5 April 2015
Today I'm looking forward to planting out some of the succulents that I've been nurturing to life for years from single leaves and tiny clippings. Some of them are indigenous to the desert regions in which I live, but in the main they are garden plants or pot plants originally imported from Madagascar, but whatever their origin, the growth is very slow. I guess desert plants cannot afford excess and abundance. In laying gardens the "hard" landscaping is even more important than the plants, the frame must be right. Plants do not really hide an ugly frame, as so many people believe. I can plant now because the paving is finished. It is done with recycled bricks we collected from the builder's rubbish dump, free of charge. The colours and sizes are varied, and it is laid in the pattern of an non-symmetrical diamond, with a hole in the centre for the huge, old aloe (looks something like yucca but with serrated edges, red flowers and is about head high). Though the floor reads as brick paving, it also hints at the randomness of nature, and sun-cracked red clay riverbeds, or perhaps cobblestones, a sort of "shattered" but coherent structure. Its a tiny garden, about 3 by 5 yards, an experiment in design and materials, and feasability. The harmonious effect of the brickwork way exceeded my expectations, I thought perhaps the recycled stuff would just look messy, but its a winning formula, and Eric, the person I trained, has turned out to have a very good eye.... we are nearly there.... If the succulents look good in that frame, I will photograph the garden and put it on my landscaping website.
Today I'm looking forward to planting out some of the succulents that I've been nurturing to life for years from single leaves and tiny clippings. Some of them are indigenous to the desert regions in which I live, but in the main they are garden plants or pot plants originally imported from Madagascar, but whatever their origin, the growth is very slow. I guess desert plants cannot afford excess and abundance. In laying gardens the "hard" landscaping is even more important than the plants, the frame must be right. Plants do not really hide an ugly frame, as so many people believe. I can plant now because the paving is finished. It is done with recycled bricks we collected from the builder's rubbish dump, free of charge. The colours and sizes are varied, and it is laid in the pattern of an non-symmetrical diamond, with a hole in the centre for the huge, old aloe (looks something like yucca but with serrated edges, red flowers and is about head high). Though the floor reads as brick paving, it also hints at the randomness of nature, and sun-cracked red clay riverbeds, or perhaps cobblestones, a sort of "shattered" but coherent structure. Its a tiny garden, about 3 by 5 yards, an experiment in design and materials, and feasability. The harmonious effect of the brickwork way exceeded my expectations, I thought perhaps the recycled stuff would just look messy, but its a winning formula, and Eric, the person I trained, has turned out to have a very good eye.... we are nearly there.... If the succulents look good in that frame, I will photograph the garden and put it on my landscaping website.