That is absolutely gorgeous. Everyones yards look like something out of a grand picture book of what yards are supposed to look like after a team of 20 professionals get through with theI love that fountain look and the surrounding areas of the pool.
Share your yard!
That is beautiful!!!
Robyznest,
First thing you need to do is draw up a plan of your yard,and place your flower beds,and what you'd like to grow in them.
Second you need to prepare the soil,I mean lots of humus,manure and sand and lots of each and work into the beds!!!
If your like me,I want as much green as possible in the winter,I just don't like to look at that dead brown look!!!!
Do a search of Junipers,Hollies and hardy Bamboos,there is a lot of good sources of evergreens to consider,also you mentioned fruit trees,I'm assuming,apples, peaches
and cherries,and don't forget the pairs,or even a strawberry patch!!!
When you get a idea of what you want to do,I can help you with getting some hardy palms seedlings,ans some bananas,ears and other seeds as castor beans all different kinds.
Once you got this going,we'll work from there!!!
what kind of palms are those?? raffia??
Dan, beautiful backyard! I love the whole design, it looks excellent!
beautiful yards...keep the pictures/ideas coming! my plan is to start the front yard this summer. all i have is an alley of crepe mrytles...11 on each side, which are beautiful, especially with the cinnamon bark, but it's ready for more. placenciarita, i love those bananas! do you know the variety? i thought i bought some several years ago, but apparently i got some sort of dwarf variety! i waited for years for them to get bigger and finally figured it out, ddduuuhh! kimarj, your plants are beautiful!
Thanks everyone. I still have a lot to learn and a ways to go before it will be what I want.
Every year there are a couple of casualties from the extreme heat or a rare winter freeze. I had 3 queen palms sustain damage last winter, during a 20 year low, only to have the tender new growth burn up in the summer. Same with a pygmy date that was on the other side of the waterfall. I haven't yet figured out why the pygmy date, just 5' away, survived while the other one perished.
I don't have any experience with plumerias although they are popular among the folks at the Southwest Forum. Seems like they are sensitive to a little cold weather too. Maybe a larger plant would have a better chance at survival. I know that some of the more exclusive golf resorts around here have some specimen size plants that are absolutely incredible. Haha! If only I had their budget!
DHS,those are Trachycarpus Fortunie and Washy,fifilera,of course a little protection the first couple years or so until they get established.
everyone's yards are beautiful and so well maintained.
this is the front of my house this morning with a couple of my new finds. (brugmansia fantasia,and super nova)
ashleykelly, those are Red Abyssinian banana Plants. I have to dig them out for the winter.
candela, I like the way you have all your bromeliads together in one bed, very good idea. I have mine scattered all over the yard where they are mostly hidden.
You have the perfect tropical yard. I have seen some pictures of the backyard as well
picture of bananas in greenhouse.
Rita you can send that beautiful banana tree to me now. :) That is awesome.
Debbie
tropicman, the one I was referring to was pinnate and plumose..... Unless I'm being fooled by two trees looking like one
ok sorry!
Here is the one area I really want to turn into a tropical garden, First I have to move some of the plants that are there out so I can ammend the soil. I have been working on the soil situation in other areas when it is warm out. I start out with card board boxes and then dump leaves on it, then horse manure and more leaves. I also have some sand to put in it.
The next area.
and the opposite side.
Don,
Thank you so much and you're right I do want the apples, peaches, cherries and pears. We have a wild strawberry patch now that is huge. I just have to beat the birds to it sometimes.
I would love to have a hardy palm by the pool on the right side and a castor bean tree on the other. Bamboo is a really unique idea, I'll have to think of where to put it so I can enjoy that from my back windows. Maybe behind the pool along with some cannas.
I do have some evergreen things in the front of the house that I have to move, they went wild and are too big for where the other owners put them. I don't think they ever pruned anything.
I am at a loss on what is hardy here. I can do container in some of the areas or even dig the plants up and store them for the winter. I know I do want Plumies and palms and bananas, Oh and I love Hibs.
Whew. Its hard for me to keep up with you folks. I am slowww to getting around to pictures. Although this is a bad time of year for me to take pictures, I've been meaning to take more photos, and maybe make a DG diary, too. Here goes.........starting with the front yard.
The front yard looking out from the house.
I like to put birdhouses everywhere I can (one of my little touches since I've been here- this is my dearest's house for the last 20 years.) Here is the front yard again with emphasis on the pond. That is a guava tree in the foreground and a clump of messy papyrus(didn't like the drought last year) to the left and back. I just planted a new crinum lily in there to hopefully fill that space in.
