Makeover magic
Editor Liz Potter bids goodbye to her ugly concrete pavers to create a colourful gravel garden instead
MY SUNNY LITTLE back garden was a leafy delight in lockdown, but there were a few frustrations – largely to do with its bitty, incoherent design. Unable to take an overseas holiday, at last we had some spare cash to address the elephant in our outdoor room – about 9m2 of unsightly grey concrete pavers.
Unsure what to do, I phoned a friend – design guru Louisa Gilhooly – to ask her advice. She put me in touch with a local contractor who power-tooled out the pavers and laid some chic new grey gravel instead, edging with Everedge to keep the gravel off two sparkling new planting areas. It only took a couple of days but the improvement has been dramatic and the garden looks so much bigger without a confusing mish-mash of different paving.
Hidden under the gravel is a layer of landscape fabric covering sections of topsoil and well-rotted manure, all ready for when I get a chance to plant into the gravel. I’m so excited!
New black limestone stepping stones strike out across the semi-circular design, and I’m hoping to extend the existing planting into a theatrical sweep of colour that looks good all year round. I’ve already bought three perky little evergreen Hebe rakaiensis shrubs and some Echinacea purpurea.
We’re having some new lighting installed too – spotlight spikes for the multi-stem trees and a set of circular decking lights, which will be recessed into the sleepers along the side passage.
Mr Potter will be very pleased when he takes the rubbish out this winter! ✿