If I get a new craft room, it’s only fair that M gets a new garden. This time, it really is a garden and not just a balcony. And it came with a handy evergreen hedge.
Not all of our plants and trees from the balcony came with us: some, like the cherry, were in pots which came with the flat and wouldn’t survive the move (either the plant or the pot). But we did bring the magnolia, which we’re hoping has overcome the shock of being removed uprooted and replanted.
We did bring some of the lavenders along with the bee hotels, which have been reinforced with winter-flowering heathers, and the magnolia has been joined by a fig tree. There has also been some autumn planting of bulbs from a mixed box of tulips, crocuses, irises, daffodils and other bulb-plants. M has started planting these, although he has found that the visiting squirrels are not content to just eat the birds’ food: they also dig up the bulbs. And eat them, and then cover the ground back over with leaves to pretend it wasn’t them.
The wildlife is a great advantage over the balcony, bulb-stealing squirrels included. We’ve put up several bird feeders – though it’s the squirrels who mainly can’t believe their luck – and there’ve been quite a few visitors, when they can get to the feeders. A surprising number of birds seem to be very messy feeders, which is just as well for the pigeons, who then wander around pecking at the ground.
Fairy Cake Living 