Welcome to my zone 9 garden. My roots are deeply planted in the sandy soil of sub-tropical central Florida, where the summers are long and hot, but the rest of the year is paradise!

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Getting Settled

A lot has happened in the last 3 weeks. We're settling into our new home. There's still a lot of boxes to unpack, but that all takes some time. At the end of our first week, I worked quickly at getting the front yard landscaped so the house looked a little more completed.

Luckily, the section between the road and sidewalk, also known as the "hell strip" is only about 18 inches wide. This is a positive in my book because why waste ground on a tough-to-garden area with numerous limitations. Opting to keep things simple . . . and because family and friends rave about it . . . I went with the Asiatic jasmine groundcover. Hopefully, it will fill in quickly in this small area.

As far as grass goes, this and a very small section on the right side of the driveway is it. A small, almost circular, patch of zoysia grass. Zoysia because the city gave me two choices: zoysia or bahia - no St. Augustine allowed anymore. I opted for zoysia because I've grown bahia before, and I didn't think it would perform well in this much shade. So, there will be a learning curve with this new turf, but at least there's a minimum amount of it.

In the last week and a half, I've been feverishly moving plants from my mother and sister's homes. This is a narrow strip on the side of the house, so I'll be doing a walkway and some vertical gardening here. I'm hoping to hang my orchids from the trellis once some vines are established. 

 There's more plants just hanging out in the backyard waiting to be planted, and 

also on the other side of the house. I've definitely got my work cut out for me from now until May when the weather starts to warm up. My plants are not very happy with me after hanging out in pots over a long, hot summer. I'm going to need to work quickly to get them in the ground where they'll be happy once again. 

5 comments:

Jean Campbell said...

Welcome home, Susan. You are settling in quickly and your plants appreciate it, obviously.

Zoysia is definitely a better choice than Bahia, which sends up seed heads next day after cutting. It makes a lovely small lawn because of the finely cut blades.

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

It's looking lovely Susan. Moving in and getting unpacked and settled takes time. You will enjoy planting your new gardens during this fall/winter/spring. Your potted babies will soon be thriving in their new gardens.

Seeing what you are doing inspires me to keep working in my own gardens. Thank you.

Love and hugs to you ~ FlowerLady

Meems said...

Wow, Susan, I had no idea you were moving. Interesting that we are going through much the same thing at the same time. When we moved this summer I had so many plants in pots waiting for a new home also. I still have some waiting. Lucky for you this is actually a good time to plant. I wish you all the best. Smaller gardening is probably very wise at this point. :-) Meems

susan said...

Your new home looks lovely. I can't believe what you've accomplished in such a short time. Good luck to you!

Anonymous said...

It's going to be very exciting watching your garden unfold.

Keep us posted! :-)

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