The four-square garden revisited

Last May, I posted about making some adjustments my four-square garden, Country gardener: Seven-year-itch.

I had discovered that my laissez-faire style of minimal deadheading was letting too many thugish plants take over. We pulled out a lot of plants last spring, and in going through my pictures this winter, they really show that our work achieved the result we were looking for.

We will be doing some more plant rejigging this spring, as I think the Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' that are here also have to go now too. In the end, rather than the Piet Oudolf or Oehme van Sweden style I've adopted in the rest of the property, this four-square garden with its boxwood hedge (which got its first clipping last summer) will have a real English garden look.


It remains the most high maintance of all the garden areas we have, although I concede that my husband's rock garden is pretty heavy on the care budget too, but it, fortunately for me, is his exclusive domain.