Couple's stunning suburban garden in industrial heartland springs into life from azalea in container Watch Video

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✓ Published: 10-May-2024

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Stunning pictures show a couple’s spectacular ‘four seasons’ garden bursting with spring colours – hidden in the industrial heartland of the Black Country.<br/><br/>Tony Newton, 74, and wife Marie, 76, have devoted 42 years and more than £15,000 <br/>transforming their ordinary suburban garden into an idyllic oasis.<br/><br/>Their garden in Walsall, West Mids., features more than 3,000 plants and flowers, including 450 azalea, 120 Japanese maples, 15 juniper blue stars.<br/><br/>Locals have nicknamed the stunning garden ‘four seasons’ after the couple deliberately planted different flowers to bloom all year round.<br/><br/>The green-fingered couple spend up to eight hours every day maintaining the quarter-of-an-acre plot which attracts visitors from around the world.<br/><br/>Marie said: “Over the years we’ve had a lot of interest. Someone flew in from New York. <br/><br/>“We’ve had a lot of Chinese tourists. We’ve been all over the world. <br/><br/>“We had a couple of Chinese girls come down from Sheffield on a landscape course. Back in China they’d heard even about us. <br/><br/>“We used to open the garden once a year to the public but we now share it with just family and friends.”<br/><br/>Marie started gardening as a hobby after she retired from her job as a transport planner in 1982.<br/><br/>When Tony retired as a GP a couple of years later, the couple dedicated their time to cultivating their garden paradise.<br/><br/>Marie recalled: “I used to work on the grass and the borders a little here and there.<br/><br/>“I had to stay in ear shot of the landline and we had four children in five years so we were very busy. <br/><br/>“The garden became a feature to keep them entertained. <br/><br/>“We started in 1992 to develop it. We made the garden safe for the kids and attracted the children. <br/><br/>“After ten years they got more sophisticated. Between 1992 and 1995 we landscaped all of it. We did it all ourselves, without any outside help. <br/><br/>“Tony laid the paths and I was quite happy to wield a pickaxe. <br/><br/>“It’s gradually evolved over the years. In 2000 we built a stream and two years later built a second stream.<br/><br/>“We used to use head torches in the dark evenings and do the work in the garden.<br/><br/>“It’s the Black Country and as we always say it’s where the black country turns green. We have no houses behind us. <br/><br/>“We’ve got a variety of evergreens. We created the garden with lots of views, anchor plants. Spring and autumn are the two most vivid. <br/><br/>“They all turn lovely colours. The main trees we’ve got are maples and acers. <br/><br/>“They’re just brilliant colours. In the winter it’s lots and lots of bulbs. We’ve got colour all year round. <br/><br/>“A lot of neighbours ask advice sometimes, we all have larger gardens. We’ve had no formal training. It’s just been trial and error, a lot of error. <br/><br/>“We know what we need now. You have to look at the plants to see which is being the most dominant. Sometimes you have to meditate. <br/><br/>“We’ve been here for 42 years now and we’ve mastered our garden.