Redesigning Garden

RAS

Ok, this morning, put a cane in the sunniest spot in the garden, then look at the view; back to the house or across the garden. At lunch-time do the same, and then this evening. On a temporary basis, place a chair, stool or bench in each location, even if the bench is a plank resting on 2x4 bricks. 

And think of the shady patio as a cool retreat for yourself and the dog in the heat of the summer. In the short term, astilbe, astrantia, aquilegia, campanula, foxglove, geranium (cranesbill), preferably pale shades, could brighten up that corner. 

Now think about how to connect up those spaces? Spend time with a cuppa at different time of the day?

Farway

RAS said:

Ok, this morning, put a cane in the sunniest spot in the garden, then look at the view; back to the house or across the garden. At lunch-time do the same, and then this evening. On a temporary basis, place a chair, stool or bench in each location, even if the bench is a plank resting on 2x4 bricks. 

And think of the shady patio as a cool retreat for yourself and the dog in the heat of the summer. In the short term, astilbe, astrantia, aquilegia, campanula, foxglove, geranium (cranesbill), preferably pale shades, could brighten up that corner. 

Now think about how to connect up those spaces? Spend time with a cuppa at different time of the day?

Quick alternative, use Google Earth Pro [free], poke in your address, zoom in, across the top of the image is a row of icons, one of these [hover over] is a sun with cloud "Show sunlight across the landscape]

Click and using the slider which popped up you can see the shadows as the day goes by. There's a spanner top right of slider box to fiddle with settings, say Dec V July

Woolsery

Farway said:

RAS said:

Ok, this morning, put a cane in the sunniest spot in the garden, then look at the view; back to the house or across the garden. At lunch-time do the same, and then this evening. On a temporary basis, place a chair, stool or bench in each location, even if the bench is a plank resting on 2x4 bricks. 

And think of the shady patio as a cool retreat for yourself and the dog in the heat of the summer. In the short term, astilbe, astrantia, aquilegia, campanula, foxglove, geranium (cranesbill), preferably pale shades, could brighten up that corner. 

Now think about how to connect up those spaces? Spend time with a cuppa at different time of the day?

Quick alternative, use Google Earth Pro [free], poke in your address, zoom in, across the top of the image is a row of icons, one of these [hover over] is a sun with cloud "Show sunlight across the landscape]

Click and using the slider which popped up you can see the shadows as the day goes by. There's a spanner top right of slider box to fiddle with settings, say Dec V July

If everyone did this, some houses wouldn't sell so quickly!

ceewash

Lots of great ideas. Love a spot of pruning, weeding, planting. You lot have given me ideas to get started with. Moving garden chair round with cup of tea sounds a good place to start now its stopped raining.  I'm also going to start sketching it out. 

ceewash

RAS said:

Ok, this morning, put a cane in the sunniest spot in the garden, then look at the view; back to the house or across the garden. At lunch-time do the same, and then this evening. On a temporary basis, place a chair, stool or bench in each location, even if the bench is a plank resting on 2x4 bricks. 

And think of the shady patio as a cool retreat for yourself and the dog in the heat of the summer. In the short term, astilbe, astrantia, aquilegia, campanula, foxglove, geranium (cranesbill), preferably pale shades, could brighten up that corner. 

Now think about how to connect up those spaces? Spend time with a cuppa at different time of the day?

The shady bit is a patio near to the house so has pots atm. I'll look up your planting suggestions though.

Racky_Roo

I designed my own garden. Went on Pintrest and looked at small low maintenance gardens as my key words. That gave me some clear ideas on what I liked and didn't like. Then I just made a list of what I wanted to include and started to plan out layouts and ideas for materials. Eventually it pulls together as an idea.

In terms of planting, I went to garden centres and wrote down names of plants I liked the look of, then I googled them when I got home to understand sizing, conditions they like to grow in and whether they were evergreens etc. Also asked friends and family about their gardens and recommendations.

I got some gardeners in to do the hard landscaping and fill the raised beds with soil, then bought a few plants to start mapping out how many i'd need and where to space them. 

2 thing I've learnt is; gardens take time and it's a bit of a learning curve. I'm on year 2 and so starting to switch out plants which aren't working in their locations and either moving them or replacing them. The second thing is gardens are very expensive to do initially but well worth the money. I had some redundancy money to use but it came in way more than I had expected as I wanted good size plants to start with rather than waiting years to get the effect.

twopenny

Shady spot is a good place for pots, not too hot and sheltered.
Also think about shape for the lawn. I was going to make a yin yan shape but starting Feb scratch I did a frringe border, that grew and plants moved each year to better spots.
I tried to plan but without a workforce it's growing in parts. The very shady corner has recently turned into an irregular stepped path to a false door in the fence. Ferns, primroses, daffs, my woodland area visible from the settee in winter.
The otherside is hot so iris, peoney, fruit trees. 
The lawn is a rectangle with curved sides because a) that started by accident and looked good b) the lawn should be easy to mow. I have other things to do :-)
I think what I'm trying to say is apart from getting the right place to sit the rest can be moveable. You can change it as you wish so start with a small area you think you know what you'd like. 
For me it evolves, for my neighbour small flowering trees, bit of grass and patio. Neat smart never changes.
It's entirely what you want.