I started this garden several years ago, the idea was to recreate a rainforest using mostly colors and textures in shades of plum and green with a few pops of color. My Living Room looks into this space so the plants are placed around the windows to shape views from the inside and outside. Here is what I started with:
I referred to this ‘landscape’ as the beach with weeds. The glob of plant material on the right side had to be removed with a bobcat – I poked around at it with loppers for a while then gave up and had everything scraped out. The existing irrigation was capped off and I installed above ground tubing and microspray heads to keep the water off the walkway and be very efficient. The sand holds very little water and is mostly unamended – plant material was chosen carefully to cope with the conditions.
I planted the areas around the walk, and then hired a contractor to install plastic edging. I installed the fabric, then leveled the sand, added stepping stones and shell gradually. I have a crushed shell driveway and had a pile of leftover shell. This is 2018.
Later in 2018 with the walkway completed. I am not sure how long all that took, though I remember it was many tiny wheelbarrows of shell…
Here it is today, I am standing under an Avocado tree planted about 4 years ago.
One of the plum and green Bromeliad beds:
Looking back, I am amazed at how quickly the garden has grown in and enjoy sitting in the garden with a glass of wine frequently.
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Happy Gardening.
The Shrub Queen 
That looks so nice and cool and inviting! I love the color you painted the walls too. It’s amazing what just a few years difference can make.
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Your before and afters are great! Looks like a place anyone would want to visit.
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That is a really nice spot. You often write about your sandy soil and now I can really see it. I also like the house color.
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Thanks.it’s peachy..
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Wow, what a huge improvement and transformation. You clearly follow Emerson when he suggests ‘we leave the world a better place.’ 🙂
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The house and garden really relate to each other – the results make your hard work worth it.
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Wow! What a transformation Amy! Hiw lovely to have such a large tree already, and an avicado tree atvthat. What is the heart-leafed shrub in the flower bed? Lovely big leaves that remind me of Paulownia.
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Thanks, Cathy..the shrub is a Dombeya – a tropical hydrangea from India. This one flowers in December and January with pink hanging balls of well, hydrangeas. I cut it back to about 3 feet after it flowered and probably should have taken it to the ground.
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Oh, thanks Amy. I just looked it up and the flowers are gorgeous. 😃
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They are and the bees?! incredible.
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You created a lovely spot to sit and enjoy a glass of wine. With all the rain recently, it really feels like we are actually living in a rain forest. 😊
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Thank you, in three months I will be back out there! I am glad for the rain, some plants were burning in my garden with the heat and wind.
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Bromeliads look so happy there, without burned edges. I some a bunch go into a landscape here years ago. I was baffled that a ‘landscaper’ would do that’. I was even more baffled that the ‘landscaper’ found so many here. They must have been sold as houseplants. I doubt they are still there.
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I have one dry area where they will burn if it does rain – and they are burnt. Otherwise, happy. They really look better in the winter I think though the big ones are starting to flower.
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What an amazing transformation. You’ve created a beautiful garden
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Thank you..it is, of course, never finished.
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