Mount Stewart dividend

Another bonus from yesterday’s trip down the Ards peninsula was a (deep blue) hydrangea plant I bought at Mount Stewart, the last one they had. Most National Trust properties sell plants and I always buy something interesting when I’m there. On the way home, I bought a second (limelight) hydrangea at a nursery. Here is one of the problems I’m trying to address in the back garden:

When we took down the shed at the back of the garden, we were left with a dirt patch and a hole in the back hedge, through which we can see the neighbour’s car. In front of said dirt patch is a mish mash of plants I installed on another dirt patch, where the oil tank had been. The whole back garden is a mish mash mess. We have the dirt patch where the fish pond used to be--cleverly hidden behind a row of pots:

On the other half of the patio we have the cut up remains of the fishpond and a pile of rocks taken from the stone wall that surrounded the fish pond.

My office window looks down on the back garden and it breaks my heart to see it in such disarray. But every weekend, we manage to find something better to do than work on the garden. This weekend, however, David cleaned out the dirt patch, removing bricks and chicken wire. I removed lots of ivy wrapped into the hedge then planted the two hydrangea bushes. So, a bit of progress. We need to get a skip (aka Dumpster) to get rid of the debris in the back garden--and another large pile next to the house. And we want to shrink the surface area covered by square pavers. All in good time. We’ve only been here 3.5 years...
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