I have started watching a series called 'The Landscape Man' which is like 'Grand Designs' but with gardens in England. The first episode was about a chap who loves flowers and dreams to turn his flat 4 acre section into a valleys and canyons of wildflowers, a mexican garden with pergola, and ponds with bridges crossing them. He has a tiny budget (only 10,000 pounds!) and a year to do it.
He and his wife live in a glorified shed and pour all their money into their dream garden, while earning from nursery sales and lecturing on naturalistic garden design. The work starts, they do everything themselves with diggers and planting, except for hiring a few labourers to put up the pergola which is covered in adobe for their mexican style courtyard garden.
He has dreams, which the presenter wants to bring to reality, except, his dreams are too big and he gets carried away and blows his budget, so that part of the garden can't be completed. The presenter then suggest the wife has an exhibition of her paintings to raise money for the garden, which brings in some cash. This chap has a wild look in his eye when he's describing his dream vision, its all in his head and not on paper because how can you sculpt a garden on paper?
He decides to put in some ponds but then makes them too deep and they are more like wells. After talking some sense into him the presenter manages to reign back the enthusiasm so that his dreams can become a reality. The couple work so hard that his wife ends up getting snapping a tendon in her wrist and the husband needs to carry on planting alone.
All this is rather fascinating to watch. But the end result is truly glorious.
I'm inspired. Where this garden is exactly I don't know, (somewhere in Devon) but if I were in England I would like to meet this chap. After I meet Prince Charles of course and ask him what he thinks of spending your life savings on a garden.
