A little more metalwork solves the problem...

Those gates and that morning glory are just beautiful, clever man!!! The climbers are really lovely too

He's just brilliant, Sticki...all I have to do is give him a rough idea of what I want...and he makes it appear!

I will have to get around to painting that gate, though...at some stage...

I wish i knew someone like that!! its fantastic, just i have seen gates with decorations like that in it, i think edinburgh botanical gardens and i think they are silver, looks lovely and shines!!

Oh, silver sounds lovely!! I love that idea!

But, then I would have to paint all the rest of the metal-work that colour too...
...that might be a job for next spring though...!

maybe not ~ you could try just picking out the art work in silver and if you liked it do the rest later, silver on black might be rather nice??? have you seen the edinburgh gates?

I agree Karen that gate is lovely, get out there and paint it! Your garden is looking good hun. Beautiful day here and I'm finding it hard to get on with any work, just want to go home and cut the grass ;O))) x

No, Sticki - I haven't.

I just asked Ivan to make me a gate, to look like trellis - but not too see-thru - with a plant climbing it...and he came up with the rest!!

I definitely like the sound of the silver on black...not such a big job...painting out there in the heat is horrible. The paint goes chewy and I get burnt from being in the same place all day...

Hi Annie! Yes, I think you're both right!!!

Still wet here...4th day in a row...

...too late in the year for painting...it's either soaking or roasting now!!! :(

Great blog and great ideas from Ivan. He is an artist. OH keeps threatening to sign up for a class in welding as we could do with a lot of metalwork around here. We have a local blacksmith but we had to wait nine months until he could find time to come and hang gates for us. He is just too busy.

Ivan was a pro before, Sg. He's an engineer really.

He's always in demand but now he only does what he wants to do. He likes my jobs because they let him vent his creative side and he likes seeing them in place in the garden.

You should see his suspended wood-burners - they're terrific!

Your OH should take that class!

Oh what I could do with a man like Ivan!
LOVE that gate Karen and your pond area is looking fantastic. Can't wait to see it in a couple of months!

I'm living the dream, Lil!!

(why on earth did I even consider leaving all of this for the arm-pit of the universe????)

I'm hoping that the climbers will eventually fill out and spill over the pond giving it a bit of shade...but it'll be a shame not to be able to see some of the witches hat, though...

...might ask him to make a top-piece for it once everything's established... :)

I wondered the same thing Karen but for once, did not want to be rude ;)))

Someone who's been there and had been watching my garden go to seed, said to me after I got home...
'Well it's not the end of the world - but you can see it from there!' lol!!!

I'm so happy to be home! :)))

Lovely blog Karen, enjoyed seeing what you have done with it all. Your pergola looks super, and love the gate too. I have a friend who does metalwork, but doubt if I could get him to make something like that. But you never know...

Your garden looks good Karen....love all that metalwork...great blog. ;o)

Thank you Cinders and Alex :))

He usually makes it all in sections and then puts it together in situ, Cinders...

...and it's nice knowing that it's all quite unique! :)

How clever, the garden is coming along so well....and so quickly!

For my 'four pennoth' I like the gate as it is or the artwork picked out in silver rather than bright colours..........

WOW!! It all look so good! I love the pergola...Wish I knew someone who did metal work..

I think i will just have to sign him up Karen as he is always too busy. I'll have to give him the time off lol. I'm going to get my daughter down in Somerset to sign him up for a course in stained glass work for his birthday in October. He is very artistic and loves recycling things. The stained glass is the last part of the church left to be recycled. He was an engineer too.

Wow, Ivan is a whizz and that gate is totally beautiful, I dont think you should paint it at all, I love it just like it is. Also all the other 'bits' he has made are fantastic.

Love the blog karen and the metal work is great,you are lucky to know someone so talented and prepared to do it for you it`s fabulous.....

Thank you, Pam! That makes four of us for the silver vines!! :)

Thank you, Michaella!
The pergola is a 'must' in this garden as it gets belted by the sun all day (apart from a thin strip up the gable). A shady area is necessary. It should be completely covered in foliage by the end of this season...and a cool place to sit! :)

I hope OH enjoys his stained glass class, Sg :)
...but, it seems to me that metalwork would be the perfect thing for him...
It would combine all his talents and interests...especially if he used old, unwanted metal objects!

