Annie Bibby: African garden
Annie Bibby's stepdaughter, Vicky, describes her stepmum as little, lovely and sparkly. But there was nothing lovely about Annie's garden, which resembled a council tip. According to Ken, Annie's husband, they'd already removed 28 tons of tarmac from the garden before Gardening Angels came to the rescue!

Annie lived in Africa until she was four years old, and some of her relatives still do. She loves the place, so Ross Allan got to work devising an ethnic look that would suitably impress an ex-resident.

Ross's plan
The theme with an African garden really is about security, a compound, so a wooden structure was erected at the back. With the plants, Ross brought in a banana palm and tobacco plants. The pre-existing Borage, Evening Primrose and poppies were kept to provide a splash of colour against the dark green foliage.

A length of deck, 4.8 metres long by 1.7 metres wide, provides an excellent view of the heavily planted, dense large leafed planting on the other side of the garden. The team was surprised by the discovery of manhole covers, but overcame the problem by covering with gravel, and not timber.