We have a small semi which we bought in 1972. We had three kids who liked to play in our garden which was half lawn and half veg with an old cedar greenhouse. As it's only 90 ft in length, we got rid of the veg and the greenhouse and grassed the lot. Over time we got into gardening, but I had a long term plan. We decided on a pond in 1976 and I built a crazy terazzo patio over a concrete raft I had laid and had our first pond. I built a quadrant shaped retainer for a small preformed pond and capped the edges with terazzo. Leaving the rest of the garden to lawn and a side border In1985 when all the kids had left home, I got rid of the small pond and built this 18" deep goldfish pond and relaid the patio and paths with crazy York stone. In 1986 I got the "koi bug" and dug out the pond to five feet. I put a pergola between it and the garage to compliment the one I put on the back of the house the year before. To complement the pond I built these in 1987, from concrete in molds I made. Just like making sand castles. First this. Then this, Then a bit more adventurous, this, a 6ft pagoda Then even more adventurous Our Japanese tea-house, really a glorified shed/summer house, but I think a bit more attractive. For the last ten years it has housed my two vinyl jukeboxes. I had the koi pool filled in this year as it developed a serious leak and had it flagged over. The koi went to a good home, a neighbour two doors away who has a fairly new pool. We took them round a few at a time in this my fibreglass "pram" as a few were over two feet in length. So now we have this, apart from no water it doesn't look that different. No changes apart from the plants since then It's all about the aspect from the the French windows in our lounge. My wife has MS and spends a lot of time in a chair but she has a pleasant vista. There's a lot of lighting in the garden including the Japanese lanterns. She can turn them on and the fountain from four switches behind the lounge curtains.
Oh my Riley your garden is absolutely fantastic!! I want to live in it. I've always had a 'thing' about Japanese gardens and just wish that mine could look half as good as yours does.
Definitely love your pagodas! The pond looked beautiful but all good things do come to an end at some point Course your NEW area looks phenomenal too
Hi @Doghouse Riley I'll call you Riley for short like Eileen i love how you've kept all your captures through doing your garden..hubby as the same for ours. Shame about your kio pool but it still looks as good and your fountain makes it special. What i like the most is the lovely arrangement of flowers in such a gracious display
Just reading back through this after seeing an "alert" I noticed the photos of my 6ft pagoda isn't showing, well not to me. So here's a few I made this over a couple of weeks doing an hour or so each night. I used lots of different home-made molds for all three storeys, just cutting them down to make them smaller. Not that different from the lanterns. It has weathered a bit over thirty-two years as although it's concrete, the outer skin is just sand and cement mortar. As there was far more detail in it than the lanterns, painting it every now and then slows down the weather errosion. I even tried to simulate the pin joints that would hold up the roofs. The sorin on the top was the most difficult bit. It's made from drilled out brass cupboard handles, shower curtain rings, milk carton caps, a shaving foam cannister cap, a couple of beads, a drilled out plastic garden spike at the top and a steel threaded rod. Here it needed a re-paint, but it did get one. It's survived in all weathers.
Your garden's history, even though it's from a thread four years ago, is a testament to your dedication and creativity in landscaping. The journey from a mixed garden with a cedar greenhouse to the beautifully transformed space with ponds, patios, and even the addition of a pergola is truly inspiring. While your garden's history is fascinating, have you ever thought about complementing it with a summer house from https://www.scottsofthrapston.co.uk/summerhouses/? Even though your thread is a bit older, their summer houses could still be a charming addition to your garden, providing a cozy space to enjoy your outdoor haven.
