List 1 - part a - shrubs I have

Having made her list of lists, Betty starting writing the first one. It was a list of all the shrubs that she already had in the garden.

The garden was only about 3 years old. So the previous owners were responsible for the existing plants. Not a bad collection she thought, if a little boring.

Spiraea 'GoldFlame' - nice shrub but why did they have to plant so many
Philadelphus coronarius 'Aureus' - lovely
Euonymus 'Silver Queen' - ok to fill space and to give evergreen interested. Needs controlling as is it taking over it's space.
Viburnum tinus - excellent shrub but infested with Viburnum beetle, so may have to go.
Mahonia 'Winter Sun' - great structural shrub.
Choisya 'Sundance' - not sure about this. And there are at least 2 of them.
Elaeagnus 'Maculata' - good for evergreen backdrop, but bit boring.
Salix 'Contorta' - interesting but ultimately will get too big.
Rosemary - ok
Pyracantha - being trained as wall shrubs. Can probably live with them
Photinia 'Red Robin' - nice but there's two of them, one has to go.
Hydrangea microphylla 'Rose Pink' - let's see what it does.
Pieris 'Mountain Fire' - wrong, wrong, wrong, needs acid soil.
Cistus 'Jessabel' - mmmm nice shrub but the soil is a bit heavy for it.
Escallonia 'Apple Blossom'


That's a lot of big shrubs for a small garden, thought Betty. And I haven't considered the ones I brought. Needs a good clear out. But could Betty ruthlessly cull the shrubs she didn't need or would she try to save them all?

Introducing Betty's Garden

When Betty saw her new garden she stopped smiling. The house....well, the house was lovely, especially the kitchen which was huge. But the garden - where was the rest of it, thought Betty.

There was grass at the back of the house and grass at the side of the house. And a small border in the furthest corner. The most interesting feature was the child's play house. Painted pink with curtains at the windows, it dominated the view from the windows.

But it was the best house (and garden) available. So they bought it, and Betty spent three months ignoring the garden. After all it was wet and cold and windy, and Betty definitely didn't do cold weather gardening.

But now it's spring and officially gardening season, so Betty has ventured into the garden and had a look around.

Small and boring, were her initial thoughts. But then some of the best gardens were small and definitely not boring. She just couldn't think of any right now.

And the daffodils had appeared. Lots and lots and lots of them. So cheerful and sunny. Perhaps this garden had potential after all. It just needed careful planning and patience. Betty could do the first but lacked the later.

Lists were what Betty did best. She listed the lists she needed to make - the plants in the garden, the plants she had brought with her, the plants she needed to by and so on and so on.

That was enough work for now. Time for coffee and biscuits.