Hot Tub Forum
General => General info Somewhat hot tub related => Topic started by: anne on March 27, 2006, 01:58:31 pm
-
I have noticed quite a few posts lately from people with landscaping/patio/deck ideas, and it also seems that people are very excited about before and after pics. So, wanted to share with you my last big project.....not hot tub involved, but doing this project gave me the confidence and inspiration to make a nice tub area in the back. I had help from my very handy brother installing a sprinkler system and low voltage lights and his guidance (and some muscle) for installing flagstone, but other than that it was all DYI with very little experience on my part, which hopefully will motivate others, too!
Before:
(http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i20/aegdvm/im0010011.jpg)
Oh, I also hired 2 guys with jack hammers to break up and take away the old concrete. Not worth doing myself, by any means!!
After:
(http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i20/aegdvm/IM001040.jpg)
:) :) :)
-
Very nice, Anne! I love all the color, are they wildflowers?
-
Very nice! :D
-
It's very nice!
One wish is to one day be able to garden ... I've been informed that it won't happen until inside the house gets done. Besides I don't really have a green thumb!
-
What no hot peppers Vinny? Some of my best gardening advice came from the little Italian man at my local grocery store.
I like what Anne did with her yard because it looks natural and it flows, not like beds of flowers or clusters of color, but a nice diverse mix with lots of green. Very pretty!
-
so anne, a couple questions here.....is there color for each season in that mix? (I've never been able to mix flowering plants to get that effect thru the 3 growing seasons here. :-[ ) , and.....I'm not sure where you're from, but do you have a die-off season that you just mow down what's there to prep it for next growing season? Or is that a "I planted it, now it's on its beautiful for life" type? I love the wild look, btw....more and more as I flip back to this thread....this is the stuff that gets me thinking...and wondering what I can really do in a 3 season growing area.
-
T-Lady, You have so many options. I have a ton (literally) of tropical plants that will move outdoors to my deck in the summer. I love palm trees. I have annuals growing in the bottom of the pots, so in additon to the tropical green, I get the brilliant colors of annual plants.
Actulaly right now my impatients are blooming in the bottom of a huge Yucca tree. they will bloom all summer in the shade and I have had them in the same pot for about 4 years. Head on over to WAlMart, they have a nice variety of bulbs and seeds right now. Divide your yard into deep shade, marginal and sun and that will help you decide what you can grow and where it will do well. Use evergreen plants like Rhodenderon for filtered privacy year around and you get the bonus of beautiful colors in late spring. I am actually going today to pick up some wildflower mix (inspired by Anne's pictures) to put around some of the trees in my woods. You can always just start out with potted gardens and make them permanant if you decide you really like how they look.
;)
-
What no hot peppers Vinny? Some of my best gardening advice came from the little Italian man at my local grocery store.
I like what Anne did with her yard because it looks natural and it flows, not like beds of flowers or clusters of color, but a nice diverse mix with lots of green. Very pretty!
Wife's response to growing vegies - the dog poops in the back.
-
OK, not being smart here Vinny but you could, should you really want to, do container gardening on your deck...I use the long planters that hang on the deck rails to grow my basil, oregano thyme and rosemary..in many varieties...I love fresh herbs in my gravy! There are wonderful tomato varieties that will do well in planters..along with those hot peppers I was talking about. I promise if you plant some of those hot peppers in the yard, the dog will find another place to do his business! ;)
-
T lady- I staryed out just spirnkling tons of wildflower seeds out as I made more permanent plans, wanting there to at least be some color and green. That was last year. This year, the flowers are coming back on their own (I helped a little by collecting and re-sprinkling seeds.) I am not very good at having a really balanced spring-summer-winter garden, but I'm working on it.
I live in CA- the garden is MUCH more sedate in the winter, but there are growing #s of "permanent residents" that have their glory when the wildflowers die off. I have dedicated shade and sun areas, but beyond that, no organization (this is NOT a model garden in that way!!!)
As I said, I'm learning as I go. This is only the second year for me, so it is still an experiment.
I'll take a pic out there today or tomorrow for contrast. A few things are starting to bloom, but it is still sort of winter mode out there. And it is a little neglected sinfce all my focus has been on the tub!!!!!
:D
-
and garden gnomes. Don't forget to add a bunch of garden gnomes.
-
T-Lady Now I know what your little green guy is doing... throwing wildflower seeds! ;D
-
*LMAO* Yep, he's a tossin' away! ;D
Cool....I got a box of that wildflower mix for shady areas today....I sprinkled some around the south side of the tub deck.....nothing's getting planted on the east end until the tub's in, since they have to haul it over that side....but I DO like the idea, very much.....border, wild flowers, border, lava pebbles, TUB. Hmmmm......it's got possibilities!!!
-
How about a koi pond?
-
was that directed at me or anne, Boni?
-
I was just adding to your excitment...I also went to Walmart and picked up the wildflower mix for shade and sun. I get spring fever when I see all of the beautiful plants start showing up for early planting. You did a great job on your deck, T Lady, I know your landscaping will be just as beautiful. Keep up the good work!
-
Thanks, Boni....I'm hoping those drunken monkeys don't make an appearance during landscaping time. ;)
-
and garden gnomes. Don't forget to add a bunch of garden gnomes.
