Today's video is a midsummer garden tour of Annmarie and Andrew Swift's beautiful and truly unique 11 x 15m urban creation just north of Walsall, near Birmingham. Faced with challenges including a north-facing aspect, heavy clay soil, a high water table and being overlooked - with clever design, hard work and beautiful planting, managed to succeed and created a beautifully lush and diverse garden offering privacy and beauty through the seasons. A lush and leafy forest garden with areas of exotic and tropical style planting, greets NGS visitors, with multiple water features including two waterfalls, over 70 trees and 200+ shade-loving ferns, this really is a special garden proving just how much you can do with a small garden if you really like green! As we walk around the garden, we talk about small garden design tips, shady foliage plant ideas, building creative garden structures, encouraging wildlife into a small garden to control slugs, top advice for creating pondless waterfalls and what this beautiful space means to them.

FIFTY shades of Green Facebook Page:   / 50sogtheswifts  

Visit Annmarie and Andrew Swift's Walsall garden through the NGS: https://findagarden.ngs.org.uk/garden...

More info and background on this urban forest garden from Manoj Malde Garden Design https://manojmaldegardendesign.co.uk/...

0:00 Intro
1:22 Fifty Shades of Green - challenges, opportunities & personality in a north-facing garden
3:36 The evolution of a small urban garden, from Japanese influence to an enclosed forest garden
4:52 Over 70 trees in a small forest garden and garden design tips for privacy and atmosphere
7:05 From one pond to a garden full of water features, waterfalls & wildlife
9:07 Spanish moss, foliage plant ideas and creating a natural looking garden
10:06 Upcycling and building a DIY garden gazebo structure with custom lights & artwork
13:43 Beautiful multiple head tree ferns & Dicksonia antartica care tips including watering & feeding
18:56 Gunnera x cryptica - a tip for controlling the leaves and manicata / tinctoria hybrid identification?
21:14 Making the most of sunny planting areas & creating a garden journey
22:04 Soil improvement & amendments for creating a north facing garden on heavy clay - challenges & tips
25:03 Water features monolith & pondless waterfall - tips, planting, encouraging wildlife & inspiration
28:13 Eucalyptus & Quercus dentata large leaved Oak tree
30:16 Encouraging wildlife into a small garden & natural slug control with frog population
32:09 Levels, diffusers, soakaway crates & top tips for creating a natural pondless waterfall water feature
36:41 Beautiful shade planting, ferns, creativity & upcycling / recycling garden ornaments
43:29 Delayed flowering in shade, trees for year round interest and underplanting
45:30 Koi pond with exotic plants and managing trees in a small garden
51:40 Tropical style planting area, creating privacy & atmosphere in an urban forest garden

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Thanks,

George