Flower Power

I picked this up from our Ring doorbell. Two passers-by enjoying our garden wall display using three of the five senses: sight, smell and touch. (the touchy, feelie plant in the video is a red-flowered thyme). See Stop and Smell the Flowers for more plant appreciation.

Video 1: Passers-by Enjoying the Flowers in our Front 'Garden'

We always try to make an effort with our 'front garden', especially since no other residents on our road bother. The outlook from our front windows is most definitely utilitarian (see Video 1) though our neighbour across the road very kindly installed three water butts to facilitate watering the 'front garden'. In return, they get to enjoy our flower display (Photo 1).

Photo 1: The Front Garden (28th July 2024)

We had our front wall rebuilt some 20 years ago to contain a narrow (10 cm) cavity in which we could grow plants. Some years are better than others depending on the amount of summer rainfall - manual watering (and feeding) is somewhat irregular and appears to be predominantly a male occupation as far as I can tell. Mary chooses the plants and is in charge of all horticultural practices.

We are especially pleased with the hanging baskets this year because these are usually the first to suffer from irregular watering and feeding!!

Photo 2: Right-hand Hanging Basket

Photo 3: Left-hand Hanging Basket

There are a few potted plants on the inside of the wall including sunflowers (not yet flowering) on the far left and far right (Photo 1 and Photo 4) ...

Photo 4: Flora inside the Wall

Apart from the onerous task of watering during hot dry spells, maintenance is kept to a minimum by growing mainly perennials plus a few annuals to spruce things up. Cats, of course, treat any bare earth as their toilet, moss is constantly falling off the roof and every loose crisp packet seems to be blown into the front garden. We also find an inordinately large number of pigeon feathers (Photo 4) for some reason.