Hi Andrew,
I always enjoy seeing before & after photos. You surely have come a long way,and it looks great. Nice foresite and planning too. I wonder what you'll show us in another few years?
Bob

Wow, very excellent project. Looks like a nice place to spend time. What are all the cute red Neos at the bottom of the steps?

Very cool indeed! The staircase especially. Is that an Agave attenuata leaf poking out on the left? The large brom at the bottom of the stairs, Alcanteria?

Devo, I like the setting of the garden that show split levels. Are you having Ensete ventricosum in your garden (second picture)?

Nice progression. You've done a nice job with the planting. The alcantarea is perfectly positioned.

It looks really good, Andrew! I like that you've used multiples and clumps; so much nicer than just one of each thing.

Thanks for all the encouraging commentsÂit makes me want to do it all over again. And we are getting Âitchy feetÂ, so Bob, the next ÂBefore & after photos maybe at another property. The logistics of a move are somewhat daunting, but I do have many palms & cycads in pots, just waiting for a new home, and I do not really have the space here to do them justice. But no hurryÂsummer is here, so its time to sit back and enjoy the gardenÂ

You are right Han, that second photo shows an ornamental Ensette, it was purchased from a local garden centre as a small plant, but once planted, it just took offÂ! It flowered after about 4 years, so had to be cut out, but I did manage to grow a few from the seed it produced. It was replaced with a few Euterpe palms, and the small pink banana Musa velutina, which is a better size for the area. I am hoping that the Musa will provide some midday shade for those little red NeoÂs as they got burnt by too much sun last year. Treehaus, all those little red NeoÂs are a collection of Fireball hybrids. They hide the ugly end of one of the retaining walls, and set off the Alcantarea glaziouana.

And Gonzer, Agave attenuate, yes, a fantastic plant, always looks good. I planted a trio of them back in 2000 as small things, sitting up on a 1.2m high retaining wall. Now they are HUGE, and right at eye level. I have lost count of the number of pups these have produced over the years, family and friends have been well supplied This photo, taken a little further back than the one above, shows them off.

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Very nice Andrew! Shows what a little effort and lots of planning can do to the end result. I often come accross gardens where everything is just done to get the job done as quickly as possible to get a quick superficially nice look and after a year or two it starts looking like the bad job that was done initially! Your's I'm sure, will look stunning for years to come. Very nice!!

Andrew, great history of images. garden looks very inviting- must come round & have drinks on that patio.

What a wonderful transformation you've made. I'm curious what happened to the white wall above the retaining wall and yellow wheelbarrow in photo #1? It seems to have been replaced by trees in photo #4.

You know J & A, for some reason, a cold beer always tastes great on the patio...or even a red wine for that matter.You are welcome any time.

That white wall is the neighbours fence, they were a little concerned when we did the excavation that the fence would end up down in our section. But we got the retaining wall up with no problems. The white fence was painted a dark green, then a planting of our native titoki, and the climber tecomanthe speciosa did the rest to hide it.

And that yellow wheelbarrow...just for you catkim, here it is, resting down in an area that used to be a carpark. It is a little worse for wear, but it still comes in handy to mix up batches of concrete, for when I get the inspiration to make up pots, like the one on the right.

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