We have been living at our new place for about 15 months now. It feels like progress on the new garden has been tediously slow. But then I look back through the photos!

The first small section that we tackled is at the back of the house. At one end of the 'entertaining area' was the clothesline. I figured that any entertainment was hardly going to be enhanced by the sight of my knickers flapping closeby, even if they were clean! And so the clothesline needed to be moved pronto.

My Sweetness and The Boy did the hard yards by putting up a screen, which would later hide the offending clothesline.

The white gravel was removed laboriously, with shovels and barrows. 

The soil here is truly awful - a very heavy yellow clay, with shale not far from the surface. It was one of my biggest concerns in buying this property, for fear that I wouldn't be able to grow a garden. In came some topsoil:

Eventually came the fun part - deciding on garden shapes and design. The boys welded and installed edging to my exacting specifications (!) and connected sprinklers. I couldn't garden without their help.

We seeded some fescue lawn and concreted in a few pavers for access. We inherited some garden statues from the previous owners. This maiden was rescued from under some bushes, and restored to her former water-bearing beauty!

Of course, roses were planted as a matter of priority. The advantage of planting a new garden is that I can experiment with new roses! This is Rosa 'Eye of the Tiger'.

A new garden also means I can plant old favourites, including the pink flowering crepe myrtle, Lagerstroemia indica x L. fauriei 'Tuscarora'.

And so, we sit and wait for plants to grow and settle into their new space.

 And we sip wine nearby with not an undergarment in view ;) Sweet!