As it was, As it is!

The pictures above are of my garden as it is now. This is a very shady corner and not a lot grows here. No sun ever penetrates into the corner at all. Anything that grows above fence level will get either a bit of morning sun or evening sun or both! I have finally managed to get a fern to grow under the honeysuckle which grows at the rate of knots. And London Pride doesn't seem to mind never seeing the sun! The Honeysuckle is covered in blossom at the moment and the sound of bumble bees working the flowers is very pleasant and soothing.

This picture below is of the corner immediately after the Hawthorne tree was removed in spring 2007. As you can see the honeysuckle is barely making a statement. The small Hawthorne which remains looks dead! But it made a rapid recovery once the larger tree had gone. Look at how open the garden looks compared to how it is today.


This bottom photo is of the dead or dying Hawthorne tree and that corner before it went. In some ways it made a feature in that corner but also a lot of the garden remained in the shade because of it. I don't like bare fences and we are surrounded by houses so the seclusion provided by shrubs and trees is valuable. You can see in the top photo how quickly the hazel has grown on the left hand side by the obelisk. Hawthorne berries are reputed to clean out the arteries and hawthorne tea is good.I am still able to pick some even though the tree leans over our neighbours garden. My herbal says 'Hawthorne helps restore high or low blood pressure to more normal levels, and improves problems brought on by ageing of the heart, arterial spasms and angina.' Treatment takes several weeks; it isn't a quick cure and the common usage is by an infusion of the flowers or fruits.