Thursday 17 February 2011

Welcome To The Wilderness


I'd planned to capture some shots of pretty spring flowers peeping through the soil but the Autumn leaves still need raking up and the tiny crocuses and snowdrops can hardly be seen. If it wasn't for the fresh shoots of ivy you'd be forgiven for thinking it was October and not February.

Chiffon daisy print maxi (Courtesy of the lovely Amy), Vintage scarab pendant (Car boot sale), Velvet platforms (Office)

Believe it or not I used to be quite green-fingered. Our past homes had pretty gardens lovingly tended and transformed into tranquil spaces with naturalised planting, vegetable patches and wildlife ponds but this space defeats me.


 
Our garden is over one hundred metres long with half of it's twenty-six trees having local authority preservation orders meaning we can't even trim back a branch without permission from the council.

It's too shady for most plants to thrive and our attempts at self-sufficency usually fail miserably. I once had dreams of wandering across the lawn in a vintage cheesecloth sundress and a straw hat watering my blooms but it's more likely to be Jon in his pants chasing off the local smack head intent on breaking into the shed.


On the bright side it's a haven for squirrels, urban foxes and garden birds; wild garlic, fennel, rocket and brambles grow bountifully


and once the trees are in leaf we can sunbathe naked as the garden isn't overlooked. Always a plus.

75 comments:

  1. Lovely photos and I love your dress x

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  2. Once again, another stunner of a dress..even more so because it features Daisies!

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  3. Oh I absolutely love that dress!! What wonderful sleeves and cuffs - this has to be my favourite of your maxis to date. You are such the pre-Raphaelite vision in it in your wonderful wild garden! I think it is amazing to have a garden that encourages wildlife (well smack heads probably aren't worth encouraging but what the hey.

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  4. Vix my lovely, that is an absolutely amazing dress! V impressed you're wearing it in the garden - if it was me it would be covered in leaves and stuck to a bush by now!

    This has just reminded me that I forgot to water the plants yesterday and was under very strict instructions to do it Mon-Wed-Fri. Gargh!! I dunno how anyone copes with a giant garden. We had one in our old house in Leeds and it was a trial just to keep the lawn mowed, let alone do anything creative with flowerbeds etc.

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  5. That dress is so pretty and so is your garden! We recently had same thing going on with our garden shed - no one got in though. I've got big plans for sorting out our garden this spring. It's mostly just used by our dogs and does look like it.

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  6. Your dress is so beautiful and your garden looks so enchanted! Wild gardens are my favourite, they attract wildlife like crazy x

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  7. Dearest Vix, I adore the dress. I love anything with cuffs and buttons like that and they're great because they're so exaggerated. Love the necklace too.

    I would be flummoxed with your garden as well, it's so big! Although I did smile at what you imagined. It looks lovely though, what a brilliant bird box. Great to speak to you today as always, much love, C xx

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  8. I think there's a beauty about wild gardens, a hidden mystery. I would love to escape to a place like this.
    The dress is beautiful, I adore the button detailing on the cuffs xxx

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  9. That dress is so dramatic. You're like a wood nymph!

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  10. Lovely dress, Vix. I don't suppose you fancied naked sunbathing today. xxx

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  11. Adorable sleeves and print.. You have a beautiful garden ,shame about the council not letting you mess with it.

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  12. You look like a woods and trees queen ( i don't know the right english word for it :P) but its a good thing, in case you were wondering :P :) haha! WOW to your garden, and your dream made me laugh! :)

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  13. Darling,that frock is sublime!!! Soooo pretty,I love the 70's Edwardian interpretation! You look just beautiful.
    Scary about the crack head.Ugh.
    I love a wild garden,but it would be annoying to have so much shade you can't grow anything.We have plenty of sun,but I'm far too lazy...I like watching G do it,though!
    Love you!! Helga xxxXXXxxx

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  14. I love it that your garden looks so natural, you could be standing in the middle of the countryside, and while the garden still looks rather autumnal your dress just screams "springtime". xxx

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  15. I love your garden, it's like a secret garden. And the image of Jon chasing off a smackhead in his pants really tickled me, sounds like something that would happen round our way! x

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  16. wow gorgeous garden, don't blame you for not knowing what to do with it though. Those trees are lovely but the shade must be a nightmare. And I have to say, I just love that dress! Gorgeous!!

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  17. Gorgeous dress - so Spring like! It does feel like Spring is finally on it's way - the evenings are getting a bit lighter and the spring flowers are finally appearing! We have a big tree-filled garden too - no TPOs thankfully, so we can prune as needs be. Funnily enough, we had some trees pruned on Tuesday. No idea if it's helped the light situation as there's been no sun since then!

