that bed! Luckily my husband obliged and we got to work.

First we removed the green column that had fallen down to the ground and transplanted the Geranium maderense from the right side of the bed to the left.

Then we transplanted an 'Endless Summer' hydrangea into the hole that the Geranium maderense left. The hydrangea is quite miserable looking, because it came from a location where the root competition with the 'Queen Anne Palms' almost strangulated it, but I hope in its new place it will bounce back soon.

Next we placed a white terracotta sphere on the ground that I already had, but it was in an area were it did not make any visual impact.
 

The bird feeder got cleaned and filled.

Now comes the actual quick fix part: We simply positioned two 'Nuccio's Gem' camellias (white flowering) and a gardenia 'Veittchii' (also blooms in white) in the middle of the bed. Because all three plants are already growing in containers it is so easy to move them around in the garden in comparison to (trans-)planting a plant. Especially in our really bad dirt, which I refuse to call soil! 

Stepping a little further away...

... and voila, instant gardening gratification! When the camellias and the gardenia will bloom and the hydrangea has filled in it should look quite nice. But I like it already much better as it is! I am so happy that we did the mini-makeover of this bed! For an easier visual comparison I add the before-picture at the end again:

See you in the garden!

Christina