elephant in the garden

I've taken many photos of the back garden since starting the blog. Now that the garden is basically established, it doesn't change that much any more. There's always lots to be done, but it's basically more about filling gaps than creating gaps.

Of course a garden is part of nature and nature is always changing. Plants die or become overcrowded. Volunteer seedlings appear and decisions need to be made.  - to keep, transplant, give away or compost?  Trees and shrubs keep growing, and may outgrow their original position. The large Acacia was pushing the fence over and my neighbours requested it go. So it went - to compost and mulch heaven - leaving behind a bare fence with lots of extra light and lots of delicious planting opportunities.

I'm not good at growing flowers. Except in spring, there's rarely much colour here, apart from greens and greys. The charm of this garden is subtle. For interest and variety it depends on different shades of green and grey, and different shaped foliage. Either people see its charm or they don't. The people who don't see its charm seem to see it as a boring mess, not like their idea of a garden at all.

I think it may be thought of as habitat, a habitat garden. Sometimes populated by Elephant.

With a garden that doesn't change much, that already has had lots of photos taken, how can I show it in a new way? I apologize for those who hate kitsch, but the idea is to let Elephant explore the garden, finding comfortable places to rest in, and to show the garden through this lens.

So this is how the back garden is looking this record-breaking wet autumn.

As I write this, autumn leaves from the oak trees that line the street where I live are falling onto the road. I'm off to collect them for mulch to protect and enrich the soil. I need to get to them before they get swept up and collected by the Council truck.