Our Own Bit of Paradise

When we renovated our house back in 2000 we inherited a piece of property which could be described as having very good potential. The old lady who previously owned the house obviously could not keep up with the garden and it was very wild and overgrown. Our first step was to hire a group of men to go on a search and destroy mission through the blackberry brambles. It took the three of them a whole day and many scratches but we were happily surprised to see that we had much more land than originally thought. The potential I spoke of consisted of two major elements - gorgeous mature trees and an ocean view along the 120' width of the property. So after the house renovation was complete we set out to make the garden of our dreams. Now keep in mind that neither of us had any gardening experience to speak of. What we had was imagination and vision though and luckily we both were very drawn to the "English cottage garden" idea. Magazines and books show incredibly beautiful gardens and we bought into the idea hook, line and sinker. I have to say that this garden has cost us thousands (I'm not exaggerating) of dollars and so much hard work - way beyond the ordinary weeding and mowing. But in the months of May and June when it comes into its full glory I think it was worth every penny and every drop of sweat.