This little house is truly a little cottage. It is the first house built in this city. It was a vacation house. My roommate bought it as a fixer upper and I came in a year after. It was so bad, I refused to live in it even for free until circumstances changed my mind.
This...
is how it looked when I moved in, and the inside was no better. There was no kitchen in yet, and my room had missing floors etc. I will not dare to show those pictures, I will spare you. This one here is the only one I will show....and all those trees in the back were cut down by the owner on their side of the fence, and then there was no green but the half dead grass. I quickly planted ficus which did grow in record time and filled up the area. We also fenced in the entire back with wood fencing to cut off the offending yards that are neglected. That sad banana tree is now an area that is a pond about 8' by 10', with water lilies, lotus, frogs, dragonflies, little silver fish, goldfish, koi, a bird bath, wild animal fountain, and very funny singing toads. This house is a Broward Certified Yard and soon I will go for the Wildlife Sanctuary recognition.
I went to work hard and fast during the hot Florida summer to fix it up just so I could sleep in it including priming and painting the outside of the house in the hot Florida summer. Did I mention it was a hot Florida summer?
My personal plans did not work out and 9 years later this little house is the Little Cottage That Could. People literally knock on the door asking if they could buy it. I've been told several times, it is the cutest house in the neighborhood. Only now, in the past few weeks have I decided to make it my home and do some things as I would if it were mine with the roommate's approval and permission. Yes, it's been very cozy, but there is more I wish to do. Nothing major of course, its still not mine, and I have a reno budget of about $20.00 per month, that is twenty dollar per month which means I have to get super uber inventive.
But this is about the Garden and all its transformations along the years.
A summer of flowers and hanging pots.
My first garden patch. There are 6 more in various places. I grow as much as I can. This was a very good time for herbs, there were so many....rosemary, thyme, basil, marjoram, sage, oregano, holy basil, red lettuces, chives, tarragon, parsley and some butterfly weeds. On the fence I rigged bamboo which serves as a trellis for the wild Muscadine Grapes which literally cover the fence here and grow profusely the most gorgeous color in pearly grapes I've ever seen. You can see some of the vine here too.
Wall of grape leaves and grapes.
Closeup of the gorgeous pearly texture and color of grapes. Their beauty is amazing to me!
What I made with them and what I do with the leaves, the vine and the grapes is another post. :D
The pond and the water lilies.
Tara surrounded by color.
This veggie patch of cabbages and arugula is now filled with clump moss, and is my little Forest Floor.
A part of one of the 7 herb beds with bok choy, arugula and dandelion.
The entrance from the back. This arbor is now white.
Closeup of giant Australian Fern. I think these fiddle heads are magical beings! Look at how they face each other in such sweetness!
The following pictures needs no explanation :D
John shows the size of this giant caterpillar which turns into a monarch butterfly.
The herb garden under a make shift shade.
My favorite plant, Maidenhair Fern.
An entire generation of Zebra Butterfly asleep in their favorite hanging place, the Spanish Moss on the Old Oak. I literally watched them cocoon, hatch and feed from a passion vine. Then others would come in as they would hatch. It amazed me to see the other butterflies come when another was being born. Then they'd fly together. At night they all slept on the hanging moss. Mother Nature blows my mind.
In this Picture you can see several butterflies surrounding the chrysalis.....they looks like miniature bats hanging upside down.....there are two of them. and another to the extreme left who is by itself because it is empty. I wondered what made the butterflies come to them?
In this picture you can see around 4 butterflies around each chrysalis
This is a closeup of one, and when it was 'ready' to emerge, a butterfly came to it.
The Front Yard and the community bird bath.....I love watching the birds bathe in here usually at 4pm.
The front veggie patch growing cucumbers and tomatoes and other things.
My Fairy Cabbage Patch. I loved these, they looked like giant green roses.
Another life my front veggie bed had with kale, chard and other greens.
A view of part of the yard in full summer.
My Lotus, Mrs. Perry D. Slocum......
The first day of the lotus blooming it is vivid in color. It blooms for 3 days.
Day 2 the colors begin to fade as it opens. A silent life happens with these supernal flowers....they're magical.
Day 3, they loose most of the vivid color, and show the delicate nature of its truest essence, ethereal and soft. Also on this day the inner seed pod has grown entirely overnight. It continues to grow, until eventually it has grown the seeds, matured and must drop them. Then it turns it head down, so the seeds may fall to fertile waters.
Then it begins again. As is the beauty and eternal nature of the Great Mother. I love and adore Her!
And the Garden always grows, changes, and transforms.
I am linking up with A Delightsome Life: Home and Garden Thursday
And with.....
The House In The Roses