Thank you Grandmage :)
I quite liked it the way it was in these photos too - our stair bannisters (yep, Ivan) are untreated and look great!
But, unfortunately the gate was put in the week before I left for Africa...and something had to be done quickly to stop it rusting (I thought, at the time, that I was going to be away for years) so it's black now...silver highlights are the answer, I think!

Hi Numbty and thank you!
It does really make things more interesting - and easier -than trying to make 'off the shelf' stuff work...that pergola is bigger than my kitchen and the corner isn't a right angle. :)

Love that gate Karen :-), just reminded me of a garden near us, it did have a fabulous nursery were I bought lots of plants and a beautiful garden you could wonder round, unfortunately the nursery's closed now but you can still look round the gardens that also open for charity several times a year, I'd always admired the sculptures in the garden including a fabulous foxglove gate after asking the owner she told me it was her son who made them and gave me a link to his website, have a look and see what you think, the foxglove gates on there too, hate to think what they cost, I can dream though :-)
http://www.iaintatam.com/
The huge mushroom on the introduction page used to be at the entrance to the nursery :-)
Here's a link to the garden too
http://www.hall-farm.co.uk/

OH Wow! Simbad!! What a wonderful talent!

It's so good to see artists doing well!!!

I've got a degree in Sculpture and had a pottery with my ex for 15 years...it was hard going with small children to feed...so eventually I gave it up to become a teacher...

I so love to see success, though.

Luckily...I've got an Ivan these days...though I couldn't afford even his time on projects like that...
(but, now I'm feeling inspired...! Very scary! )

Wow....amazing - this was my Papa's trade - how I wish we still had him. I remember when I was wee all our neighbours had lots of things made for their homes and gardens.
Karen - what a difference you have made in such a short time - almost like something we should be seeing on Chelsea!!

It's a bygone trade...as a trade, these days, Scottish...
(ssh! Don't tell anyone but my family come from Scottish tinkers...)

I don't know about Chelsea, though...more Chalais (things grow faster here)! lol! :)))

We all come from somewhere K - all born the same way though - bare ar*ed!!

Exactly!! :))

i knew someone had put a picture of those gates on here somewhere, it was karensusan ~ last photo of the blog

http://www.growsonyou.com/karensusan63/blog/11944-edinburgh-botanic-gardens-the-return-visit

they are all silver coloured but i rather like that idea of silver on black ~ it Grows on You!!!!!! you could always do the flowers, and leave the leaves till later???

I've put this in three times now, Sticki...but, it won't find!! :(

sorry, i cant understand that ~ just tried it and it worked for me. you could try under karensusans blogs?
on my computer i highlight the link with left click then right click gives me the option to 'go to...'

brilliant Karen, love that gate, it'll look fab when painted up... great witches hat too, he's very handy to know :-)

Love your blog Karen, you have such fantastic ideas! Very creative :)

so creative and pretty - and the leaf strip has given me the idea what to use to hide part of uglier fence post - love these things

I am a technical dinosaur, Sticki...or so my children tell me...and they're nearly right - not completely, though - coz, I made it to here on my own!!!...

I have to be told about 'right click, left click'...and I'm thinking right now, 'OOh, so that's how a link works!'...I've been typing it in to the bar!!!! :/

Perhaps you can also help me to work the new mobile they all insisted I should get!! Though (confidentially) I shall let the battery go down and that will be the end of it!

Thank you, SL!
He's a very good friend! :))

Thank you, Sue!
I feel very, very lucky that I'm in a place to be able to realise my desires...and very, very thankful that I was put in a place which made me realise it!!! :)))

Inspired, Paul? ;))))))))))))))

Look forward to seeing the results! :))))))))))))

Has it worked now?

What sort of mobile? I think the touch phones are harder to use.

always inspired maybe too much by Goyers - no good for bank balance ;)

LOL! NO!!...
I got the local weather forecast!! lol!!!

But it is a French computer... :/

The new phone is a Samsung Wave?...due to be mislaid...shortly...

Lol! Paul...
You'll just have to eat spaghetti every night like me...! ;)))

you're very close to our huge high -hoping it buckles down to you too - we're on a battle ground next week high and hot - v wet windy trying to get in

spaghetti gets pasta joke after a while lol

Lololol!!! :DDDD
Already got the wet 'n' windy!!!!

The graphs show it getting better for you by Monday

The wooden shuttering and the cap make such a difference. You really are bounding ahead with your garden.

That metal work is wonderful, and your pond is coming along nicely. Wouldn't it be great if we all had friends like that :o)

My forecast says back up to 26° by next mid-week, Paul...is that right by your chart??