No garden gnomes, but ........
(http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i20/aegdvm/P1000780.jpg)
And here is the wintery garden. Winter for CA, at least ;D
(http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i20/aegdvm/P1000779.jpg)
-
nice pics anne
-
I'd show you a pic of MY winter garden....but it's really hard to see under 2' of snow...... (I know, 2' isn't much)
I planted some yesterday because weather isn't supposed to get below freezing at night anymore....wake up this morning, FROST. DOH. >:(
Hopefully it didn't get TOO cold though....what a waste.
-
Here's a pic of my winter garden. I love how my wife arranged the roses to coordinate with the tulips. The phlox boarder really brings the whole thing togethor. I think the garden gnomes are a bit much, but my wife loves them. I took out the statue of the sleeping mexican guy, as the ACLU sent me a threating letter. anyhow, here is my winter garden in full bloom.
(http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/9198/snowgarden1sa.jpg)
I wish I had a nickle for everytime someone has said "What a beatuifil winter garden!" :P ;)
-
Well, you guys should know that two weeks ago, I did not have any flowers. Would that make it more wintery? ;)
-
*LOL* No, but 6" of snowcover would. ;)
That's ok, it all works out in the end....you get to see no flowers and we get to see whiteout conditions. ;D In any case, I love what you've done with a very "cookie cutter" yard to transform it....I can't do that with our ENTIRE back yard, but the tub corner and our little front yard are still up for grabs!
-
T-Lady, I don't know what you planted but you are much farther north than I am and my frost date is May 15th. That means no tender plants until after the danger of frost is past. If you just planted seeds, they may be fine with a lite frost. The nice weather is so tempting but surely you will lose all your hard work if you don't wait until the danger of frost is past. Been there...done that too many times. :-/
-
Boni, if nothing else, I'll have learned a lesson.....not a really expensive one, luckily.....I gotta stop paying attention to those dillhole meteorologists...... :-[
-
How about a koi pond?
Make a catfish pond....better eating than Kois.
Or raise some mudbugs in there, that's some dang good eatin' for sure.
Terminator
-
What did you plant? Maybe you can still salvage something. It took me several years of killing my anuals to learn that Mother Nature just likes to tease us with these nice days. Usually we get hit with a cold snap before the middle of May, I just know not to depend on the Meterologists, they do the best they can but they can't control the weather and mostly they can't predict it either! ;D
-
I dunno.....seeds, mostly. that shade mix, some morning glorys....and some bulbs....lily of the valley, I think? I figure either I'll have growth in a few weeks, or I'll have to replant....not like I bought skids of the stuff and went wild......that's next month! ;D ;)
-
You will probably be fine. Lillys of the Valley will survive and the other seeds may know it is too cold to germinate and wait for the real spring to show up!
Hopefully you will be pleasantly surprised!
-
Try the Sunset reference- I think it has pretty good guidelines for planting times, regional plant types that work well, etc.
-
OK Term, What is a mudbug?...picture please
-
Boni, you KNOW you're just asking for it, right? *lol*
anne, what's a "sunset reference"? never heard of it.
(I learn so much on here, no wonder I keep posting! ;D ;D
-
OK Term, What is a mudbug?...picture please
Can I bud in?
mudbugs?
I'm a damn Yankee, but I've been told that's a crawfish. (kinda like a Maine Lobster, but much smaller ;) ) I've had few when I was in New Orleans several years ago...
(http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/3243/crawfish3ek.gif)
Zachary Richard, (the Zydeco musician) tells usthat when eating 'em "You squeeze the tail , and suck the headl" ::)
And http://www.vickiblackwell.com/ tells me they the french canadian verison of the lobster...they followed the cajuns down to the gulf coast....
Part of Louisiana's spice is the folklore of our culture. According to legend, crawfish and the mud towers that mark their home originated in the bayous as follows:
"Nova Scotia Lobsters followed the Acadian people on their way to settle Louisiana. The lobsters grew tired and smaller and smaller along the journey, so that when they arrived in Acadiana they were only 4 to 5 inches long. Messieurs les Ecrevisses were very friendly with the settlers and did everything they did. So when the Acadians built mud chimneys for their homes, the crawfish did the same.
However, they were so tired they couldn't complete their homes, and the crawfish did the same. They just crawled right into the chimneys and set up house.
On dit que (it is said that) when a bayou baby is 9 days old, if he sticks his finger in a crawfish mound, he will become a Cajun."
Am I on the money Term, or am I all wet?
why do I feel I am becoming the "cliff claven" of this forum? ::)
-
drewstar, you are perzactly correct my little Yankee friend!
(http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b206/EastTexasSpa/86d2df10.jpg)
Mmmm, mmmmm, mmmmmmm!!!!
Terminator
-
Boni, you KNOW you're just asking for it, right? *lol*
anne, what's a "sunset reference"? never heard of it.
(I learn so much on here, no wonder I keep posting! ;D ;D
Sorry, that was not very clear. Sunset magazine also publishes books. They have regional references for gardening-stuff on what to plant, whwn to do it, when to prune, etc. My dad talked me into getting the "Western Garden Book" for just that reason, so that I dont plant annuals and then get surprised when they die in the winter ;D.
-
I know they have some of the Sunset books that Anne is talking about in Lowes. They are great references.