After nearly three years of good solid growth - and complaints from the gas-bottle delivery guy - it was time to reassess the front yard. In particular, this garden bed needed some TLC and a little renovating.

The Lavatera had completely taken over this bed and obscured every other plant from view. Each year I had pruned it back hard but it didn't seem to slow it down.

So, out came the loppers, pruning saw and secateurs as the garden makeover began.

Twenty minutes later the lavatera had been reduced to a stump and other plants started to see sunlight for the first time. It was also stark-raving obvious that the lavatera wasn't the only plant in need of some attention and so the garden makeover continued on.

My red salvia had been lost between the lavatera and the pink-flowering-shrub-whose-name-escapes-me. I even found a bougainvillea that I forgot I had planted two years ago to train over the fence.

While it might seem that I've been completely neglectful, and if there were an authority for plants as the RSPCA is for animals, I'm sure I'd have been reported - the neglect can be justified. I had been putting this makeover off until I had bought myself my garden chipper shredder as I didn't want to be hauling all this green waste off to the dump. Then the winter rains set in, turning up religiously on the weekends, and my project went onto the backburner as these plants continued to bulge.

Val - a photo of the shredder will have to suffice for the time being. However, the video is still on the to-do list.

After pruning every plant and shredding it as I went, I was left with two fully-laden barrowloads of compostable material. I wanted to hug it, it felt and smelled so good.

When the pruning was finished I was left with a few decisions to make. These plants had to be transplanted in a bid to open up this garden bed and reveal a much prettier outlook.

The lavatera was relegated to the back of the bed, just in front of the tortured willow. Two plants (the unknown pink one and another anonymous green one) engaged my shredder in a war of strength and came out second best. A gardenia that I had inherited from a friend came forward and backed up the red salvia while my echium candicans moved forward and protected the daylillies.

As usual the daylillies protested vehemently and as soon as I had dug them up from their cosy corner they lay down on the ground like a spoilt child in a supermarket and refused to cooperate. I ignored their little spat and noticed on Sunday that they were already beginning to pick themselves up again.

It's not the end of this garden makeover as I now have more room for some plants that I have been dying to grow in this yard. So I will continue to keep you updated over the spring and summer months with further acquisitions.