This post has been sitting in my drafts folder for AGES but chatting with Bron on Tuesday reminded me to upload it – had to wait until the internet was at full speed again this month so that it didn’t take hours for the photos to load……..let me know what you think????!!

Much of the garden at Sewjourn needs some attention – lots of hours have already been put in by lots of people (in particular my mother-in-law!) and parts of it look really good but in an ideal world where time and money weren’t limiting factors the scope is endless…….

But for now we need to work with what we have – and there’s one garden that has been the topic of debate since we first discovered Sewjourn – the CACTUS garden!

First impressions were ‘it’s got to go’ not least because it’s in the middle of the driveway and one of the first things you see when you drive in – and cacti have never been my favorite plants.  But then a few people pointed out that at least they had survived in a garden that had been given little or no attention for a number of years.  And when I thought about it more I realised that the plants were probably 20 or 30 years old.  A search on eBay followed to see if it was possible to sell them as I find it hard to kill a plant that old – the idea being that at least if someone wants them they can come and remove them – I was surprised to see that they can actually sell for quite a bit of money.

Then a few of the bigger plants flowered and they really are quite amazing and I became more attached to the shapes and forms of these unusual plants.  (Amy Butler claims she is heavily influenced and inspired by her garden – maybe people would actually like these cacti??) 

But my husband dosen’t agree – he’s had the displeasure of getting prickles in his face (right in the middle of one of my Christmas in July days!!)  And we’ve had a friends daughter fall off her bike and end up with prickles in her legs.  And I’ve had a couple of jabs when I’ve been weeding the garden – they hurt and some of them are hard to get out.  And it would be terrible if one of our guests managed to get prickled.

So logically I know they probably have to go – but what to do with them (burn them is top of Mal’s ideas list!) and what to plant there instead???  Any suggestions?

PS We have done a bit more work on the cactus garden since writing this – trying to get a succulent border going around the outside and have put all the pebbles from other places on top so it is looking quite good at the moment (getting rid of the old toilet that was sitting in the middle with a cactus growing out of it helped!)  They are still prickly little things though…….and be under no illusions that it is looking like something out of House & Garden……..would particularly love to hear from anyone who has visited Sewjourn and seen the garden……..all comments welcomed though!