Introducing...the Garden.

[xtineebee]

It's finished! The back garden has been completely rennovated, and the crabgrass has been banished from the front of the house in favour of some lovely new shrubs and tree ferns (more on my tree ferns later). Cindy & Lori were both witnesses to the pre-rennovation which tragically was not captured on film. The gardener and his team literally swept in here faster than I thought and ripped out the astonishing weed jungle before I took my lazy self out there. It's a pitty, as it was quite a sight. I proudly dubbed it the finest poor white trash effect in the neighbourhood. Seriously, all I needed was an abandoned engine block to really capture that oh-so-special look. I could have put Jeff Foxworthy redneck riffs on a continuous loop and it really would have been special.

When I bought this house, the house itself was in fantastic condition. All the original 1922 floors & fixtures, all the perfect little craftsman touches like arched doorways & sunken ceilings, and all with the benefit of a previous owner putting in modern plumbing and excelent modern wiring. The fence and a wooden deck, however, were rotten and the absolute first project I needed to tackle. I lucked out in finding a terrific landscape architect on my little island here who loved the challenge of making a garden out of my small space.

So on, so on, so on. Won't go into all the details, only to say that the design created was simply wonderful. I love blue, and the garden and the front are all done in shades of blue & deep purples. The trees and plants run from the basic Iris to wonderfully exotic bushes and trees. I have one tree that I just cheered when I saw appear - it's from South America and I saw whole forests of them when I was in the Peruvian rainforest. There are also multiple exotics from Australia - which is my favourite exotic location. Walking about the place is like reliving multiple terrific vacations I've been lucky enough to make in my life.

So on to the pics. Here is the front of the house with the crabgrass dug up.(img src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y160/Xtineebee/nocrabgrass.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com") The crabgrass has not given up, however. The gardeners had to dig down nearly 2 feet to try and get all the roots, but it has *already* started to come back up through the mulch. I stalk around with a bottle of Roundup on each hip, a demented horticultural version of Clint Eastwood's 'Man with No Name' daily.

Here is my little vegetable bed. Lettuces & cabbages are thriving, squash are growing, those are giant mutant onions growing terrifyingly large in the front, and the littlest artichoke in the world is thriving as well. The tomatoes are doing well, too. There is also an herb bed that I need to pay more attention to. (img src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y160/Xtineebee/Vegbed.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com")

And the jewel in the crown - the view into my little sanctuary. A aged brick patio surrounded by varied plants and flowers, the grape trellaced across the back. The only 'survivors' of the garden I bought are that huge 'potato bush' on the left and the grapes that are trellaced all along the back fence. (img src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y160/Xtineebee/viewin.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com")

Ta da! There are other little details here and there, but all in all I can live with the price tag of this transformation becuase it is simply perfect.

Comments

[mincot.livejournal.com]

Absolutely gorgeous! It looks lovely! I like the mutant onions, and herbs take care of themselves after a while, and the smell ebautifully. What kind of grapes?