The Square Garden is a small, yew-hedged garden-in-a-garden in my plot in north Buckinghamshire, UK.
I first planted the garden about fifteen years ago, and a tried a great number of plants in it. But over the last two or three years, a mixture of weeds and neglect have taken over, and it's time I did something about it.
So I decided to renovate it: take out as many plants as I can, sort out the weeds, and replant it.
With most of the plants moved, I made a final check before killing off the remainder.
I reconsidered my decision to leave some of the large herbaceous plants where they were during the renovation. Having seen impressive displays of Cynara cardunculus elsewhere, I decided my pathetic little clump desperately needed some attention. It would be better to suffer the disruption of being moved twice than to leave it where it was for another season. I am glad I did. As I ...
The garden needs a thorough renovation to clear the weeds and work the soil. So I decided to move most of the plants out.
Of the 65 or so different types of plant growing there, I obviously wouldn't move the trees and shrubs. There were also some large hebaceous plants that I thought might be hard to transplant - a Rheum palmatum, Cynara cardunculus (cardoon), Eryngium pandanifolium, and Musa basjoo (hardy banana). Even if I do decide to move these, I would rather move them once, not move them out and then back.