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  18. Very Victorian novel. Henry James or Wilkie Collins. Where's the Moonstone?

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  19. I love the dress and I so want to come to your garden and design a solution - it is fab xx

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  20. Oooh!! You look all ethereal and Goddess like amongst the ivy and trees! Fantastic space you have there - my idea of complete bliss - lots of places to hide from the kids!! ;)

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  21. That dress is beautiful. Love the colour.

    You so make me laugh, only us midlanders would know the feeling of chasing a smack head away!

    As for naked sun bathing! Well, lucky you. I have th neighbours straight at th windows. Lol!

    X x x

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  22. Hi my dear-you look like a Spring goddess in this stunning dress in your wild wonderful garden, fabulous photos and what an amazing amount of space for all your animal visitors, its amazing! xx

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  23. The garden looks huge. Good space to enjoy the wilderness. Love the cream color dress.

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  24. You free spirit woman, like a true fairy in the wild...
    Your garden has to be like you: warm, free, generous and wild.
    XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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  25. i like your style, very eclectic and colorful while still groovy! nice! now following, check my blog out.
    www.cocoandolive.blogspot.com

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  26. That long, flowing dress is breathtaking on you. There is a very magical feel to these photos, which I adore. I really wish I lived in a place as beautiful as you do. :)

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  27. I would suggest the term 'woodland garden'....very beautiful and certainly not your average outdoor space x

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  28. Oh Vix I love it. You look just incredible in that amazing frock (daisies!!!) and even though I would also be frustrated by not being able to grow much, I do really love it just as it is... so beautiful, mysterious and wild. Kind of like you.

    Sarah xxx

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  29. this lace gown is so romantic. i'd love to steal it... ;)

    i hope my new bump its will reach me the next days... thank you so much for this idea!

    http://wardrobexperience.blogspot.com

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  30. LOVE that dress: very pre-raphaelite/havisham-in-a-good-way.

    We don't have a garden (wah wah wah) so I have envy of your wyld wood. It looks uber cool, even if it does have a junkie in the shed.

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  31. You have such a lush green backyard! great place to hang our and bbq in summers:-) love ur outfit - so dreamy.

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  32. I so love the puffed sleeves on that dress! I really remember wearing sleeves like that! Your garden sounds divine!

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  33. What a lovely, elegant dress, Vix! The garden looks absolutely beautiful (and I think I would use the council rules as an excuse for not doing anything). & nothing like the English hedge for some privacy! xxx

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  34. I rather like a wild garden anyway. I do miss having my own garden, it is so nice to wake up in summer and have a cuppa in the backyard. Did laugh at the thought of Jon chasing crackheads in his pants! xx

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  35. Woahhh, i love that dress! I'm looking for a similar one at the moment, so pretty!
    xxxxx

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  36. Your garden is amazing. Thumbs up to naked sunbathing. My parents garden is pretty private and when they were out i was straight out in the garden with my top off! x

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  37. Hee! Well, perhaps not totally naked! I'm imagining there's a chic turban and some jewellery
    xxx

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  38. I adore your beautiful maxi and your garden is luxuriantly wild and lovely - I much prefer that to perfectly manicured show lawns. How wonderful to have so many interesting trees. Do you have any red squirrels? They're getting so rare!
    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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  39. I love your dress. It really suits you. How nice to have such a lovely backyard.

    Much love,

    SB

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  40. that dress is wonderful. At least your garden has a charming bird house - love it! xox

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  41. Ooo you Cheeky devil :) just think Vix you are doing a fab thing for the environment protecting those trees. You can have some natives ferns too, great for the little lady bugs. xx

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  42. Ahh but you can wander mysteriously thru the bushes in a pale frock (see above), in a pre-raphaelite manner (see hair above) and scare the smack head away by making him think you're a ghost (see above, again)

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  43. Aha, you piant such a lovely picture. Actually, you did paint a lovely picture eventually! And do you actually have spring flowers already? We don't but it's so joyous when they appear!

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  44. "...chasing off the local smack head.." Can't you set some sort of humane trap for the wretch? And then turn him over to 'the law'? And what is it about your shed he finds so peculiarly irresistible? Does he think you have buckets of 'smack' in there? It sounds like you know him quite well - does he visit often? Beautiful dress btw, very ethereal.

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  45. love your wild garden as a fairy background on your photos, and love your romantic-hippie-chic dress, with every accessory you wear!, great inspiration!
    besos

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  46. @Fanny: Nice to meet you! Mr Smackhead visits most of the sheds in the area with alarming reglarity usually to rob power tools to sell off for cash in the pub. One of our neighbours captured him and sat on him until the police arrived only for the gallant boys in blue to let him off with a caution. xxx

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  47. what lovely freedom not to be overlooked in your garden!

