LANDSCAPING – Page 2 – Lucy L Jones PhD LLC

Various Projects on the “Farm”

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ORIGINAL LOCATION OF SIDE PATH

Relocating rocks can be either hard labor, or you can look at it as good exercise! I choose to think of it as a way to get in my weight lifting. This weekend, I put on my heavy duty garden gloves and started creating a spot in the sun for my three new boysenberry plants.

Soon after I moved into this house, I created a side path out of cinder and 12-inch pavers with the help of a friend. The photo above shows the path before we added the pavers, but gives an idea of where they would be going – fairly close alongside the house. This was also before the lattice work was put in around the base of the house.

Boysenberries need to be in full sun. There are many places around my acre that are in full sun, but only this one place where they would have something to climb on without building a frame. For several reasons, that wasn’t an option at this time.

So my first task was to move the pavers to create an area for the berries. Here is the new path, curved to leave a planting spot.

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NEW CURVED PATH

This space will hold three boysenberry plants – I hope.

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NEW SPACE FOR BOYSENBERRIES

A couple weeks ago, a friend helped me build an addition to the chicken run. The “girls” seem happy with their new space. Here is a view from the front toward the water tank.

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NEW CHICKEN RUN

This is a closer view from the other side. They all gathered to see what I was doing. As you can see, there is a little more to be done to finish off the top. They love scratching around in the lava, especially after I’ve tossed in a bunch of weeds.

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CLOSER VIEW OF CHICKEN RUN

As I was moving the rocks for the boysenberry bed, I found several flat rocks that looked like pieces of concrete from the original construction period that had been stained by the red concrete. I pulled those out and created a path in some of the beds in the patio. I’ll dump in either cinder or soil and let something like a low-growing herb of some sort or alyssum fill in the cracks.

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NEW PATH IN PATIO BEDS

The left side of this path is unplanted, so it’s full of weeds right now. You can barely see the right side where I have arugula and other salad greens planted. Original steps at the lower end of this path were put in by my two daughters last March.

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ANOTHER ANGLE

Here is another angle.

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MORE OF PATIO PATH

You even get a glimpse of my pink geranium in this view.

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PATH WITH PINK GERANIUM

While I was taking pictures with my new Nikon Coolpix S610, I thought you might like to see the back half of my acre. I stood at the door of my shed and took several shots of it so you can see the potential for more growing space. When I figure out how to use the video ability of this camera, I’ll do a sweep around the property. Until then, just pretend that this is one panoramic view, from left to right. If you want to see a larger picture of each one, just click on it.

Here is a close-up of where the patio is from the shed, shielded by a stand of wild grass. When the grass is pulled, I will plant more flowers and veggies in that area, as well. So many ideas, so little time and energy!

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HIDDEN PATIO

One last picture that I took at the same time is my beautiful bell pepper – a lovely green against the gray/black lava rocks.

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BELL PEPPER

Addendum – just before I posted this, I made a few changes to my boysenberry bed. I removed the rocks from the outside of the pathway, dug three holes with the help of a friend who recently moved to Hawaii from Washington. In another post, I’ll tell you about her and how this blog prompted her to move here.

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BOYSENBERRY BED

She and I dug three deep holes, then she held the plant in place while I dumped in my combination of soil and chicken manure. We put rocks around the outside to help hold the soil and water. New growth was already beginning to show on the roots!

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3 BOYSENBERRIES

A hui hou!

Yard Sculpture

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STONE TABLE

Last week, I showed some of the flowering plants and landscaping of Bob Elhard’s plot of land. I love to show local gardeners and their work because it gives me so much hope!

The photo above is a stone table in the entry patio he has created out of a lava slab.

He has used bits of found wood and stones to create little pockets of art everywhere you turn. Most of us here in Ocean View end up with all sorts of pieces of ohia that has blown down during a storm. I have my own piles of dead wood (like the one shown below) and someday I’ll go through them to find interesting pieces to use like Bob did.

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MY WOOD PILE

Some of these pieces may be driftwood, although the sun-bleached ohia branches look much like that.

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TWISTED WOOD

This piece looks like it is growing right out of the gravel.

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WOOD

Here is an attractive combination of wood and stone. The wood cradles pieces of both rough and smooth rocks.

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WOOD AND STONE

Even something as utilitarian as barrel hoops add a touch of the whimsical to the lava rock sculpture.

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BARREL HOOPS AND LAVA

Another barrel hoop and an unusual piece of wood create a wall sculpture.

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WALL SCULPTURE

This wall sculpture contributes to the feeling of all the wood being driftwood.

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SEASCAPE

This old bell does its share in sending my mind toward the ocean.

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RUSTIC BELL

A piece of the wood rests on the windowsill to gather sun.

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WOOD IN THE SUN

I love this scenario of wood, stone, and the Japanese lantern combined.

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JAPANESE LANTERN WITH WOOD AND STONE

I have named this sculpture “yin-yang” because of the juxtaposition of rough and smooth rocks.

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YIN AND YANG

Even a bowl of crushed glass and pebbles becomes a work of art.

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BOWL OF CRUSHED GLASS

This is obviously not the rough lava rock so common in our yards. What a graceful shape it has.

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SMOOTH STONE

Tucked into the undergrowth is a peaceful Buddha.

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BUDDHA

There were many other pictures I took, but I didn’t have room for them in the post. If you want to see more photos, including the ones from last week’s post, click on the arrow for a slideshow.

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A hui ho!

E Komo Mai – Welcome!

Kaimana, my wonderful friend, loves the outdoors. He’s gotten out by accident only a few times, but he always found his way back home. His paws were always scraped raw when he returned, not being accustomed to the harshness of the lava. Now he mostly sits to watch the world go by and fantasize about a life of freedom.

When I first moved in, the lonely monstera you can see through the screen was gracing my entryway, compliments of the previous owner. I added a turtle pot at the bottom of the steps. Now Mr. Turtle lives over on the other side. I’m not sure what’s growing in it here. A friend gave me a few cuttings of a ground cover that didn’t make it. He is empty as I write this, waiting for divine inspiration.

The monstera was eventually shifted down to the ground and I began searching for a way to add my own touch to the entry. On this next photo, you can see where I put the monstera.

You can also see the small Angel’s Trumpet trees growing from cuttings I put in. This name is shared with the closely related genus Datura. The Brugmansia genus is perennial and woody, the Datura species is herbaceous. Also, the Brugmansia has pendulous blooms while the Datura has more erect blooms. http://www.abads.net/ I’ve been calling what I have “Datura,” but seems I’m incorrect in that. Can anyone straighten me out? There are many beautiful trees of the Angel’s Trumpet here on the Big Island.

I was given cuttings of ti plants (Cordyline Terminalis), or ki in Hawai`ian. Ti or ki is grown in profusion around any Hawai`ian home to provide good luck and protection. http://www.hiloweb.com/webman/ti.html It has bushed out and grown even taller since I took this shot. I was amazed at how quickly they grew from simple eighteen-inch pieces of stalk. I put them into water with a rooting compound and within a very short time, I was able to put them into the ground.

I was given a large full basket of a variety of orchids, so I stuck that in the corner where the monstera had been on the front stoop. They are difficult to see here. Isn’t that a nice path going around the house?

This has definitely been a “work in progress.” As you can see, there was a lot of work to be done to make the entry more inviting.

The dark green lattice work I’ve started putting in around the lower portion of the house is a great improvement, don’t you think?

Little by little this acre of lava is being transformed, but I’m an impatient woman.