Revamping a large garden near České Budějovice - Landscaping
Revamping a large garden near České Budějovicejaro-podzim 2011
 The tavern was built in a Mediterranean style and was ment to be the centre of life in summer. It is fully equipped with modern kitchen and a large table for a lot of guests who can enjoy their meals with friends from May till October. But there was nothing planted nearby. Just the slope with a couple of nice Japanese acers and many unsightly weedy stuff was supposed to do the job. Honestly, it did not. |  The tavern itself was a beuatiful building that called for really classy planting to enhance its Mediterranean character. |  And the main task was to improve the slope which was right as you looked out of the tavern windows. |
 So I chose to take it as a complete concept that needed to be made in parts that would match one another as the visitor approaches the tavern. To bring the Mediterranean feeling we used many typical plants that are hardy enough in our climate (zone 6) such as bullbay magnolia, silk tree, lavender and santolina and many other small shrubs and perennials flowering in summer. |  The plants chosen were in good sizes so that the result was visible immediately after planting. |  The slope needed a radical job. I went for a solid wall decorated with the same type of stone-tiles that were used on the tavern wall. It looks fantastic, what do you think? |
 In my opinion the best feature of the Mediterranean style is this fastigiate Atlas cedar that is a perfect substitute for Tuscany cypress whci his not hardy here. |  And the beautiful stairway through the slope, surrounded by weedy stuff that looked like neglected garden of the Sleeping Beauty, also needed a lot of work. |  New flowering plants were decorated with Spanich pine bark mulch and grey-white gravel and suddenly it is a pleasure to walk the stairs down to have something nice to eat. |
 Before ... |  ... after. |  Shame the sun was hidden behind the clouds on the day the slope was finished and photographs taken - otherwise you could see the many flowers bathing in sunshine. |
 And as the customer was happy about what we have done we were asked to continue with the rest of the garden. |  Also the part of the right needed some green so we used Portugal laurel(right) and sweet olive(left). |  We also discussed that the house itself, too, could benefit from a little extra decorating. This view is rather dull, isn´t it? |
 So a new bed was made along the front wall of the house, filled with evergreen and flowering plants so that there was always something to look at. But somehow it still did not look complete ... |  Clearly! Stone-tiling was the answer. See how much better it looks now? |  |
 The next step was to revamp the front part. The property owner had just one wish all the time: it must flower and be colourful. |  So be it! |  And as it the entrance part my rule for this part of the garden is let it be evergreen so you can enjoy the plants 12 months in a year. |
 |  |  And looking at the front over the fence means good-bye ... or see you next year perhaps? :-) |
