House And Garden Pet at www.japanese-home-gardens.com

Looking back to the house from the garden, the house should be an integral part of the design rather than stand out. A conservatory or sun room can be designed to open on to a patio so that in summer, when the doors are open, the garden feels as though it is extending into the house and vice versa. Climbers and Wall plants help soften the harsh outline of a building and act as a Vvnk between tVve house and the garden.

As box turtle needs plenty of room and freedom, it is best maintained as a house and garden pet. If it is to be observed at school, place it in woodland habitat of a large terrarium (see Part II); keep it for a few days and then return it to freedom of home and garden. In home garden in natural range, provide area in garden where pet can bury itself for hibernation during winter.

Steep slopes can be used for streams or waterfalls but to maximize on planting space you can terrace the slope using either retaining walls or sloped sod. Groups of Mediterranean-type plants like lavender and santolina will thrive on sunny slopes, where drainage will be quick and efficient. These are also the exact conditions for a scree garden (see Glossary), which will be more interesting to look at than a single planting. Cold, shady slopes make good woodland gardens, but will equally make an ideal site for a terraced alpine garden because they are naturally well drained, fully exposed to light, but without the drying heat found on a sunny slope. What you decide on also depends on the relationship of the slope to the house. A garden that slopes up from the house is far more dominant than one that slopes away. Sites that slope away from the house are less.