A doting husband builds a dream garden for his wife - no wonder he's everyone else's husband

Story and photos by: Hei Ren Lin

Authorized by the author; for reprints, please contact the original author

How much effort does it take to build a garden?

Perhaps no one can say for sure.

But if you ask today's protagonist, "Hei Ren Lin,"

his answer might be more convincing.

While you're traveling, I'm working;

While you're celebrating holidays, I'm working;

While you're still asleep in the morning, I'm still working.

Hei Ren Lin's garden is 14 m long and 5 m wide, roughly just over 70 sq m, but under Hei Ren Lin's clever layout, it was divided into 11 different zones, with the gray parts being pathways and the other areas turned into zoned sections, adding a three-dimensional structure to the whole garden.

If you want to visit Hei Ren Lin's garden, then step onto the streets of Suzhou,

when you see that hot pink wooden fence gate by the roadside,

that's Hei Ren Lin's garden gate!

When the garden was first built, the gate was still a short, small fence gate.

When he was doing woodwork in the garden,

there were always curious passersby poking their heads in to look,

so to ensure the yard's privacy, the gate had to be replaced!

He removed the short, small fence gate,

replacing it with a taller fence and wooden door,

then painted both the fence and the wooden door a fresh, tender pink.

As for why

a grown man would choose such a flashy pink?

Hei Ren Lin said matter-of-factly, because his wife likes it!

Uh, this display of affection is almost too much to digest!

What's the use of just having a fence? Of course the fence has to be covered in flowers to count as a beautiful home!

So Hei Ren Lin built a 10 m long European rose wall along the fence.

The rose wall is mainly made up of 3 plants: Georgia, Freedom Spirit, and Climbing Little Eden.

The pink Climbing Little Eden blooms only once a year, but grows very fast,

planted in the ground, just pay attention to pruning the branches in winter and horizontally training the main stems.

Georgia blooms multiple flowers per stem, with a very large flower count,

so in winter be sure to fertilize, prune, and horizontally train it.

And the Banksia rose that blooms every April has also become a wonderful feature decorating the gate!

According to Hei Ren Lin, aside from pruning dead branches,

each year after flowering, pay attention to pinching the new shoots to promote branching, and in winter add some chicken manure fertilizer, fish guts, or slow-release fertilizer,

and the rest of the time, even if left to grow freely, it can still bloom into a beautiful flower wall!

Push open the pink gate and walk in, and you'll see the small repotting table.

The repotting table was DIY'd by Hei Ren Lin using old wood.

He used a square shelf, removed the upper wooden boards, and the lower part became the legs of the repotting table.

It's usually used to hold small potted plants and various odds and ends.

Don't waste the leftover wood from old items either,

under Hei Ren Lin's craftsmanship,

it became a hanging tool wall.

The tool wall was painted a light blue, just looking at it makes you feel at ease.

And the most surprising thing in the entrance area is naturally the swing that kids love most!

Hei Ren Lin said the swing was made for the little one at home,

wanting it to swing high, yet also wanting it sturdy and durable, so it was built with wood, hemp rope, and bolts.

The whole build cost less than 300 yuan, simply super affordable!

Passing the swing, you reach the entrance of the house.

At the entrance, Hei Ren Lin made a wooden platform. Against the wall on the platform, he created a faux fireplace landscape.

Different flowers and plants can be placed according to the four seasons.

In the corner, there's also a light blue chair.

Hei Ren Lin said that in winter, everyone in the family loves to grab this chair with the best sunlight,

basically his wife always wins, and he can only get the small stool under the chair...

Mm, a second wave of affection is rushing over.

Sitting on the blue chair,

drinking a cup of coffee, reading a book, and putting on a face mask while at it,

and most importantly, enjoying the flowers - life is truly a cozy pleasure!

Walking inward from the wooden platform, you reach the flower bed area.

To separate the wooden platform from the flower bed area, Hei Ren Lin DIY'd an old door out of wood as a partition.

The partition is not only beautiful, but can also serve as a support for climbing flowers,

adding a sense of layering to the whole garden - killing two birds with one stone!

The wooden door before flowering:

The wooden door after flowering:

Near the old door, a sewing machine stand was placed, combined with elm wood boards,

with different plants placed in different seasons, at varying heights, creating a strong sense of layering.

When you have a garden, what is the one thing you absolutely can't lack?

Naturally, it's the water needed for watering flowers!

At first there was only an ugly faucet in the garden, then Hei Ren Lin used a 2 m long square timber,

cut it, carved slots and holes on the back of the square timber the width of the pipe,

and fitted the faucet inside.

At the water valve position, a preservative-treated wood platform was also added on the ground,

so when washing, you don't have to worry about splashing dirt everywhere!

Next to the water valve, there's a lemon privet that the kids at home love most.

One of them was pruned into a square big-faced cat shape, while the other became a heart shape.

The various odd shapes caught the children's attention.

Separated from the water valve area by a path is naturally the family's clothes-drying area and the stone mill water feature area.

Since all the family's clothes need to be dried, a drying area was specially set up here.

The drying area uses a height-adjustable hand-crank clothes drying rack, which can be folded away when not in use,

not taking up the garden's space or beauty at all!

Right next to the drying area is the stone mill water feature area.

This area has quite a few shade-tolerant flowers planted, such as heuchera, hosta, Japanese maple, etc.,

paired with the vintage stone mill, it actually has a Japanese style.

The last area of the garden is the vegetable plot separated by a flower wall arch.

Various flowering plants compete in beauty, making the whole garden livelier.

Of course, the most surprising thing on the arch is that Hei Ren Lin built several birdhouse doors on it.

On the wall at the end of the garden, he also made several insect houses, initially planning to make an insect door.

And as for the last area, Hei Ren Lin said he hasn't decided yet what to plant,

so it can only be used for growing vegetables, which also counts as the whole family's "reserve harem area."

For Hei Ren Lin himself, actually before 2018,

the whole yard was in a constant state of revision and construction.

And his next plan,

is to keep improving the vegetable area, the European rose wall, and the hydrangeas, striving for greater perfection.

Because the entire garden's arches, pergolas, etc. were all built by his own hands,

all his spare time outside of work is spent on the garden.

For this kind of life, Hei Ren Lin has not a single complaint.

Seeing his wife, daughter, and the family's little cat,

living tranquil days together in the garden,

I believe this must be his happiest thing.

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