El Presidio Gardens (The Monsoon Report 2012)

Last night was not a good night.  My blog was removed(as were many others) and I think I felt a huge hole in my heart.  2 and half years of research and exploration gone.....just like that. It was a bit unnerving but thankfully I was able to get the blog up again.  Blogger/Google is a difficult beast for help.  It took me hours to get Las Aventuras running. It made me sad to think that I might lose you all.  It made me upset that all of my information and photography would disappear.  And all I can say was that there was a great big empty feeling inside.  My other half felt my pain and thankfully Pat was there to help me out. Several of you may have gone through this yourself.  It's a bit terrifying.  Think about how many thousands of hours you put in your work a year.  It's like a bad habit but used for good:) Okay that's that. So I thought I'd put a spin on our gardens and updates from around El Presidio.  How about an update during a monsoon storm?  We had some beautiful light during this night and the skies were incredible.  The above shot is taken from the parking lot.

The skies were dark and therefore our courtyard lights went on.  Here are our wonderful Oak trees providing a little ambience from around the property.

As we face the front entrance, I notice a light out, lots of clouds, and some much needed rain....but there was more....

As I looked up, I noticed a HUGE rainbow over our homes!  That was a first.

I got up on the second level and took a shot over the courtyard area.  The former pool is adjusting to the rains.  I will continue filling in more dirt for the spots that need it.  It has taken some time for the soil to settle in.  Hopefully soon a fountain will be going into that area.

Here is the front area of the Northern Planters.

And finally the side gardens.  Not all is done here yet but I am liking how it's all coming together.  This area above is called the Fruit Garden and the pic below is from the Fern Garden.   This area is the oldest of my works at 4 years of age.  I am loving the curving nature of bamboo as it's creating a natural green tunnel for folks returning home.  It's not perfect yet and requires me to tie up a lot of random bamboo sticking out, but as it gets older, this arch will get higher.

More updates coming from El Presidio Gardens.....weather permitting:)

Decisions, Decisions

This is nod to Suz over at A Garden Wench.  I absolutely love her profile pic.  So today's post is dedicated to someone who makes me smile when I read her work. PS. This is a difficult pose.  We spent a bit of time trying to get this head angle right.  And now that I look at it, my hand needs to be lower.  Oh well, Suz pulls it off way better. And yes, lately I've been wearing my glasses a lot more. 

Several of the El Presidio posts have been delayed due to work around the property.  This post today is actually a very expensive one....but worth all the money.  Pete, our landscape designer, for the courtyard wrote up our plan that you're going to see below.  I'm going to go through that process with you in case you ever think about doing this at your own place.  Plus the El Presidio Homeowners can get an insight on what's going on with our ugly courtyard right now!  But first, I'd just like to thank all my blogging friends for their kind words and pieces of wisdom.  If a post comes along and fits with your particular theme, I'll make a nod to you through one of your signature moves.  And if you don't think you express yourself any different from the "other bloggers" out there, you are absolutely wrong!!  I admire you for your dedication, words of wisdom and knowledge and if it wasn't for you, I'd be writing to empty space.  Thank you all.

Stress.  Our property this year has given me nothing but headaches.  You may have noticed a lack of writing on the gardens because there were times, I wanted to scream.  Instead I left the country and traveled over my summer break.  We took out our pool in the courtyard and it is very very ugly.  Plus with the freeze killing several of the plants and a major planter project that happened over spring, we were overbudget and eager to save money.  The homeowners voted the pool shutdown and has since saved money to repair our courtyard area.  This has been a slow process especially when many of the homeowners don't even live here.  It makes things difficult.  The courtyard is a fantastic place but needs work.  It was time to call in professional help.  Everything else around the property is really coming along nicely, but with a major change like the pool shutting down, this was something homeowners have to fix together. I am not a landscape designer NOR am I qualified to make a decision for 16 homeowners. Some had wanted me to do this, but it ain't going to happen:) A homeowner would eventually request an official plan for the courtyard and that got the ball rolling.  The idea was put in front of the board and voted on as a "yes".  Money was allotted for the hire and over the course of a month, I would have to choose between two certified landscape designers. 

The decision took some time, but it came from the designer making time to see me right away and being on time....plus open to many many homeowner ideas.  From the minute we met, I felt relaxed and happy.  I know things will get better having a professional create some magic design for our courtyard. Some of you may be asking, "What happened to the other designer?"  He was really nice to speak with on the phone, but we played phone tag often and I got the sense he was an extremely busy individual. For me, it came down to several factors.  Do they know what they're doing?  Are they open to ideas?  Are they punctual? And of course....cost.  I received a quote for 200 dollars from Pete.  He came several weeks ago to do a base chart of the property and took hours worth of measurements.  That chart is above.  The design followed with the input from other homeowners. Some wanted grass, others color from annuals, some a water feature......but what was interesting to note is that the homeowners wanted that center space open.  So it shall be.  As we begin the process of adding things to this central area, I'll be updating people with info and pics.  As a homeowner, I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders even though our courtyard is still an eyesore:) Well at least there's a plan now:) The question is, "Homeowners will you take the initiative to fix it up, please?  I'm willing."