My neighbor's house is built on a "zero lot" that comes right up to my property line. As much as I love them, I am not in love with their wall. This is the view I have from the opposite side of the yard. The bricks make me a little queasy. I think that staring at this wall for too long may cause seizures in a young child. You? This is what I call too close for comfort. The arch covered in Japanese jasmine and rock (?) based citrus grove were left here by the previous homeowners.
So here is the same wall from the edge of my patio. If you look closely, you can spot my dog Tuco right at the bottom of the picture. This is his look out spot. What a desolate sight to behold, huh boy?
Voila! That picked him right up! We moved the boxwood that was obstructing the lake view and used it as a layer against the offending wall. Hopefully it will grow to at least 6 feet tall and make a lovely hedge. To break things up, we added seven Italian Cypress Trees. The yard guy will have to transplant them a little more away from the wall this week, but that's another story. These beauties grow to 30 feet tall, albeit slowly. So we decided to go ahead and get them quite high already at about 12 ft. If you like them sprint to your closest Costco. At the nursery you will be paying $40 dollars for a 3-4 foot tree. Guess how much I paid for those 12 ft wonders at Costco? $39.99. Score!
We had enough boxwood left over to plant around the perimeter of the patio. What is that fence doing there, you ask? It serves a multitude of purposes. It keeps the dogs from playing and pooping in the yard, unsupervised. It corrals my toddler in. And most importantly: It keeps the alligators out. Over beyond on the other side of the larger property fence we have a 9 foot aligator who thinks that's his tanning bed. You can never be too safe around 'them gaters'.
At the end of the growing season I will post an updated picture of this bare wall. Give it a few months and this little area will start to look pretty decent, indeed.
On a tangential note: I cannot believe how expensive patio furniture is !!! Yikes... yesterday we spent most of the morning hunting for some at a local store. After getting over the sticker shock, we finally agreed on a little set. The final reveal on that will have to be saved for a later post.
25 comments:
beautiful job! look soooo much nicer!
I am not sure how I got here tonight, but it's very nice to meet you.
Thanks Anne Marie. I am glad you stopped by and took the time to make a comment. I'll come over and visit. :)
Your landscaping looks great. Yikes, I've never seen so much brick without any windows before. Thanks for visiting me at my blog. I'm gonna read on, and you have a new friend and follower : ).
Take Care, Carrie
Hi Carrie,
Thanks for stopping by, following AND leaving a comment. I know that at least half of the wall is their garage. I guess that's why NO windows. :)
Italian Cypress, hmmm. I like them alot! Now, if we could just rustle up a Costco in Tulsa :)
Hi, Steph! Miss you, girly. Costco also has orchids for less than 10 bucks. Awesomeness!
Catherine, I came to thank you for your sweet comment and now I'm off to browse your blog- I LOVE the concept. You're absolutely right! Why DON'T retailers listen to us??
xoxo pattie
Hi Pattie, enjoy your stay. I love the fact that you share a blog with your daughters. I hope my readers go ck you out.
What a lovely and amazing transformation! Great job!
Hi Tracy, I found a couple of fun new blogs thru you. Thanks!
Oh, only the first pic is showing up. Maybe it's just my computer :(
You are very resourceful! Hope your week is off to a great start :)
Catherine, this is going to be just gorgeous! I love Italian Cypress, and bought some for a weird area at our former home to cover a partial fence and add privacy from the next door neighbors. I thought they grew fast....before I knew it, they were 20 ft. tall! I had only lived there about 7 years. I also love your fencing and would like to know the name or style. It would look great around our veggie garden, with a little gate. Can't wait to see more pictures as your trees grow!
CraftyFox, I'm sorry you didn't get to see the other pictures... I'm having problems seeing pics at other blogs today as well... Thanks for the notes.
HI Kelly,
We got those at Lowe's. They come in little sections and my husband did the whole project in just a couple of hours. You can get gates and everything. I hope that helped. Good luck on you project. And I hope to see images of it at your blog. :)
The wall is coming along great! Yes, the bricks would drive me crazy as well, but after seeing what you did with your former yard, I know this little challenge is going to look amazing!
Back for round two, and this time I can see your pics!
Once your trees grow in it will make a huge difference. It's so lovely that you have a water feature, I think that in itself will draw the attention away from the brick.
I find it completely crazy that you have to watch out for gators, I can't even imagine!
what an awesome deal on the 12 foot trees! such a huge difference already.
Thanks Design Darling... It will get even better. Today the yard people came over and replanted the cypress about two feet in front of where they are in this picture. It looks pretty cool. Like an added layer.
Thanks, The Zhush. It is so fun to read the feedback. Thanks.
OneCraftyFox, I am exagerating just a little bit. :D But there are alligators in those waters, hence the fence.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE Costco for their shrubs and plants in the spring. You will never find them cheaper! Grab them when you see them since they don't last for long. Not sure how they price them so low - guess the fancy places have been ripping us off for years.
Hah! I couldn't have put it better myself, Pemberley. Either that or they lose money on the plants to reel us in for the other more profitable stuff. I am totally new to Costco, but am loving it already. Also, for those of you who don't know it, they sell pretty high end stuff like Versace and Vera Wang china. Impressive.
I am excited to see how it looks.. your other home had a beautiful space. We have lived in our home for 2 years and it is need of some serious help inside and out. Everything seems too big to tackle. Thanks for the inspiration!
it is looking great, I can imagine how fab it will look with a year or 2 behind it. And the sticker shock, I think we all get that and it is sooo hard to swallow.
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