Still on the pond and the front yard, off to the neighbor's side. You can see a defoliated sunshine tree- messy but the leaves are so cool. There once was a poinciana with like a 20' spread over here, and the first of the hurricanes took care of that. I insisted that the little sucker I found be allowed to stay. Its hard to describe how someone you know who's lived through all that damage feels- like, I'm over the whole poinciana thing since I lost my 18 year old tree so to heck with this little baby that shows up.........I'm also going to plant the jacaranda I got last fall over to this side- all the flowering trees will be reflected in the pond.
This Brunfelsia (Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow) has been flowering its heart out all winter long since November. Its very offended I just now got around to taking a picture.
Wow!! I love you birdhouses everywhere idea.
Thank you! This is one of my little crafty projects I'm always doing. My goal for this year is for all 3 of us to make a set of personalized stepping stones each year henceforth.......because I have so much free time on my hands!
This is a 2 picture story.........
Laurel Oak is notorious for getting diseased and dying. The stump was here along with some other hurricane clean up, etc. Well, I don't like coming in and chopping everything up. Lots of reasons (man, we HAVE to get rid of the big pine tree in front of the house struck by lightning, but all the birds love to perch on it......it's gonna kill me to see it go), but my main reason is that we had a neighbor lose all of his pine trees when he brought in trucks and crews to cut down the dead ones. I mean, the living ones quickly died thereafter, too! So, one of the ways hurricanes kill pine trees is by slow death because the wind twists the tree and all the roots and supposedly they lose the relationship with the fungi that fix the nutrients. Anyway, every time they sawed up a piece of tree, BOOM! on the ground it fell, and I felt it inside the house- more disturbance. I know there is a lot of pine beetle factor, too, but all I can say is that we have totally dragged our feet on removing about 4 trees that really need to go and we haven't lost any other trees since the storms over 2 years ago. But, getting back to this laurel oak. I turned it (I turn everything, and I mean everything) into a planter! The sedums didn't take very well, but the bromeliads are doing great.
Invasives of all kinds (insects, plants, spiders, etc.) are a big factor down here. This is a wild corner of the frond yard with mainly pine, sabals and brazilian pepper, but I like this area. The dog loves to chase lizards and run around through here. Its messy to some, but to me it says PRIVACY! I have done battle with the brazilian pepper, though. First of all, they have a symbiotic relationship with those wicked wicked little ants that have a horrible bite. They are tiny and you never see them until you feel them and you can't so much as trim one branch without getting one on you. So far I've uncovered a mango tree and an ackee tree.
Great planter!! :)
i really like the way your yard looks so natural, but not in a wild and untamed way
I love the broms in the tree and all your birdy stuff.
Finally flowers! Another story for you. This long rectangular bed along the driveway had ixora that was infested with nematodes. When I replanted it, I spent 3 weekends with the gas grill and the crawfish pot boiling pot after pot of water to steam the soil to kill the nematodes.
Thanks, DHS (and all.) I think that comes with the maturity of a planting growing into a space and the mature look of the tree or palm itself. We also do not aggressively prune and boot up the palms- its a style you could call "Old Florida." But, we sure have a lot of fronds to pick up after a windy storm!
Here's a shot of the back yard with an oil palm in the backround. Grass has been not its best since we adopted the dog this year (St. Augustine does not tolerate foot traffic.) We love our Catahoula, though!
I love the way these podocarpus henklii frame the front entrance. I keep some of my "pet plants" here, too - brunfelsia americana, that badly need to be weeded!
Beyond the back yard is the "back back." I'd so love to have a raised bed vegetable garden enclosed in basically shade cloth to keep most bugs out back here. Major project. I terribly miss my vegetable garden I once had in Orlando. Sigh. Did I mention that I never had any back injuries until I moved to this property?!?!?!
i know what you mean by old florida... i love the old SC... its dissappearng way too quick!!! so sad...
not my yard, but that of an old plantation called palmetto bluff.... those are it's ruins
From the backyard looking at the porch. Ixora not too happy this time of year. It was my idea to put hanging baskets in every "section" of the wrap around porch.
here's the old bluffton episcapalian church... beautiful vie... i'm very u fortunate to live in a place with natural beauty everywhere.
DHS, I love historical places. If you haven't been to Cumberland Island in Georgia, I highly recommend it. I think it was once a Carnegie estate, or Rockefeller. One of those 2! What's left of the estate is in ruins and the whole island (or most of it) is a state park now. It's been a long time since I've been there! I also love plantations (or any estate- this is common in latin america, too) that has a row of mature plants lining the entrance, like live oaks or royal palms.
Attached.....another 'concept' for you. This nursery is great, they will do mail order. Let me know if interested in their contact info.
