My blog has lots of pictures of projects

http://lazygardens.blogspot.com/ 

Sorry, no - I rent :-) And so I now garden personally primarily in containers. I'd also have to say that when I did have a garden - and I had a wonderful garden for almost 25 years - it was a garden created by me for me personally and did not necessarily adhere to any typical landscape design principles. I was and always will be a plant geek and I followed the normal plant geek doctrine of purchasing every single plant you like and then find somewhere to plant it!! A plant collector's garden is very hard to design well and according to accepted design principles and I didn't even bother. Subliminally, I'm sure some of it seeped in but very little was applied intentionally.

The other factor is the times my garden needed me the most just for routine maintenance (and a collector's garden needs a TON of maintenance!!), I was busy helping others create their gardens. Kind of the cobbler's children scenario ;-) So while my garden pleased me immensely, it was no great advertisement for my design abilities!! Kind of wild and woolly and slightly unkempt and crammed with all the plants I loved. I will say as my experience and skill evolved as a designer, so did my garden. I did a complete make-over of my front garden three times!

I find it is far easier to design a garden when there is no personal attachment to it on my part. I can be completely objective and that serves my clients the best.

Thank you so much for the website. I can't wait to look at it! Your garden sounds just as it should-to make you happy. I will get there!! Thank you! :)

Hi Indymom and thanks for inquiring. Later this year, predicting that this is the year that it "comes together," I will have some pictures to show, So far, I've only shown pictures of a couple of things in the yard because it has been almost impossible to take wide view photos without some too "unfinished looking" things showing up in the picture. As a frequent advice-giver on the Landscape Design Forum, I have a modest reputation and image to keep up, and have thought it better not to let people see things in various stages of disrepair, or unfinished. It has been my experience that people judge only what it in front of their eyes and not what something is to become. So, I've been stalling on showing anything, waiting for everything to agree to look nice at the same time!

To give a little background, the yard was originally my mother's and I did not live there. It is in a retirement mobile home park in Florida. For me it started out as a drainage project ... every time it rained for more than a few minutes, the driveway, under the carport, flooded. It was improperly pitched so the water did not drain away but had to be swept and blown off. It was a HUGE pain in the royal bending mechanism, since it rains a lot in the summer. It was not obvious what the solution was. There were downspouts that went into underground corrugated pipe but no one knew where the outlet was or really, anything about it. Back then, I wasn't interested in getting too involved with it so let the problem fester for a while. Eventually, it became intolerable and forced my hand and that is the beginning of the landscape project. The section of yard along the drive had to be regraded, and a swale created in order to carry water to the street. I opted to do away with the underground drain pipe and keep all the water on the surface ... like the advice I give here! It turned out that the hidden drain outlet and last 10' of pipe was completely blocked with roots and soil. It was a system that was guaranteed to fail the day it was built.

After the regrading was finished, since all the existing plants had to be removed, including a 30 year old holly hedge along the property line, I got the idea that improving the landscaping in that area was a good idea and not too large a task. But it was a mistake! I should have sodded it and called it a day, but it's not my nature to let things be easy. After landscaping that area, the adjacent portion of the yard got jealous and begged for for some help. So my project extended a little. And from there it spread to the front yard. Then, into the back, and finally, since there was nothing else left, to the opposite side yard. It started with a utilitarian repair, but eventually the the whole yard begged for fixes and I found myself too deep in to escape.

Back in the beginning it was a project I didn't want and my mom wasn't interested in anything other than keeping the flood off of the driveway. And since it happened in bits and pieces without anyone knowing it was going to end up being the whole yard, no one was also giving a thought to anything as sensible as a comprehensive landscape plan. It meant that some planting was done before we knew that hardscape would later destroy it. A few small area plans were done just for the concern the the moment. Also, no one wanted to fund anything beyond the initial drainage project. What came after that was done with tight budget constraints. Many plants were small sizes and vastly more were cuttings or starts. Later, when my mom became too infirmed to live alone, I moved in to care for her. That made me more interested in seeing it develop into something worthwhile and more willing to pay for it, though most planting was already done by that time.

