Ornamental garden: phase three ~ part two

Naturally I forgot to take photos as we were building this little area 😄  I know it' not a "proper" rockery but I like it, and it's made good use of the rocks we moved out from further up the garden.

The water is for the birds and we saw them in there almost as soon as it appeared!  We made it using the reservoir meant for a pebble fountain.  We tried to sink it down into the soil but found it way too frustrating to get the bloody thing level, so in the end decided to leave it standing out of the ground a tad.  I actually think looks nicer this way as we've been able to make the planting area two-tiered.  The back half of the reservoir was neatly disguised with my pebble collection, and I'm hoping that the plants at the front will gradually creep over to hide the plastic still on show. 

All the plants have been "shopped" from other parts of the garden, including the kitchen garden borders, so they have cost nothing.

The sempervivums were all originally in the brown chimney-pot; the other two didn't have any plants in them.  We had to empty the soil and pieces of rubble out of the pots to move them, so I took the opportunity to split the clump into three.  I don't suppose it will take too long before all three clumps fill the pots. 

The climbing rose at the back, which I drastically pruned when I moved it, is already starting to send out new shoots.  The other plants in both these new side beds were still looking a little sad when I took these photos but now, just a few days later, they are really starting to perk up again.  I know that the plants are rather packed in but I decided that it was better to cover as much of the bare soil as possible, even though I shall no doubt have to lift and divide some of the plants in two or three years, than to leave it as an open invitation for the local cats to dig!

The last of the sleepers are now in place 😊  The small section on the left is waiting for weed membrane to go in, then it will be filled with stone chippings to make a step up to the main path.  The larger area on the right has now been topped up with soil and I've started to move plants into it.

And this is where the rocks around the bird bath came from.  I shall take up-to-date photos in due course, but this border has been tidied and topped up with soil over the last couple of days too.

 There's still lots to be done in the ornamental garden, but I think I can just about see the light at the end of the tunnel now 😍