Re: OT-PLANTS: New Garden

John:
   Your garden sounds REALLY NEAT! Especially to someone who is just 
getting out from under 3 months of snow on the ground. Finally got to 
see the iris about a week ago; yup..still there...but ugh! a SLUG 
also..who just finished a hole in one of the new iris shoots!.
I hate this..but out come the chemicals..Can't seem to keep them away 
otherwise.
Laetitia
Newfoundland NJ zone 6 or maybe 6- 


--- In iris-talk@y..., John Reeds <jreeds@m...> wrote:
> Just thought someone staring at a snowfield might like to dream.  
Since
> someone else just asked for a description of my garden, I decided 
to share
> it.  Hope you enjoy, an opposed to considering it inapropriate for 
the
> forum:
> 
> My garden is a work in progress.  I bought this house four years 
ago; it
> took me 6 months to find one with a decent sized lot (15,400 square 
feet).
> Most of the lots around here are tiny, about 8000 square feet; new
> construction is on 4500 square foot lots.  Mine has a small front 
yard, a
> 2-story 2000 square foot house with a 3-car garage, and a long back 
yard
> about 70 x 120.  About 40% of that is flat; the back slopes uphill 
at about
> a 1-in-5 grade.  We just put a pool in at the base of the slope, 
cut into
> the hill a bit to give elevation to the waterfalls.  It is a 
fantasy pool, I
> guarantee.  We terraced the slope behind the pool with 3-ft. 
retaining walls
> using the same fake rock; I brought in 280 cubic yards of topsoil to
> backfill the planter areas.  This was all done because our soil is 
horrible
> adobe clay, slimy, alkaline, and with absolutely no drainage.  We 
will be
> planting the area directly behind the pool with tropicals (palms, 
giant
> bird-of-paradise, philodendrum, bananas, orchids, spider plants, 
etc.).  The
> middle beds will be for flowers (mostly iris) and some flowering 
bushes and
> vines.  The gazebo will sit in the upper left corner, surrounded by
> flowering bushes and climbing vines.  The top section will have 
about a
> dozen assorted fruit trees (citrus, tropicals, and deciduous).  The 
entire
> garden will be surrounded by a grewia caffra (lavender starflower) 
hedge.
> In front of the pool we have 3 huge phoenix canariensis palms, 1 
large bed
> for louisiana iris, and one bed of mixed low-level flowering shrubs 
with a
> couple of "accent" plants including an alexander magnolia.  Off to 
the side
> of the pool, next to one of the waterfalls and partly shaded by the
> canarariensis, will be a Japanese maple, an elephant ear "coco", 
and a tree
> fern.  We will be trying to wedge a few relatively hardy 
tillandsias into
> cracks built into the fake rock walls around the pool.  I even had 
one small
> plant pocket built into the rock behind the main waterfall (and 
opening into
> the cave) for shade-loving "house plants).
> 
> Wow!  Still a work in progress, and all the new palms won't look 
like much
> for 10 years, but this is a fantasy project, as you can probably 
guess.  Our
> 3-year-old daughter is going to be spoiled rotten.
> 
> John Reeds, in sunny southern California
> jreeds@m...


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