Author Archives: theshrubqueen

The Next Project

Unfortunately, there is always a next project.  I am not so sure this is unfortunate, It is another one of those double edged swords. Would you rather have something interesting to do – or nothing. OK, if you are thinking nothing, then you are really out of it. So, another project is good.

Mine is, the side yard of our house. Which, unfortunately, has some peculiar restraints. OK, we have a gigantic propane tank. This came with the house and really I am not ready to say I like this thing. It is, after all, a tank of explosive gas really close to the house to provide fuel for a fireplace?? I live in South Florida, the reason to move here is you never want to need a fireplace and yet, here they are. The cliche Christmas story here is “we were gathered around the fire on Christmas Eve and had to go outside because it was too hot in the house” Thus far, I have not started a fire in the house during the holidays – or at all. 

What is existing that is good is a large Banyan Tree. Which provides nice shade but does not allow any turf. No turf is fine by me but my husband really likes the stuff. There are some wildly overgrown Arboricola Scheffeleras and Turks Cap Hibiscus (the weedy version of Hibiscus Shrub). The rest appears to be Brazilian Pepper seedlings and a weed that appears to be a scary version of Transcandentia. Perfectly nice little native wildflowers morph into invasive drama in this climate. Another existing feature is a huge swath of Snake Plants (yes, Mother In Laws Tongues) These Snake Plants still freak me out a little bit. There is probably an area of the 4-6′ wide and 200 feet deep. House Plants gone wild, and no way to ever get rid of them. The Snake Plants must be incorporated into the design. My neighbor advised “Make friends with the Snake Plants.” Time for demolition and decisions.Image.

Me being me, I am working on a plan for this. Part of my desire is to create a farmlet where I can grow vegetables and have a couple of citrus trees and maybe a Mango tree. I am on the fence about bananas. My husband despises them but will eat Banana Bread. Somebody (me) would have to eat a lot of bananas. Go figure.

 

Black Eyed Pea Salad

Here’s a easy recipe. It is a great side dish to BBQ or grilled just about anything. While I am a Southerner, traditionally prepared Black Eyed Peas are not my thing. I find them greasy and mushy, especially if they have been cooked for hours on end with pork fat.

( amounts are per person)

1/2 cup frozen Black Eyed Peas

1/4 Red Bell Pepper

1 Tablespoon Chopped Fresh Basil or Dill (I use the Dill Paste), and or Chopped Fresh Chives

Newman’s Own Olive Oil and Vinegar Salad Dressing

Cook the Black Eyed Peas per directions. Chop Red Pepper in 1/2″ dice. Drain peas, add Pepper and HerbsImage.

Mix and dress with Newman’s Own dressing. Salt and Pepper to taste. Leave on the counter for 10 minutes to let flavors meld, then eat or refrigerate and eat later.

Winter Starburst Clerodendrum – Clerodendrum quadriloculare

Lo and behold I discovered yet another source of color for the winter garden.  The Winter Starburst Clerodendrum is a large shrub to small tree (8-12’ ht.) sporting beautiful pink flowers in winter with the added bonus of foliage that is attractive throughout the year. Belonging to a group of plants sometimes called Glory Bower, this certainly lives up to that name. It is glorious when in full bloom.

The first one of these I saw stopped me in my car.. what is that and blooming in the middle of Winter? Fabulous.  After a bit of detective work I found out what it is. I have seen a few scary examples of Clerodendrums around my neighborhood. Gone wild and not in a good way. I think one needs to be prepared to do some maintenance pruning or pay the price. On the other hand, you could say you were going for the cottage garden look. Problem solved with little or no work.

There are many different types of Clerodendrum – most native to tropical south Asia;  the plant types range from vines to perennials, shrubs up to small trees.  These plants have some invasive tendencies so be careful who you invite into the garden. This one grows in partial shade and prefers moist soil. Clerodendrum is a good addition to the butterfly garden.  Another similar variety that is not quite so big is ‘Pink Diamond’ Clerodendrum, this is also called Cashmere Bouquet for its fragrance (my grandmother used a soap by that name – the smell of the soap would not motivate me to use this plant!) ‘Pink Diamond’ grows 48” high and some have variegated foliage. An additional  identifying feature is the back of the leaves are purple year round, this is another good quality of this plant.

A Seashell Driveway

The driveway is in and it is a beauty. I am so excited after all those months of living with the weed pit as my front yard. The existing driveway was pea gravel overrun with weeds. The entire thing had to be scraped away and hauled to the dump.Image After the scraping and removal of the foul pea gravel a gigantic pile of shell and base material appeared. The driveway is constructed by scraping off enough material to have 4-6″ depth to backfill. The base area is graded for water to drain off properly then a base material is placed. The base is crushed shell about 2″ thick followed by 2-3″ layer of the shell for the driving surface. The crushed shell base looks like coarse sand and the shell topping looks like thousands of tiny shells. Because that is what it is. Theoretically,the crushed shell base course tamps down over time and forms a permeable stable layer for the driving surface.

Pile of Shell

Pile of Shell

Shell used for driveways is quarried for the most part on the West Coast of Florida. I believe the shell in my front yard comes from the South side of Lake Okeechobee. This is to a certain extent a word of mouth bit of info. The shell is from a broker who bought it from somebody who bought it from somebody else. Interestingly enough the shell is cheaper than pea gravel because it doesn’t have to be shipped as far from its source. Shell is not supposed to sink into the ground as gravel does, I am going to be interested to see how it holds up… TA DA, the driveway:

The Shell Driveway

The Shell Driveway

Now, onto the green part, Landscaping. Note the repulsive grass/weed groundcover..Ugly. Soon to be gone.

