A well established and quite large town garden that had been tended for years by a knowledgable gardener. When I arrived it had become very overgrown and needed an overhaul. A number of plants had outgrown their site, others had clearly been planted in full sun but now that the surrounding bushes and trees had grown larger they were in deep shade and failing. Some strong growers were swamping more delicate neighbours and still others had reached the end of their natural lifespan. The garden had been planted in such a way that it required a fair bit of edging and trimming, watering, weeding and things being lifted in and out. In short, it was a gardener's garden that was now in the care of someone with neither the time nor the money to keep up this arduous maintenance program. My task was to maintain the spirit of the garden while bringing the heavy maintenance requirement right down so that the current owner could employ a gardener for two hours a week and the garden would largely look after itself.