And relax

At last our landscaping project is complete and fortunately we did not end up at the bottom of the valley! How nice it is now to sit back and relax in this newly created space, large enough to play petanque and accommodate a good sized vegetable garden. I am especially pleased with the way the pond and fountain have emerged. The fountain is just a discrete babble in the corner of the pond. Adjacent to the pond I have transplanted suckers from other subtropicals growing elsewhere in the garden these being heeled in with local stone, which also ties in with the washed gravel. These last couple of evenings being wonderfully clear and calm, we have been sitting around a fire burning on top of a concrete slab and concrete blocks, the rest of the garden illuminated by kerosene hurricane lamps.

Still not all the planting is completed, citrus trees to transplant from their current home in boxes on the deck. I feel it is too much of a struggle for them here, lacking enough water during the summer and then becoming susceptible to disease, much better they be growing in the open ground. We have now a narrow terrace just below our newly completed terrace, which will be perfect wee space for a citrus grove. Above here is a trellis demarking the edge of the top and main terrace, here I will grow vines, kiwi fruit, passion fruit and if I can find it herald’s trumpet vine Beaumontia grandiflora a large vine from India to Vietnam with big white fragrant flowers. Somewhere also I have seeds of climbing lily Gloriosa superba ‘Rothschildiana’ and purple bells Rhodochiton atrosanguineum, two small vines with rather unusual flowers.

Another idea I have for the gravel terrace, is to make a labyrinth pattern out of the small rocks inserted into the gravel, it might make an interesting feature in one of the corners, maybe under the hammock! Here too is the perfect spot for the rain gauge, up high on the fence away from buildings or trees. Now I shall have to make a determined effort to maintain a garden journal and since I am going on holiday next week, what better time to start than then. Our holiday takes us to Rarotonga so my next column will be of plants and gardens of the tropics.