Sticki, I've just tried it again and I just got the 'cut, copy etc menu'...is it somewhere in there??

I did get a bit of help from OH and the boys when they were here, Sg...that front garden is full of clay. It makes hard digging...even for planting small plants...

Thank you, Hywel! There are quite a few people around here with unique talents. We used to have an ex-tree dweller, you know, like Swampy. He was so clever too...he built a car porch at our old house - just using huge oak beams, ropes and pegs. It was beautiful!

Karen, if you highlight the link it will appear on your browser bar and then just click on search and it will come up. After you read it click on the back arrow, top right, to take you back here.

Aha! I got somewhere that time, Sg...but it said that the search corresponded to no results...

It should come up so I'd try again, sometimes the internet gets its knickers in a twist and does not get it right.

Nope...still no result from that search...
I think I'll have to look back through KS's blogs...but, later when I've got a bit more time.

All fantastic hen! Lucky to have Ivan as a friend eh? :)

It makes such a difference, Pix!

I'm now thinking of the house name, up on the gable... ;)

love all the new metal work karen especially the flowery gate, great job, your pond is looking good to and much better for the make over, you should be very proud opf what you have achieved, enjoy :o))

That pergola is lovely and as you say you now have a smashing shady place to relax in Karen, I think the gate is fabulous, your man is very clever I don`t envy you having to paint it though, the well I cannot make my mind up, I like the first pic but can see what you mean about it looking sad later, I think when the planting starts growing and twining around the metalwork it will look completely different, mind you it does go well with everything else in your garden.
Its all coming along well and you must be pleased...

Karensusans blog was on 18th September 2010. She does do very interesting blogs by the time you read your way back to 2010 it would take you a long time to find it.

Thanks San...that's definitely the last extreme make-over I'll ever do! lol! :))

When we first bought the house, I was thrilled at the thought of having a natural spring in the garden, Lincs...but, that well-head has been an on-going head-ache for me...I just didn't know what to do with it...

It was 'giraffe' style crazy paving effect with a bit of French twirly wrought iron on top when we first moved in...and it sits at a jaunty angle due to the root of a long time removed weeping willow having ruptured it below soil level...
...hopefully once all the plants have got going, the level (or lack of it) won't be so noticable and the pond might get some shade... :)

Lol! Is that what you've been doing all day today, Sg? ;))

I must find those gates too......

Paul I just wondered with all the talk of battles between the highand low if you could give us another forecast......please..... ;0)

I've just found them!! Spectacular!

I couldn't afford them, though...even from Ivan...
...and what a paint job that would be!!!

I like yours better Karen the others are 'too buzy'.......

Thanks Pam! :))))

To find the blog all I did was highlight the link from Sticki and then when it appeared in the google bar clicked on search. It took me right there and I read the date to give to you. The Edinburgh Botanic Garden gates are spectacular because they are so big but I think what you have is much better for a domestic dwelling. Between you, me and the world I don't think the gates at EBG ever look as good in a photograph as they do in reality because there is so much else around them which softens they OMG feeling I got when seeing them in photos. I have been driven in by the sun. Unbelievable I hear you say but its true. We have had a Wimbledon week here in Scotland. I'll nip out for the strawberries later.

Lolol!! :)))

Same here...it's roasting!! :)))

It is here too....such a shock it was so cold on mondayI had winter woolies on!

...and I lit the fire!!!

Wow! That is going to be so neat when it grows all around the structure. Looking forward to seeing more pics.

Thank you, Chic - I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to seeing it develop! :)

My first visit to your blog, Karen, and what an inspiration! You have a beautiful garden and live in my favourite country!

I love your heron, did you buy him in France or the UK?

Thanks, Canalhopper! This is a wonderful place to live. :)

But, that pond gives me no end of trouble...
I'm out there right now, messing with it again...to try to make more of it 'still' for that new waterlily - they cost too much to get it badly wrong! lol! ;)

I got the heron here in France - but I think he was made in China....! :))

Thank you, HB! :)

I was hoping that it would all be in its second year by now...but I lost so much whilst I was away that it was pretty much "starting again", when I got back...

Ivan was around today again...house name up near the eves on the gable end! Haven't told OH yet, though...;)

Thank you! I actually like it much better now, too...but, I no longer have to take OH's opinion into account (oops! don't tell anyone - but, shh, it's true )...

Still have loads of room for "the habit", but, I think I can actually look forward to it all settling in now... :)