Suburban garden visited by Alan Titchmarsh transforms into stunning oasis of spring colour

Take a look around the colourful garden - which has been cultivated by one devoted couple over a 42 year period. Tony Newton, 74, and wife Marie, 76, have filled their lawn with over 3,000 plants and flowers, including 450 azalea, 120 Japanese maples, 15 juniper blue stars. It has cost them around £15,000 to transform their ordinary suburban garden into an idyllic oasis.

Green-fingered couple gave Alan Titchmarsh a guided tour

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 - including celebrity gardener, Alan Titchmarsh. Marie said: “We used to open the garden once a year to the public but we now share it with just family and friends.”

Landscaped garden paradise

Marie started gardening as a hobby after she retired from her job as a transport planner in 1982. When Tony retired as a GP a couple of years later, the couple dedicated their time to cultivating their garden paradise at their home in Walsall, West Mids. “Between 1992 and 1995 we landscaped all of it. We did it all ourselves, without any outside help.”

Garden colour all year round

Now the garden contains two streams, and a variety of evergreens - but it comes alive with vivid colour in spring and autumn. “They all turn lovely colours. The main trees we’ve got are maples and acers. They’re just brilliant colours. In the winter it’s lots and lots of bulbs. We’ve got colour all year round.

In 2015, celebrity gardener Alan Titchmarsh took a guided tour of their creations before presenting them with an award. Thanks to the mild winter and wet spring, the couple say this year’s blooms are the most colourful yet.