My New Garden

A cross view of the front garden. Sidewalk leads to the front door (to the right). I've made very few changes to the front so far. 

Yes, I'm embracing my new garden fully after these few months of working in it and learning to love it. I purposely didn't get attached to this new garden initially because our plan was to resell quickly once our primary house was remodeled. For that reason I also held off making any significant changes in this garden. Then we made the decision in June 2014 to make this our permanent home.  [If you missed the story about why we bought the house next door you can catch up on that here.]

Some fall-like colors in the back sunny garden. Maple leaf hibiscus and Swamp sunflower.

When we made that decision it changed my perspective instantly. My adrenalin sent my planning, organizing self into overdrive. I was consumed with how/where/when to move plants and to start cuttings from my old garden. I challenged myself to get this garden started without spending any money on new plants. That's was super-fun. I worked straight through the heat and humidity of summer in order to accomplish that first phase of making my new garden a place of respite.

The fire pit doubles as a big family room with plentiful and roomy seating. There was nothing here except and weeds when we moved in. (The banana trees in the background are my neighbor's and you can see the cypress hammock in the distance.)

With all that said, I'm trying my best to take my time and really think out what and how much I want to add to this garden overall. Some would say it's too late for that because I've already added so many plants and created so many new spaces. I guess what I mean is that I want to try to stay true to the overall feel of this piece of property. This property has a natural, woodsy feel to it.  Mature saw palmettos gather in clumps beneath tall old oaks throughout the front and back. We are only a lot away from a cypress hammock that surrounds a conservation water area.

The view across from the fire pit and on the way out to the far back yard. This was a huge bed of invasive Mexican petunia when we moved in. I am still pulling out pieces of it as it shoots up. 

So far my thoughts are to keep this garden looking more natural. Less manicured. Maybe even less plants. Did I just say that? By less plants I mean planting less crowded in some of the beds.

Tiny slips of rooted coleus from my old garden were planted in the Birdhouse Garden in June 2014.
Our rainy Florida summer was just what they needed to flourish. 

The views in the shadiest part sorta contradict what I just stated. That's okay. I'm not committed to less crowding everywhere.

This is the back side of the sunniest part of the garden. The plumbago in the center is the only plant that I left in this bed when I started adding my own plants.
Grass was removed from the front 8' in early July to enlarge and enhance the shape of this large bed.

I have to admit the whole challenge of moving to a new garden, although heartbreaking at the outset, has been an extremely rewarding and fun endeavor. As I look back on the decisions we made with a clearer perspective I think I actually needed a change-up. It has given me new inspiration and sparked fresh ways of thinking and designing. Especially in my sunniest garden that is in the wide open back part of the yard.

The partially shady area that I created first thing in order to move my birdhouses and the plants you see here.
You can see how I did it and the before and after photos here.

My old garden was filled with literally thousands of plants jammed in so tightly there was hardly room for anymore. I loved the layout of that garden. I'm learning to love the layout of this one.

A large area of lawn was removed in late July to create this space in the very back corner of my back yard. The mature plants in view in the background are actually in my old garden. I'm using it as a backdrop to this new seating area. :-)

Seating arrangements are a key element in any garden to instantly add a sense of warmth and coziness. I moved most of my Adirondacks, benches and captain's chairs from my new garden. Finding suitable places for all of them has involved creating inviting planting beds.

Part of the front garden. I moved the lime green coleus, the iron chair, the begonia, and the birdbath from my old garden.
Lots of mixed white Caladiums were planted from bulbs in July.

I'm feeling blessed and satisfied that we made the right decision to stay here. Now that I've embraced this new garden my mind whirls with ideas and plans for improvement. I'm gonna take my time. As much as I LOVE maintenance (I really do) I'm trying keep maintenance low. We have other interests and we like to pick up and leave when we want to for short periods of time. So far we've been able to do that without worries.

What about you? What's new in your garden? I hope your fall garden is off to a great start.

Meems

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A Simple Bench

I find myself prefacing every new garden story I tell lately with "one of the first things I did in the new garden..." Truth is, I worked so fast and so steadily for an intense 10 weeks starting June 1. It seems like everything all together at once was "one of the first things I did in the new garden." lol

"Before" the seating area was added.

Truly though "one of the first things I did" was to create some cozy, homey spots in the garden. Seating is one of the simple ways to do it. I moved a lot of benches and chairs over to our new garden from the old one. If you are new to the story of how we moved next door you can read the back story here. 

The fire pit seating area in the new garden. It's like a big family room.

The old garden had several nooks and crannies for seating groups and places to rest or relax. This one? Not so much. Most of the chairs and seats were moved from the old garden to the new fire pit area positioned to surround the pit. It served as a holding area of sorts until I could spread out the seating to other parts of the garden.

"Before" the seating was added, but after the grass was covered with mulch.

In a future post I'll chronicle the new mulched pathways that links three large planting beds together to create a better flow. Once the grass was eliminated here a simple bench and rearranging the containers was all it needed to elevate the vignette from mediocre to cozy. 

