She turned her rented house into a big garden: no matter how tiring life gets, you still have to please yourself

Xiaxia is a designer born after 1985 living in Hangzhou,

and growing flowers is a hobby of hers, one she has kept up for basically 5 or 6 years now.

Her growing passion for gardening came from renting a small rooftop terrace.

Xiaxia spent a year turning the bare little terrace

into a small garden bursting with flowers.

Unfortunately, the good times didn't last. Just one year later, the original landlord wanted to break the contract and sell the house.

At that point, the small garden had only just begun,

Xiaxia negotiated with the new landlord for a long time, but found that renewing the lease was a dead end, so she had no choice but to move out with regret.

Xiaxia's terrace dream in that rental was dashed for the time being.

After going through quite a bit of running around, Xiaxia finally found a small courtyard of a suitable size,

and the sunny little courtyard looked so warm.

After negotiating with the landlord, signing the contract, discussing the price and moving all went very smoothly,

and Xiaxia moved into her new home just as she had hoped!

Because the house is rented, as for this small garden,

Xiaxia's idea was to let it accommodate the plants she already had and some gardening odds and ends,

making reasonable use of existing items and putting everything to good use, with a bit of mixing and matching, so Xiaxia did a little planning.

In the early days of renovating the garden, the thing that made Xiaxia happiest was having a roommate, Hezi, who also loved gardens and plants,

so the two of them could build the garden together!

The first step was to put up a simple pergola.

Because the double archway had existed on the previous terrace,

and its style was fairly large and wouldn't fit anywhere else, they paired it with bamboo to make a shade shelter.

Then they added iron mesh panels so plants could climb.

By the second year, the roses had already covered half the flower trellis!

Along the west wall, they planted a row of hydrangeas and clematis at intervals.

Xiaxia and Hezi dug holes day and night, and finally got them all planted!

Their hard work certainly wasn't in vain,

and when the clematis and hydrangeas bloomed, it was simply a delightful surprise!

For the hydrangea variety, Xiaxia chose Annabelle.

The hydrangeas planted in the ground indeed grew vigorously, and when they bloomed they looked like big balls.

In order to use the space as much as possible, at the entrance to the garden,

Xiaxia built another wooden archway, dividing the two areas.

Beside the archway she planted a yellow Thomas rose, and it climbed up the archway not long after being planted!

By the time it bloomed, the rose had already covered the entire trellis,

and its bright golden color was a joy just to look at!

On the left side of the archway, Xiaxia used an old chair she had picked up, a wine crate and a semicircular rattan trellis,

combining them into a small flower pot display, full marks for DIY skills!

Xiaxia really liked European-style wooden obelisks, but because there were simply none for sale,

she and Hezi went to the lumber market,

bought some treated wood themselves and prepared to make one by hand.

Easier said than done: the two of them spent several days building it before they succeeded,

and finally they painted on a coat of paint, and it was done!

Putting the finished obelisk in the garden not only lets the roses climb up along it,

but placing a little object on top of the obelisk immediately lifts the garden's style by more than one notch!

For a garden, the most annoying thing is naturally weeds.

If you want to solve this problem completely, redoing the entire soil surface is best.

Unfortunately, for a rented house, the cost is simply too high.

So Xiaxia chose to lay down a layer of weed-control fabric.

On top of the weed-control fabric, they also laid small stones and red bricks, turning it into a path with a natural look.

Under the trellis, Xiaxia wanted a romantic paved floor.

After consulting various materials, Xiaxia settled on a circular design.

It took a full 2-3 hours to succeed!

On the paving, put two pale green chairs and a small wooden table,

and this is where Xiaxia and Hezi most love to stay in their spare time.

The one thing a small garden can't lack is a water source, right?

Xiaxia had originally wanted to buy a Japanese-style small water tap,

but later, egged on by a friend, she bought materials at a hardware store and made one herself.

Besides all kinds of ground-planted plants, don't overlook small surfaces either: plant shade-tolerant little green plants on them!

After half a year of on-and-off gardening life experience, Hezi couldn't help but sigh,

the life of a gardener is completely different from what you'd imagine!

Behind the seemingly beautiful photos, there is hard work everywhere that can't be seen.

After a year of construction, the small garden began to take shape.

Xiaxia also started inviting friends over as guests,

seeing them take photos in the garden and share the joy the garden brings.

Xiaxia's face also wore a motherly smile.

As a tough woman who can dig holes, build walls, install lights and connect water pipes,

some people ask Xiaxia, isn't it a big loss to do gardening in a rented house?

After all, when you leave, you can't take these things with you.

Xiaxia's answer is no.

Xiaxia says that improving your own living environment within your means and creating a comfortable atmosphere

means that fussing over so many flowers, plants and belongings is of course a hassle when moving,

but if you understand clearly how much you've given for the things you love,

then it seems you can face it calmly, because you only invest in what you love!

Life is actually very stressful and very hard, but gardening can serve as a recharge,

because living together with plants is an especially healing thing.

Buying a house and having a home of your own may be one kind of choice,

but the state Xiaxia hopes for more is that wherever she is, that place is home.

Occasionally, Xiaxia also worries about the future after the small courtyard's lease is up,

but at the same time she vaguely looks forward to some different possibilities.

Isn't life just like that?

While preparing for the troublesome parts, it's better to hold on to a heart full of expectation!