Christmas Palm – Veitchia merrillii

The Christmas Palm on Christmas Day.  This particular Palm I learned as the Adonidia. I think Christmas is a much better name; especially with the red mass of berries resembling ornaments during the holiday season.  These are also called Manila Palms as they are from the Philippines. Not an exceptionally cold tolerant plant they will grow in South Florida in coastal areas south of the magical State Highway 60 line. Many of these palms were lost during the unusually cold winter of 2010.

Christmas Palms can be used as single or multi trunk trees and grow to about 20 feet tall, this makes them excellent for residential use near buildings in the one to two story range. These are not a self cleaning Palm so fronds past their prime must be trimmed. They also add a tropical flair to pools and near spas, I have planted a multi trunk near my lanai to provide shade in the summer. And I am just waiting for some Christmas berries.href=”https://theshrubqueen.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/cam00183.jpg”>Image

The Before photo

A reminder of what we are starting with..

theshrubqueen's avatarThe Shrub Queen

The Before photo

House as we bought it. This is the beginning of my Landscape Renovation story. This photo is what we bought, I look at it and wonder “what were we thinking?” Then, I know, in my heart I can fix this and make it work. I have redone many horrendous yards, this one, mine, may take the cake. Thus far.

What I do not recall is, who the SUV belongs to. Maybe a rental? Maybe the realtor, maybe it will come back to me or I will ask Larry.

So, yes, we actually did buy this in exactly this state. My favorite landscaper in Atlanta said “Amelia, the landscape there looks Venutian, as in the planet.” Really, Venus with intractable weeds. Believe it or not, at some point, through archaeological digging we discovered there was a pea gravel turnaround in front of the house, I will post another picture of the…

View original post 1 more word

The Plan

The Plan for Driveway and Landscape

The Plan for Driveway and Landscape

At last, the plan has been nailed down and the contractor hired. Soon we will see a passable driveway. As in a surface dedicated to the movement and parking of motor vehicles. Life is good.

I am very happy with the contractor we finally hired. I actually went through 7 interviews/pricing exercises. It got pretty boring and repetitive. No, no, no and more no. I shouldn’t be surprised at what I found in the way of contractors but I am. A good one is a rare find. It is a difficult call for me if I am really picky and uncooperative or if other people are just clueless. Probably a little of both. A great deal of stuff these guys were asking me to tolerate I just wouldn’t. People are too nice sometimes.

So, here is the Final Plan. The area of stepping stones ended up so big I used half seashell stones and half salt finish plain stones. The reality is that is how many we had on hand and I think I will like it. The idea behind this area is that we have a place to park all the trash cans and recycling bins and the mailbox will be moved over to the edge of the stones for a path to the mail as well.

Please comment on the design before it is too late!!

Materials for Plan B

I arrived home the other day to find a baggie filled with shell on my front porch,  along with the shell was a business card from a contractor who would actually build a driveway for me and install landscaping. Glory Hallelujah!

I have found I live in a word of mouth sort of a place, forget Angie’s List. I doubt I could have found this guy by any conventional means. This contractor does not even have an email address – I am not entirely sure I could even text him although he does have a cell phone.

Here are the materials I have selected for the driveway:

Landscape Plan “B”

Based on my previous contractor encounters, I have decided to change my design direction a bit. I am glad I am not paying myself!  

Due to my inability to find a contractor to pour concrete and redo the pea gravel driveway, I have decided to outline the parking area with 6×6″ pressure treated timbers and redo the pea gravel; hoping to find a contractor to take care of all of that and install landscaping as well. I should mention that pea gravel driveways are common here, somebody has to know how to build them. If only I could find this person…

It seems a good idea to call the local gravel supplier for contractor recommendations – asking for a referral to someone who has their own bobcat to do the grading work specifically. So, this guy shows up with another guy who has a bobcat (not what I asked for at all) I have been getting some, to me, absurdly expensive prices for what in Atlanta we would call brown pea gravel they call ‘chattahoochee stone’ down here. Because it comes from the Chattahoochee River (that runs through Atlanta) once you pay for shipping the stone it doubles or triples the price.. I ask these guys for a local material. Turns out there is one – shell, duh?! near the ocean, yes..what comes out of the ocean? I have never seen a shell driveway. One of my classmates from landscape school works in Tampa, so, I email him to ask about the shell. Yup, we use it all the time. Wow, what a great idea..

More Internet research. I found a guy in Jupiter (the town, not the planet) who builds shell driveways and dragged my husband to go and have a look. I think they look great and he agrees Meanwhile, I go shopping at our local concrete producer and find they make something called Atlantian stone (like Atlantis, not Atlanta) the countertops are fantastic and monstrously expensive..but I can opt for some reasonably priced stepping stones to go with my shell driveway. This is finally coming together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wild Coffee- Pschotria nervosa

Wild Coffee- Pschotria nervosa

This Wild Coffee is in my neighbor’s yard. A native shrub well suited to high shade with attractive dark green foliage reminiscent of Gardenia without the flowers or insect problems.
A good butterfly plant with flowers and small (coffee-like!) berries.