Come and see our SUPERGARDEN!

“COUPLE S LABOUR OF LOVE OPENS TO THE PUBLIC

- EMMA GILL

LARGE houses tend to have large gardens, but few are as unique as the grounds of one home in Salford.

Couple Tracey Bermingham and Tony Shepherd have been gradually transforming the place for more than a decade into the foliage-filled haven it is today.

The giant Foxglove tree dominating the front garden, with huge clumps of banana plants and bamboo, gives visitors a hint at what's hiding around the back of the semidetached Victorian house in Stafford Road, Monton.

Tracey loves that it's the first thing visitors see, especially the many students and parents arriving for her private tutoring sessions.

And it's the 600 square metre back garden that's become something of an oasis for the couple and those students, many of whom benefit from the 'amazing zen' created by the 'calm, tranquil atmosphere!

Enclosed by historic oak trees, the garden is bursting with all kinds of tropical plants, from a varied collection of bamboos, to large gunneras and hardy bananas.

They don't like to label it a tropical garden as such, because they prefer to pick what they like and what works well in the space, rather than sticking to a specific theme. "There is a general tropical, jungle plant theme," said Tony, 58. "But whereas a lot of people who grow plants in this style, will grow one of everything you are expected to grow, we prefer to plant several of what we like, and planting en masse works in a garden this size."

Tracey added: "When I first moved into the house, the garden was overgrown. It was pretty much a blank canvas.