It may not be Chelsea but...

For a neglected garden & neglected plants we have a pretty impressive show each summer.  Our strawberry plants are hardy, they are left to their own devices each year and spread and fruit without fail.  Fonzy has discovered that if he drags a trike over to the wall he can reach the strawberries and have his fill!  The older ones were convinced that the plants had let us down this year until they saw for themselves that he was in fact 'nicking' them!

Our rose bush.  When we moved to the house some 12years ago it was wild, out of control and in the wrong spot.  We all scratched ourselves on it and it was viewed as a pest not a thing of beauty.

So at the end of one summer we were brutal, we trimmed it down to the base, took the dead wood off, up-rooted it and moved it to an actual flower bed. (well the raised wall, the only place were plants really have a chance of surviving the children)

We in honesty weren't optimistic about its chances of survival HOWEVER it sulked for the first summer, not really flowering but growing non the less.  From then on its gone from strength to strength and is now back to its wild state.  The only pruning it gets if its lucky is at the end of summer when we trim some dead wood off.

The smell in the garden when you walk past it is so potent, it hits you in dreamy blasts.  Ive taken a few flowers off to have indoors and have enjoyed coming downstairs the the scent in the mornings.

Jasmine or Honeysuckle?  When we moved in the garden was a rubble mess, we turfed the grass and not being gardeners were at a loss as to what else to plant.  I decided that I would like the garden to smell nice, I knew that the chances of me turning out show stopping beautiful flowers was non existent so figured I'd go for a nice smelling garden.

My sister arrived one evening with a pot of honeysuckle, a pot of jasmine, a pot of spearmint and a pot of mint.  I planted them all near the steps so that when we walked by we could give them a nudge for the smell.  Like everything else its all gone wild.  They have taken over the fencing, intwined with eachother and I can no longer tell you what is what.  The smell is quite heady this time of year, they sit close to the terrace and when the doors are open the smell wafts through.

Ive been trimming lengths off and laying them through the house to fragrance the rooms with wonderful results.

Finally the lavender bush.  Not in bloom yet but another transplanted and totally wild plant.  It produces a very impressive and useful quantity of lavender each year.

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Over one fence is a wild growing embankment, I'll take a photo to show you but we have such a wonderful array of bugs, lizzards (honestly), slo worms and even a fox who sunbathes amongst the the nettles.  A little wildlife haven in a very urban area.

Nothing in the garden will win prizes and a true gardener will tut & mutter about how out of control it all is, others will look and see an unkept garden but what I see are the children happy and free to play in a place of safety, toys scattered across whats left of the grass tell me they've had a good day, their interest in bugs & all things creepy and their appreciation of the wonderful flowers we have.  It aint Chelsea but it is very pretty :)