I borrowed this bench from the fire pit holding area to give it a permanent new home. This location is around a corner so to speak and sits in the shade most of the morning and in the sun later in the day.

I used the same potted plants I had tucked in among the existing cordylines and palmettos in the large bed behind it. They came out farther now that the mulch broadened the space and they nestled up to the bench on each side to complete the scene. 

"After" photo 

You can see the difference a simple bench can make if you compare the first photo with this last photo. It altered this now cozy vignette from a sterile out of the way place to an alive mini-focal point. Easy peasy. 

I'm having fun making this garden a home. I hope you're enjoying your last days of summer. Meems

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Upcycled Wooden Pallet Garden Art

This winter one of the visions I've been holding in my mind for my garden became reality. I carved out a space for an outdoor fire pit/ seating area. I'll catch you up about how that came to be at another time. Today it's about the garden art I made to complement the space.

The steel fire pit was delivered on this pallet. I tried so hard to get rid of the pallet. Twice. Chance would have it that the two times I thought I had arranged for someone to haul it off, they left it behind. That's when I decided to put it to use. My first idea was to fill it with dirt and plant a vertical garden. For some odd reason this pallet has slats too wide (to plant) on one side and too close on the other.

I'm working on trying to think outside of my comfort zone for the garden. Generally, I like to keep things natural, but I'm also trying to add a few whimsical pieces occasionally that blend well with my garden style. 

That's how it dawned on me to paint it.

First I washed it/scrubbed it lightly and let it dry in the sun. I didn't bother with sanding. I wanted the rough look to remain.

Then I painted the front, back and sides with Rust-Oleum primer paint 'Espresso' that I already had on hand. 

I used a fairly dry 2" flat brush and swiped some blue strokes across the front slats to shabby it up a little. (I forgot to get a photo of that step).

Next came the fun part. I painted part of a simple sunflower in one corner. Again, I used acrylic craft paints I had on hand.  When it was dry I sprayed a coat of Rust-Oleum Clear Protective Finish over the entire front. I have no idea if that will help it last a little longer. It couldn't hurt right?

To secure it upright I *hung* it on two 4' rebar stakes anchored into the ground and fastened to the back side with cable wires. This should keep it from getting rocked by wind or animals that decide to crawl on it. Uh-hem ... that's you pesky squirrels!

I was hoping the pallet would hide my wood/trash pile back there behind it. Not from this angle. LOL

The next day I happened upon these tin pots at Home Depot while looking for something else. They had metal brackets available that fit around them for hanging. YES! I'm going to get a glimmer of a vertical garden after all.

Paint is my friend! I love paint. Paint will change your world in a matter of minutes or even seconds sometimes. Rust-Oleum 'Paprika'. It's not too red. It's not too orange. It's just what I wanted!

I potted up some very low maintenance plants (Donkey's ears succulent, Peperomia, and a fern) that I won't have to worry with watering every other day. There you have it... a mini vertical garden is born.

The new garden art addition happily married into the seating area at the back of the garden. Cheap art too! What about you? Do you have a piece of wood or fence or pallet you could upcycle into garden art? I didn't know I did either. Next time I think I won't be so quick to want to throw away. :-)

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Sneak Peek at Front Lawn Removal Project

Favorite extra-large adirondack chairs with loads of character (read::deteriorating) have been the seating focus in the circle garden since its creation barely over a year ago. Prior to that their comfortable bottoms rested on the pool deck for many years. A gift from my mom originally they have given us their best years and even now except for just a bit of rot on a couple of slats they remain sturdy making them worthy of a place in the garden. We've found a new home for them. They have been moved to add a cozy feel and warmth to the newly carved out pathway around the front gardens. (To give you better perspective: approximatley 10 feet behind the chairs is my neighbor's driveway and front yard). You may remember the front lawn renovation project from the summer of 2009 when the perimeter St. Augustine turf was removed and replaced with shrubs and ground covers. Since then I've been antsy to take out the rest of the lawn as designs for replacing it swirl in my head and urge me into action.

The timing was finally right this spring. It is not the easiest job in the garden (understatement). I've been working on it in bits and pieces since February. It is 99.9% completed... except for a few tweaks. All the area you see in front of the chairs was grass.

So this is the sneak peek. Lots more photos and explanation to follow. Meanwhile back in the circle garden we couldn't go without seating. As you probably know the circle garden serves as the hub of the back gardens. Trails lead away from the circle like spokes to the wildflower garden, the tropical pathway, the perennial gardens, and the shade garden.

For the first time I've strayed away from my primary choice of unstained cedar for the new seating. The natural graying process as cedar weathers is supremely appealing to me and it complements the naturalistic setting of my garden. For a switcheroo I chose black painted cedar adirondacks to pair with the blue-glazed containers I'm also fond of. If you let your eye move to the right in the circle (and of the chairs) there are more blue-glazed containers to cool your view on a humid summer day. Oh, yeah, it's not summer yet. But it surely feels like it out there.

Happy gardening, friends. I'm off to finish up some tweaking, and pruning, and edible garden attention, and mulching and watering ...

Keep smiling, Meems