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  48. What a beautiful backyard, and you look straight out of a 1960's magazine shoot...Stunning!

    My parents seperated last year so are selling the family home, and I'm going to miss the garden so much. It was created in the early 1900's and restored by my parents when we moved in about 10 years ago. I'll be sad to see it go!

    Hayden and I haven't spent enough time on our garden, but I'm looking forward to getting a vegie patch going soon!

    Have fun sunbathing!

    Xx Claire

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  49. That dress is gorgeous Vix, i love it! I love your garden too xxx

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  50. I am a personal fan of shade gardens. A bit less cliche of a yard, but easier to maintain, and I love the feel of a forest. You are looking every bit of a lovely forest nymph I suspect you to be. That and a gypsy.

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  51. Vix you got the key to the secret garden and are beautifully dress to enter it!!!
    Sunbathing naked is always a plus for any backyard!

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  52. Do you ever find a mushroom on your property?

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  53. I much prefer a wild over grown garden to a pruned and well kept garden because of the fact wildlife would think its a safer place to be and it's always nice watching the birds eat whatever food you have left out for them!

    Our garden is more of a court yard which has some border plants around the edges, I wish for lots of greenery but the garden will be the very last thing we get around to doing after we have finished the house. I am always coming up with fancy ideas in my head though, the imagining can be fun!

    That dress is quite Victorian-esque and beautiful. I love the button detail down the cuffs, simply stunning! xxx

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  54. Your dress is so romantic, my dear!
    Like from another era. There's something charmingly ancient about it. When the weather improves am inviting myself round for tea in the garden with you and Sabine;-)

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  55. Your garden is the perfect setting for that beautiful dress.

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  56. I know everyone's already said it, but you do look fantastic in that dress. It's gorgeous. Reminds me of my mum's wedding dress, although she accessorised with a big floppy hat.
    I did laugh about the smackhead scenario. Instead of pottering in a 50s sundress, I am usually found chasing a naked toddler who is attempting to escape the suncream. Sigh

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  57. That dress is fabulous. I adore the sleeves on it. What a lovely gift.
    I'm definitely not green fingered. We had a garden in our old place but we had a gardener as neither of us were keen. x

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  58. You look gorgeous in that dress Vix, like a beautiful etheral pixie. :)

    I have a great picture of Jon in his pants chasing said smack head with a trowel or something!! hehe!

    xxxx

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  59. you loook like a very pretty garden nymph!! i defintely would want this kind of garden than a little bit of decking and the view of next doors fence, though, even if you can't do a lot with it in terms of growing...

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  60. at the risk of sounding like a teenager... OMG your dress is amazing! and your back garden... so gorgeous. I would love, love, love to have something like that one day. Your lucky thing x

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  61. Stunning dress Vix. We have a long garden which has no trees and has a "landscaped" garden laid over debris. You can't dig more than about 3 inches and you hit all the crap the builders left behind. Its ironic really, we moved to the country from a flat to a house so I could grow lots of foodie stuff and I still have to plant it all in raised beds and pots.

    On the plus side we have no foxes (yep, its true, they all moved to the town) and no local smack head (yet).

    Shirl xxx

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  62. Still laughing at the vision in my head of Jon in his pants chasing the smackhead away from the shed. Hysterical! Have a fabulous weekend, Vix x

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  63. Sounds like my kind of garden! Loving that dress, so pretty :)

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  64. I just love your blog! I love your style, gorgeous vintage dress!
    I am a new follower love for you to come by and say hello ( or stay for awhile :)
    xo
    gi gi

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  65. Your home always sounds like a magical mystery kingdom in its own right. I've also always imagined you to be green-fingered!

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  66. The lushness of the photos of you and the garden transported me. I could practically feel the leaves underfoot and the scent of nature in the air. The setting, the dress, everything worked beautifully!

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  67. It sounds like a challenging space, but my word, it's GORGEOUS! Your home and garden are spectacular, Vix, you are so lucky xxx

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  68. reminds me of the film "secret garden". Love that dress it's beautiful :-)

    dearest,
    http://fashionnostalgia.blogspot.com/

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  69. Hi Vix, I looooove this dress, it's very similar to my Mum's wedding dress she wore in 1977, she had a matching Bianca Jagger Hat that went with it, she says she remembers goin into the shop and grabbing the 1st thing off the sale rail lol, Wish I could've fit into it for my wedding but I'm Beth Ditto than Bianca xx

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  70. Oh, that is so beautiful! You are looking like a romantic era painting.

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Thanks for reading and for leaving a message. Please don't be anonymous, I'd love it if you left a name (or a nom de plume).

Lots of love, Vix