we're creating a childrens' 'Secret Garden'

19 years ago

I wanted to share a very new and exciting project we've started at our house. We reclaimed the left side yard (formerly the "junk" zone") to create a special garden for our children. We call it "the Secret Garden" as we are fans of the book and films. The size is 37 feet long and 5 1/2 feet wide. A challenging sized space to design for! The front entry way to the garden from the back garden has two five foot tall columns of brick that will have a concrete ball finials. The wood gate will have a keyed lock; with an escutcheon plate on the front side and a rim lock on the back. I had to do some web hunting to find this kind of lock! As there was no shade in this area, we've gotten three evergreen pear trees. I "interviewed" the children to see what they wanted for their garden. They want a place to read and play games. Our son (age 10 1/2) wants a small rock waterfall and pond, and a "rainbow" flower garden. Our daughter (age 12 1/2) wants a bed for vegetables. They both want mostly fragrant plants. We have a small arch that will have wisteria and thornless roses. I found a very nice stone birdbath at Filoli's gift shop. The children have been working closely with on the design plan and plants selected.We'll be able to have partial and full shade plants here, we have full sun everywhere else in the back and front yards- why we have so many roses! I've got a few pics of the garden in the early stages on my online Picture Trail album.

careytearose

Here is a link that might be useful: Secret Garden in progess - see Landscaping Projects album

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Comments (6)

newgardenelf
19 years ago
lovely work- is your husband a mason or do you own a brick factory LOL.....I'm impressed at how much work you put into your spaces- I wish I could just design it and do it but I keep changing my plans so DH just says- tell me when you're done so we only have to do it once....
careytearose
Original Author
19 years ago
Thanks for the encouraging words newgardenelf (love your name btw), my DH isn't a mason and we don't own a brick factory! We just know a guy from church that is a concrete and brick guy for a living. We had him do some brick work for us a few years back. We hired him and his crew to do the front yard work, the dig out and brick work for the children's garden, and is soon to be finishing up our slate patio in the back yard.

As far as designing, I like to draw it all out on 4 squares to the foot graph paper, counting tiny squares, using pencil and crayons (just for this project mom got a new box of 120 crayolas!) and my computer engineer hubby likes to use a CAD program! I have lots of various gardening and rose books I look at ideas from, and I just subscribed to the magazine English Garden. I got some back issues on evilBay. Some of my ideas are straight out of books, like the inner and outer circle design in the front. The front brick columns idea for the children's garden came about as at one time we thought about having tall brick columns as posts for the back patio pergola. The massiveness of all that just wouldn't work with it being a small yard and patio. These two columns are only five foot high, yet with concrete ball finials on top and a wood gate it will add to the idea of it being an old style of garden. Of course it didn't look like that in the films of the book! And the kids REALLY like the key and lock idea, to them that really makes it a special and secret garden. The idea of the brick step style(cantilevered), also came from the same book, "Garden Structures" from Smith & Hawken.

careytearose
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newgardenelf
19 years ago
cantilevered- that's my husband's favorite word. I love to read your writing about the garden I can see that you have a passion- I usually get paralized in the design stage. If I have a picture I can copy it or change it but I can't put anything on grid paper...thank you for sharing the names of books- I'll check them out.

Did you add a couple of pictures to your site-it looks further along?
careytearose
Original Author
19 years ago
Hi there newgardenelf! Yes a recent pic or two has appeared. The small arch you now see in the secret garden got yanked out of two square terra cota pots with roses Blush Noisette and clematis. We were going to plant them in the ground at some point anyway. This small arch fits in the SG area very well.The slate patio is now finished. Today is rototilling in the SG, DH is out getting gas to put into it. Its been pretty hot here today, so we are are getting a late start. DD found our residence toad (named Mr. Toadie) back there, and we've got him temporarily put in a bucket with a little water and a rock to sit on while DH is running the rototilling. DD videotaped him out in the SG for her science class. Will have to post a pic of Mr. Toadie on a post very soon!

careytearose
amandajf
17 years ago
please, please, please add some new photos. i would love to see how the garden looks now (realise this thread was started a long time ago and your kids probably don't use the area anymore - I expect you and your husband hide out there instead!)
lavender_lass
16 years ago
I love the idea of a secret garden :)

Although I don't have a way to hide the entire garden, I would like to include a secret entrance/exit to the kids' garden. Any ideas?