ESPatch

“Posh with a Capitol P!”

ESPatch Mar 14, 2013 6 comments

My latest front and back garden design and install, this one is in East Austin.

The claustrophobic boxwoods, confined circular beds around the pecan trees and the metal edging were first on my list for the dumpster. This property was made more complicated due to the grade differences. Everything was mounded, the driveway was low, grass areas high and I really wanted to open up the existing linear (and sunken) walkway to the street.

Then it was the turf’s time to go dumpster-diving.

This existing cactus bed had some nice specimen plants and a large sago palm and opuntia that stabbed me repeatedly throughout the course of the installation process.

This metal fence also served no purpose as the wooded fence behind it created enough security and enclosure, this was also removed to further open up the space to create a better flow through the property.

The back garden had an over-sized hot tub (that was removed) and a lot bricks that had buckled as the ground shifted.

It is a documented fact that the removal of bricks defies all conventional laws of physics. There are always 35x more bricks excavated than were originally in the ground.

Large amounts of decomposed granite was delivered,

in this case three dump trucks full, this was #1…and that is a lot of granite.

lots of boulders and flagstone.

Here are some before and after images:

Enlarged cactus and succulent bed, side metal fence removal and new meandering pathways.

Flattening of the grade to create a less segmented appearance, organic flagstone pathway replaces linear concrete walkway to street.

Hot tub removal, back patio and a stock tank planted up with cattails (naturally).

Planting bed definition,

introduction of a small water feature. The home owner already had this little fountain, it worked out perfectly in terms of scale and volume. I have been sensitive to the audible volume of things in the landscape ever since my wind-chime kerfuffle some years back:

https://www.eastsidepatch.com/2008/05/wind-chimes-and-my-post-oak-a-darwin-award-nominee/

360 unification.

The future home of…well something?

Back in the Patch:

Remember when I finished this brickwork,

and the traveling folk moved in?

If you recall I gave them an ultimatum to tidy their camp up or leave,

imagine my surprise when I took a walk up the garden, turned a corner and…

found that my traveling folk had turned all posh with a capital P!

We needed a new tent and it was spring break after all.

They have practically been living in here since I pitched it.

Even our house-elf has taken to the new temporary structure.

Of course it is hard to avoid technology in the tent when you are still in WiFi distance from the house.

Moving along:

My ponds are awaiting the drop of the catkins from this overhead post oak, my net is at the ready.

Salvia has wasted no time with our recent warm temperatures.

1920’s high fashion holly fern unfurling.

Here is a great combination, if you have the space:

Sabal major with an understory of Texas red bud – my “borrowed view”.

Finally:

Yetis may or may not exist in the Siberian mountains but I do know they exist in the Patch.

Stay Tuned for:

“Candy Apples”

An everything but the kitchen sink time travel machine!

All material © 2013 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

“Brick Circles”

ESPatch Mar 3, 2013 10 comments

A fresh delivery of decomposed granite was greeted in the usual way in the Patch.

She ran out to watch the delivery,

eager to set up camp on the summit of the new mountain with her dog,

who had his now customary conniption faced with the paw-sinking pile.

Any opportunity to wield a large metallic implement.

Myself on the other hand, after having already moved two dump-trucks full of the stuff this past week,

I just glazed over, stared up at the peak, and pulled this sort of pained expression:

Still, this was a relatively small pile and we made haste to the delight of Lord Kumo who has a new-found fondness for getting chauffeured around in a wheelbarrow.

In fact it is so hard to keep him out of it it is annoying. I half expect him to gesture a royal paw as he trundles down the pathways in his one-wheeled vehicle. He already has on the white gloves after all.

The granite was being used to back-fill this brick circle I laid out a couple of weeks back.

Now to go around, level some of the bricks and wait for the granite to cure,

and the stock tank full of cattails to grow, which they will, very quickly.

Moving along:

The growth on this post oak leaf looks very H.R Geiger.

Who knows what lurks inside these aquatic looking vessels?

Of course this could be just a load of old galls?

Lots of early butterflies emerging this week, these two giant swallowtails floated around in synchronization before landing on this Buddha’s belly bamboo.

Even though it was a poor blooming year for this mountain laurel tree, my copper canyon daisies have looked like this all through the winter. I cannot remember them ever blooming so long and so consistently.

Daffodils are also out,

and, to the delight of the cardinals, I even have some bunches of ripe loquats.

My daughter thinks these emerging datura structures make ideal fairy houses,

if she plays around with this plant she may actually start to see fairies.

Oleander paratroopers disembarking their vessels.

One of them must have got blown off track…

punching a hole in the roof of my shed as he landed.

Finally:

“The Curse of the Japanese Yew”

“Why Yew little…”

I officially give up.

Eight plants, multiple locations and vendors, all start off looking well, some living well over a year…then the inevitable:

Aw come on!

I have seen Japanese Yews growing around Austin, but not for me for some reason. As much as I want them to work as a shade shrub this always happens. These particular two are in fertile soil with a soaker-hose, yes a soaker-hose, the only additional irrigation I have in the Patch apart from my “everything but the kitchen sink” collection “system”… (Oh yes I pulled out all the stops to make these plants work!).

Am I the only one that is hexed with this shrub?

“Mumble…mumble…yews…Japanese…mumble, (some hissing and unfortunate drooling)…Patch, (head flies back…wild laughter).

Brrr, on that cursed note I will leave you with this:

I bet that tiki torch adds a nice atmospheric touch at night.

Not that I am one to talk with my wind-chimes:

Stay Tuned for:

“Posh with a Capitol P!”

All material © 2013 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

ESPatch

“Posh with a Capitol P!”

“Candy Apples”

“Brick Circles”

“Posh with a Capitol P!”

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