The Last Hurrah ?
This is the driveway of a flag lot leading up to the house and cottage. Over three years ago before the main house was completed a cease construction order was placed on the owners. That is a long sad story of neighbors suing, getting bogged down in the courts and the county government bureaucracy. After three years the cease construction order was lifted on a technicality. Construction resumed and the rest of the garden is also finally being installed.
It really is a LOOOONG ridiculous story with too many details to go into. Just suffice it to say the project is coming to a finish. I will say that the owners displayed the most extraordinary patience and grace under fire I have ever witnessed.
About %50 of the total landscape around the finished portions of the buildings, swimming pool and the perimeter of the property that could be installed without hindering future construction was planted. These two pictures were taken when the landscape was about two years old to give you an idea of what some of the finished portions look like.
This is the section I am currently working on. It is a very steep hill face with a 20 foot elevation drop over a 50 foot run. The swimming pool above is at the top of the stairs you see in these shots. I take no responsibility for the construction of these stairs!!!!
The pictures move from left to right.
What does one plant on a hillside that is too steep to comfortably walk on or maintain? Rest assured it will not be Bougainvillea. In some respects it is an unusable piece of land. Its contribution will be mostly visual.
And what do you do with the hundreds and hundreds of rocks that litter the ground and keep popping up every time you dig a hole or prep the ground for planting?
I have one solution, an Organized Pile of Useless Rocks. As I work the Cairn grows.
One day it may grow up to look like this one in my own garden.
Yes Christopher C was Here too.
5 comments:
Good idea. I like the rock cairn.
Whenever we dig we get small rocks too, which are carted to one area where they might hint at a streambed some day. We seldom found rocks in Illinois, and I'm still too charmed by the idea of 'free rocks' to pitch them.
Your cairn is probably a better idea.
Are those plants along the driveway red-leaved crotons, used as shrubs? The photos remind me of Hollywood's gorgeous vision of the exotic - you almost expect Dorothy Lamour or Esther Williams in the pool.
Annie
Along the driveway there are Crotons and several colors of Ti Leaf. Croton are very much a medium sized shrub at maturity. They are a bit slower growing and much lower maintenance than many other shrubs. So far no major bug infestations have ocurred with them, so I like them as a durable easy care year round color accent.
Some of those plants look vaguely familiar. It must be very different to garden in Hawaii, huh?
Are restios hip over there? Restios are all the rage in California.
Restios are the new salvias.
I had to Google Restios to find out what they were. No they are not hip or even known here. Ornamental grasses and sedges are little used in landscapes here either.
Many of the South African plants do best upcountry where it is cooler at higher elevations than down at the coast where it is most decidely tropical.
Importing grasses is majorly restricted because Sugarcane is a grass and they don't want any new pest or disease to hurt that subsidized agri-business.
My blog seemed to have gone to a blank white page for a spell tonight after I gave up trying to do a new post.
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