Friday I took this picture…
… And asked the folks of Craigslist to help rid us of them. There was nothing wrong with them, they just aren’t our style. I actually really do not like palms. I’m not sure what it is, I just have an aversion. I’m fine with them lining the street, but I do not like them in my yard. Again, I cannot find any actual reason that makes sense, they’re just not my style.
I don’t like just ripping things and destroying things, so our posting told people that they could have these babies for free if they would just be so kind to do the work for us 🙂 Within an hour of posting we had someone lined up the next morning and 6 others in my email in waiting. Hooray!
So Saturday morning before I left for work at the A’s Mr. Palm arrived and quickly removed two of the three. But then he had a family emergency and had to go. Doh!
I drove to work, Chris wrangled the children and in true Craigslist fashion NONE of the 6 in waiting pulled through to get the last palm. Isn’t that always hour Craigslist goes? So yesterday morning before leaving again for work at the A’s I posted a picture of the last palm and attempted to see if someone would get it and within 90 minutes someone was at our house taking it, yay!!! Craigslist is so weird to me, people are either THE BIGGEST flakes, or just completely 100% on top of it. It’s really only one or the other, nowhere in between. And this guy was pretty awesome. I told Chris I wasn’t married to anything in the planters and he said the guy took two other plants and even gave Chris $20 for it. We said he could have them all for free, so it was kind of great for him to do that just because he was awesome.
It was pretty exciting to get home from work yesterday afternoon though and now have this view
It’s so much more open than it used to be. I LOVE having those guys gone. It just opens up the house SO MUCH
Now there is an openness between the porch and the driveway. The yard and driveway feel like they are part of the house to me now, instead of the house more just being placed in the center of the driveway.
Now the question becomes what to do with the planters. I don’t really like annuals. But I have a reason for it this time: I’m lazy. Annuals are something I’d have to plant every year. And let’s be honest: I’m never going to do that. I’m also never going to water anything. I know this because we’ve had planter beds like this before and I’ve killed everything each year. Because I was lazy.
What could go here? Not annuals. Not anything I need to water. Drip can’t really be set up without noticing it or involving a pump…. SUCCULENTS! Chris actually had the idea. I was stumped and I couldn’t think of anything for the life of me, but Chris just popped the idea out: a succulent garden
I love this idea for 3 main reasons:
1) I can be totally lazy: after the plants have been established they can be ignored 🙂
2) I can use a lot of attractive plants that are low. I don’t want the plants to block the view of the house. I love how open things feel now so I don’t want to take that away.
3) I think I can use a lot of great colors that will really pop against the darker color palette we’re going to go with. Heather, master gardener from Just a Girl with a Hammer commented to me on Facebook that plants really pop against a dark color scheme and that she wished she had gone even darker. Sold!
The big kicker is that I know NOTHING about succulents. So any help anyone wants to give me would be much appreciated 🙂 We won’t be planting until after the house gets painted, so we’ve got a couple months before things will be going in, but does anyone have some great resources on succulents that they have? Or any specific plants they love? Help educate me 🙂
Sara says
Fabulous! Your palms are our evergreens, goodbye!! That is seriously the only good thing about Craigslist. I think the succulent garden is an amazing idea, but I also know nothing about them. Can’t wait to see!
meryl rose says
Lol, it’s so funny – the geographical aversions 🙂
Heather says
If you’re going to go with succulents, I would do the taller ones or you won’t be able to see them and they’ll have no impact against the dark paint. Chartreuse foliage looks great against dark paint. Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ or ‘Elsie’s Gold’ would be about 18′ tall, so you could actually see them but they wouldn’t block light entering the house. Taller echeverias would be nice too, or agave attenuata, which is spineless, soft, and beautiful. Asparagus fern would really pop against dark paint too. But I’m sure Wendy can help pick out something appropriate for your zone, light situation, and low-water desires. 🙂
meryl rose says
I was hoping you would comment!!! 🙂 I think I’m going to start a Pinterest board so that I can remember everything. I think the 18″ height is perfect, because you’re right, if we go much lower you will not see anything. I was thinking maybe some smaller stuff just to full in the gaps a little bit.
My favorites that you listed are the echeverias (I LOVE those whenever I see them), the autumn joy (for some great pop of color), and the agave attenuata. AND I just looked on Annie’s Annuals website and they have 8 pages of succulents, so I will DEFINITELY be going there when it’s planting time, bah!!!!!!
Deb says
You’ll only kill them if you overwater, so being “lazy” is a plus!
meryl rose says
Lazy+ is like a quadruple win for me 🙂
Robert says
I second Heather’s plant picks. The idea of small and varied will work nicely. I have two ides for vertical elements: Dwarf Alberta Spruce maybe for corner anchor positions. And maybe a very small Blue Aster Cedar. I rescued two that are large and they are a unique combination of striking and peaceful. Both of these plants will not be appropriate forever, because they grow large in maturity. But they grow very slowly, so if you buy small specimens,you can enjoy them for a good number of years, before moving them to other locations.
The idea pic (of a succulent garden) presents as a colorful ribbon wrapped around the porch (nice!). However, there is no porch in the pic – so you can not get feeling for how the pretty ‘picture frame’ will integrate with your porch. Your porch has (too) many textures, and competing lines (vertical, horizontal). But all very square, even the brick plant bed is squared off. All of it comes across as a very hard edged masculine dominate force. Wrapping a pretty ribbon around it will not be enough to stand up to it’s dominance. For your design to be effective, it needs to soften all those hard edges, to integrate pretty and soft, to disperse it throughout the porch.
I have some ideas, but first – is there a way for me to post pictures here? They are after all, worth a thousand words 🙂
Robert says
Duh, I realized that accepting pictures from anonymous males is not a good idea. So here are my two ideas.
Vertical:
https://formandfoliage.wordpress.com/category/color-palette/color-combinations/
The third picture in the April 29, 2013 shows how small blue aster cedars give a vertical effect.
Also in this pic, the idea of a trellis on the wall at the back of your porch can soften the strong textures
Succulents and curves:
http://gardeninggonewild.com/?p=15883
Some pics that show how succulents in curved pots can soften the lines of tiled porches.
oh, another way to soften the posts is with climbing vines. We have confederate jasmine on one of our porch posts.
All the best in your design and result – robert