Two little nature gardens built in one year: a spendthrift woman so happy she does not want to go out

Li Hongju

2018 Garden Family Selection

With the annual progress of Wuhan's Most Beautiful Garden Family selection campaign, our "garden families" are getting younger and younger. Last year's garden families included college student Zhang Cong, reliable florist Wu Puyi, popular garden courtyard owner Fang Xiaoxian and other young plant growers.

Today I want to share a natural-style garden. The garden owner is also a young new face, young in age, but not at all casual about growing plants.

Garden owner: variety addict & spendthrift

Three years ago, Li Hongju accidentally saw a post from a local flower lover on Weibo, was drawn in by the beautiful photos of gardens full of blooms, and joined a flower lovers' group. From then on, there was no stopping her.

In 2016, she was fortunate enough to come across this house with a small garden, so she went from being a balcony gardener to having a small garden, and soon became a veritable variety addict and spendthrift. As long as she liked a plant, she had to buy it and grow it, learning from veteran flower lovers, figuring things out through her own experience, starting over after killing a plant, correcting her methods when they were wrong... Just like that, "flower fanatic" once became the nickname her fellow flower lovers gave her. And Li Hongju said her only goal is to build a four-season garden for her family.

What is rather special about Li Hongju's garden is that it is built on the basement level, a tranquil retreat far from the noise.

Last year the garden was renovated, with flower beds, a leisure platform and a fireplace added. This spring the garden has already taken shape nicely, opening with the first tulip. Wherever the spring breeze passes, flowers bloom in competition, and the garden puts on a different scene every day, adding much more joy to life.

Garden: natural mixed style

The garden's biggest feature is natural-style mixed planting. The outer edge of the garden is a green wall enclosed by climbing plants: European roses such as Eden, Morris and Spirit of Freedom, with one or two wisterias woven in. Then there are bulb plants such as lilies, amaryllis and dahlias, paired with perennials at different heights to give the garden a sense of layering.

If the plant landscape with its uneven heights is not lively enough, the fish pond in the garden adds a touch of graceful beauty to the whole setting. The landscape arrangements in every corner of the garden all reflect the hostess's ingenuity. Flower baskets woven from straw rope, a table and flower stand made from leftover wood strips after renovation, painted by herself, carefully paired with all kinds of potted plants, looking very comfortable.

"The whole family basically spends weekends and holidays in the garden. In the morning, we have a hearty garden breakfast in the garden, the child studies in the garden, my partner reads and drinks tea in the garden. Scenes like this let me touch a deeper sense of happiness. The garden is also my second workplace: watering flowers, fertilizing, pruning, all kinds of garden chores are done on weekends. The whole family busies itself with its own things in the garden, quiet and wordless, and it is lovely." Li Hongju said.

Besides the family, they can often be seen in the garden too: a dog, a cat, a dozen or so fish, occasionally a frog jumping out to be cheeky, a bold bird flying in and circling past, and of course all kinds of butterflies and bees...

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Rather than calling this place a garden, it is more like a children's encyclopedia of animals and plants. For Li Hongju, growing plants is not just a hobby, but also an attitude toward life. Making the garden more and more beautiful and the home warmer and warmer is also her ideal and responsibility.

Balcony: the norm of a happy life

Besides the natural-style garden on the basement level, the balcony at home is also tended by Li Hongju so well that it looks like another garden. Asters bursting out of their pots, roses she never tires of looking at, and tomatoes that satisfy both the eyes and the taste buds... Downstairs is the children's paradise, so this spot should belong to the hostess as her own quiet place.

A cup of tea, a book, a song called "Quiet Afternoon", searching for inner peace. This is the most suitable place of all~

Green is the adornment of life, and the garden is the extension of the home. Life in the garden is dazzling to those outside the garden, but to the garden owner it is calm, it is the normal state of life. It is just that this kind of life has quality, has a tangible sense of happiness, and that sense of happiness is embodied in every flower and every leaf.

Registration for the 2018 Garden Family Selection is underway.

If you are also immersed in this kind of happiness,

then hurry up and join us!