Landscape challenge part 2

 As promised I am about to show the back and sides of the property of this landscaping challenge and what it looked like before and after.

This is the front side and since yellow is the favorite colour of the client, I fell in love with these yellow threads (alternathera). I used them as a border to the front of the bed and inserted some ground orchids yellow and purple I then added some blue salvia and thunbergia erecta in the back ground. I planted some fish tail ferns at the side of the front entry to the house.

 The planter at the front entrance contained the air conditioning  unit that I wanted to disguise some what and still make it accessible. Fish tail ferns border the side entry and rice ferns edge the planter front. A foxtail palm was centrally placed to add some height while oxblood heliconias  and walking irises frame both sides of the AC unit. Shrimp plants and some acalypha firestorm fill the area around the palm tree. The lower planter contains bignonia rosea.

 The front entry has some green and yellow alternathera as a border with star jasmine and spiny dracena in the background. The alternathera border extends downwards meeting the walkway border of yellow and white lantana.

 The back of the property was very challenging, it was very windy and very hot with absolutely no shade at all.  Two kidney shaped beds were planted with palm trees and giant roheos.

 Pittorsporums were planted on the perimeter as a privacy fence.

 Golden crinums were planted along the back patio walls with some yellow and green pseudoranthemums, pink tip cordylines tied in with the wooden finishes in the patio.

 Here yellow threads fill the front of the bed of the golden crinums, pink tip cordylines and oxblood heliconias make up the background. The planter at the contains alocasias while a garlic vine snakes up the side of the pergola.

The wind and the sun were brutal in the first few weeks when this garden was installed. Frequent daily watering was essential to get the plants acclimatized and when the rains came they shot up as if they were on steroids.

   The client's favorite colour was yellow and as you can see much of it is repeated around the garden.

 A paver patio area was installed for a Gazebo or pergola  that will be added at a later date.

 Kidney shaped islands planted with palm trees and giant roheos break up the large expanse of grass, while a lime and mango tree were installed nearby.

 Portulaca borders the golden palms while gingers border the pool wall.

Paving stones provide easy walking to the back patio and pool area.

 Yes it was challenging and rewarding creating this garden space, working around water and drain pipes poorly installed near the surface proved very difficult and dictated the types of plants I had to use that would pose little or no danger to them. I will be tweaking some areas from time to time and I will keep updating you as the garden matures. Have a great weekend my friends.

My landscaping adventures part 1

 In March 2007 a dear friend and her husband wanted to do something to their backyard. They lived part of the year in Barbados and owned a town house with limited  garden space. The yard was nondescript, consisted of a large mahogany tree that was severely cut back and some golden palms and love lies bleeding (amaranth) or locally known as cat tails. The owners Helen and Chris hated this eyesore and were not sure if it could be removed because of our laws protecting local mahogany trees.

 My friend Helen wanted more space so that the patio could be extended. I was asked to get someone to come and do the job for them. Well I love an adventure so I volunteered to do the job (yes I was used to doing stuff around my garden so what the heck , this was just another garden).

 

 I had a few mishaps with the first carpenter who wanted to cut corners, so I got the rid of him and I called  in a  good carpenter who had worked for me before.  The grass was removed, the ground leveled  and the footings were dug, I used concrete (cinder) half blocks. Ground cover fabric was laid with a couple inches of gravel on top. The joists were laid on the concrete block footings, then the flooring was put down. Notice how George cleverly worked around the tree with the deck boards. I used pressure treated pine which can be used outdoors and  was treated  for termites, believe it or not pressure treated timber will outlast hardwoods.

I rented an orbital sander that nearly broke my back trying to get it out of the car. A friend at the rental place gave me some sound advice n how to sand a floor. I started on the diagonal and sanded the deck  with a coarse sand paper, then I sanded along the grain with a finer grit sand paper. It took almost a day sanding the deck boards.

After consulting with the clients on the deck colour I cleaned and stained the deck. I gave it several coats.

 I then had George my carpenter build this trellised arch and I stained it.

 

I then went to work on the garden with my garden helpers.

 We dug out the old plants and shrubs many of them unsuitable plantings for that garden and round paving stones leading to the deck were laid.

 I installed colourful foliage like the oxblood heliconia, purple leaf crinums, begonias, cuphea, Brazilian fire spike, crotons, desert roses and thunbergia errecta. The Air conditioning unit was to be hidden so I used the thunbergia errecta to do just that.

 

 I planted yellow mandevilla to run up this arch.

 The garden  five months later,  gardens in the tropics  grow very quickly and must be maintained on a regular basis.

Orchids were planted on the tree stump these were later removed when the tree stump was cut lower to make a table base.

My clients were very pleased with the results and so was I. Chris my client said that I was very brave to take on a project like this and Helen said that I should do this professionally. I laughed and told her that I would think about it.  Chris and Helen sold the property last year and have moved to Aruba. I wonder what it looks like now.

Garden spaces

The back garden pergola is nearly two years old, it seems only like a few months ago. How time has flown! Yesterday I decided to place some of my many potted golden palms along the back wall to create a more cozy space. To tell the truth I seldom use this area and I decided to I take time out to enjoy this space . This morning I had my cup of coffee out there.

My birthday is next month and am toying with the idea of a small celebration, and why not have it here? The yellow mandevilla, now known as the vine alamanda has finally covered half of the pergola, thus providing me with some shade during the hottest part of the day. It is a lovely spot to relax in the evenings.

As you can see my adirondack chairs have not been painted since I started two years (more like 17 months) ago. I don't know if I will ever finish this job or delegate it to my garden helper. I know, I am the world's greatest procrastinator and some times I need to have fire under my rear end to get some things going.

To all my fellow garden bloggers, I will not name you but you know who you are, please join me for tea and crumpets on Saturday at 4.00pm. Please dress appropriately.

P.S. Happy belated birthday greetings Virginia!