So, sorry that this is a lots of words instead of any pictures. Please be patient as I will eventually add some, but it will probably be later in the summer. As well as being a beautifier, I can be horrifically destructive when the occasion calls for it. Right now, there is healing going on and we are basically at the end of winter. After I get a little more work done and things improve, I will add pics.

Gardengal, I had to laugh as I read your post. Though I didn't mention it, the exact example of the "cobbler's children have no shoes" came to me, too, as I was writing about the yard. There's SO MUCH to do in the Spring!

Well, what the heck, why not? I am not a designer, not a landscaper, not a professional anything to do with plants and gardens. But I have been shaping a garden for 7 years now, and I am enjoying the results, though it may never be finished.

It won't help anyone visiting this forum, because it is a unique situation, nothing like what most people are looking for when they come here to solve a problem.

I will let the photos do the talking, but if anyone has a question, please ask.

From the street, 2010, 2012, 2015:

Dypsis garden, named for the species of palms planted here. Photos are sequentially from 2009, 2010, 2013, and 2016

Driveway and catchment area seen in 2009 and 2017.

Clinostigma lawn, 2010 and 2016

The Well Worn Path that goes to the back of the property. We were using logs to hint at the layout of the path in the first photo from 2012. Second photo is from 2017.

Tea House Garden, 2013 before hand-clearing, then a week later;

and last photo 2017 when garden bench was added. This area got hit pretty hard by Tropical Storm Iselle in 2014 when many shade trees were lost and the plants got cooked in the sun.

I live in San Diego, CA and Pahoa, HI. I can't figure out how to add zone 10 to my name -- it used to be there. The garden shown is in East Hawaii where I am an absentee gardener.

Mike, I've long admired your truly incredible garden.

Kiminpl and Mike, you are both lucky to have properties where you can develop your own personal botanical gardens! I'm sure many who frequent the forum are green with envy. Kiminpl, I like how you've organized the photos chronologically so we can see the beginning and the progress. It's definitely taking on the look of a Costa-Rican retreat.

You both take my breath away.... now tell us, do you do all the work yourselves?

Hi, Mike. Thanks for the updated pictures of your gardens. Some of us have been following your gardening efforts for many years. Sorry, I just have to ask. Is your 'resident alligator' still healthy and fiercely protecting your wonderful arboretum?

Heavy machinery was brought in on 4 occasions to clear away trash trees, and I've had a couple of guys cut down dead trees a few times. Otherwise, I've done all the digging, planting and building of the paths with my friend shown in the red jacket in one photo. It's no longer possible to bring in heavy equipment, so for the last few years, all the clearing has been by hand, as shown with the Tea House garden. No Martha Stewart-type waving of hands to a crew.

Kiminpl, I've been to Pahoa twice. I have a friend who lives in Fern Acres. Now I know where all that lava rock comes from! You're doing a wonderful job, and an absentee gardener at that! I can see where a bulldozer would be necessary to clear the land so you can garden there. It's a lot thicker than the native San Diego vegetation! I'm amazed how much you have turned into a beautiful garden. The wide paths really set it off.

Yardvaark, I thought Florida at first and then I saw the lava rock and thought Costa Rica also. I was there a few years ago right after some big floods that washed a lot of roads out making for some detours.

I hired a bulldozer operator to make a road about 1,000 ft. long in to where I put the house. After that, I did all the bulldozer work of clearing stumps and digging out ponds. That was done over a period of years two days at a time. It's like a giant Tonka toy!

Kitasei, I do most of the work myself, but I have had help from friends that visit. Sorta like Tom Sawyer getting help with painting his fence. :-) Most volunteer. It's fun!

Nandina, My crocagator is still here, but he's gained so much weight he can't move around like he used to. He gotten fatter, but not longer. I should have made him longer to begin with. I'm probably going to cut him back this Spring to about a foot high and start over. Illex crenata will sprout from the base with no problems and grow very quickly, so it won't take him long to recover. Maybe I can get more detail this time. I'd take a picture of him now but he needs a haircut and I don't want to embarrass him.

Mike

Wow, am I impressed! Breathtaking gardens! Thank you for sharing.

Thank you! These photos and replies were wonderful to see and read. I'll post some of my yard later in the year-I have lots of ground cover I want to get rid of and make that area into my own little park-like setting. :)