Garden Transformation

This is a posting from Lorre Lei Jackson, our contributing writer from New Orleans, LA. Below are the before and after pictures of the garden to show how landscape design can be art — man manipulating nature, and in this case, enhancing the overall enjoyment and adding curb appeal. As anyone knows who’s been involved in any kind of renovation, the project can be daunting — a long and hard haul, as this one was in the garden but the planning and perseverance paid off. As an aside, here’s a little perseverance quotient test that is fun to see if one has the mental wherewithal to off pull a long term project.

THE FRONT GARDEN-A PATHWAY TO PLEASURE
FINAL LANDSCAPE PROJECT
August 14, 2007-April 15, 2008
May 5, 2008

This is the last and most ambitious project and unfortunately, it took 45 years and the loss of my husband to begin. John would never hear of removing the ligustrum hedge that we planted across the front and side of the house when we were first married. He worked a lot in his study and felt the hedge offered some privacy. Later we added aspidistra and it thrived to the point of being invasive. For a while I attempted to thin it but finally gave up. John and I had a joke about the pecan tree. He liked it and said it was energy efficient, keeping the house cooler during the hot months. I called it a “trash tree” because it was either dropping blooms, leaves, nuts, or branches. The nuts stained the driveway or became volunteer seedlings. We never harvested any nuts. The squirrels saw to that! When we returned after Katrina, our tree man said it was the one tree that could cause the most damage to the house so we decided to cut it down.

Now, with the pecan tree gone, I thought it was an opportunity for a change in the landscape. At 70 I think I’m wiser and more realistic about my physical limitations. I reasoned this would increase the re-sale value of the property so hired a landscape architect. I had seen his work at an uptown house and thought it very attractive. We met and I liked the idea that he also addressed house architecture and drainage issues right from the first. I knew it would cost a lot but thought (and still think) it was a good investment as well as offering me a great deal of pleasure during the remainder of my time in the house. I was astounded at how many features and plants were incorporated in the final schematic which included a raised grass area, brick work, two seating areas and a fountain! Once the demolition work began, I could see how deep the hedge and aspidistra had encroached on the front green space.

I wanted the work done by Christmas. I signed the contract on August 15, 2007 and there was approximately a 3-4 week lag time before they would be able to start and 4 weeks of work to complete the job. I reasoned we should be able to complete the project by the holidays. I should have specified which holidays! As we made alterations and I asked for a substitute for the extensive boxwood called for, time rolled on. We had a bad spell of weather. When we approached Thanksgiving, I hesitated to begin a project that would be unsightly to the neighbors throughout the holidays. Work finally began right after the first of the year and it was messy! A huge dumpster was parked across the street in front of my neighbor’s house. I thought it would be removed at the end of the day but it remained overnight and all the next day. Sunday morning before sun up, I heard a loud bang and the street shook so that I felt sure everyone in the block was awakened. It was raining so hard I could barely see the truck driver hooking the dumpster up to a tow base. Much to my dismay, he pushed another empty dumpster in place of the one he finally removed. Out in the rain with an umbrella I charged and told him he couldn’t leave a dumpster there. He said he’d be back to get it later. Monday morning I was on the phone raising a ruckus. It was a misunderstanding I was told. They thought we needed another dumpster. I screamed that I didn’t care what they thought; I wanted to make sure I wasn’t charged for a second dumpster load.

After demo, everything sat drab and bare. I was told to have the pecan stump ground but no one said how deep. It was done to the tune of $900 and they had to come back and re-grind because it wasn’t deep enough. Brick layers then laid out their lines for their design and dug trenches for bricks. Next we waited for St. Joe bricks to be delivered and that was delayed. I glanced out one morning to see a flat bed truck with 4 pallets of bricks. No one had told me to expect a delivery that day. No one was here to receive bricks, sign for them, and tell the driver where to unload and place them. I did all that at the same time directing gas and telephone people who were marking utility locations as well as a telephone repair man servicing my telephones, glass man delivering desk top, floor refinisher, plumber and painter. The telephone repairman said he had never seen so much activity in one house. “You’re just a busy little bee, aren’t you”, he exclaimed.

Before the brick layers could start their work, the irrigation people came and obliterated the masonry workers’ trenches. The trenches had to be redone. The irrigation workers damaged the main water line to house although I had repeatedly cautioned that it was in close proximity. That required a three foot patch to the tiller cut. The brick layers asked if I wanted them to put the dirt they removed anywhere in the yard. I took advantage of that to fill some low areas. However, that meant someone had to spread the dirt once it was dumped. Just call me the Little Red Hen. What did I say at the beginning about being older and wiser and knowing my physical limitations! The brick work was completed but no one was here to inspect it before they left. The corners of the raised brick were not acceptable as well as the grade and that had to be redone. Now, at last, the area was beginning to take shape as the plant installation began. However, an irrigation pipe was broken and we had to wait for Dr. Pipe again. One pop up drain had to be reinstalled with an angle to accommodate one of the crape myrtles. The saga continued the next morning when the plumber Dr. Pipe sent didn’t know how to fix the break because it was between the street and the meter and he said the parish should do that and they finally came and fixed it. Then Dr. Pipe sent another plumber. Doesn’t anyone communicate these days! In the meantime, it rained too much to set the remainder of the trees. The fountain was delivered for a $100 delivery charge but had to be set to one side as we were not quite ready to place it. When we did get it in place, it had a leak and had to be resealed, TWICE. Pink begonias surround the fountain.

The iron man was next. He reinstalled the double front gate at the entrance to the big yard and replaced the old iron fence that had deteriorated with panels we had saved. Now we have a gate that’s plenty wide enough to get a rider mower in with out any trouble. Although I had to insist that the gate had to be a straight angle into the yard, not an angled entrance from “one vista to the next”. In this case, function won out over form!

The table and chairs adjacent to the front walk and the bench and urns at the driveway end were put in place. The indirect lighting was installed and repositioned after dark. I am still waiting for a submersible light for the fountain and one zone of the irrigation system isn’t functioning. It’s been five weeks since I notified architect about the irrigation system and I call EVERY WEEK! The woman in the office is very pleasant and tells me I am “on the list”. I have to be nice because I am hoping they are going to do maintenance for me if they aren’t too outrageously expensive.

This WAS expensive and it took 8 months from start to finish. It also was the same as a house build or remodel. I had to be here all the time and watch the project day by day. There were changes that needed to be made in design and that could only be caught by being on site. The errors and snafus were frustrating but sometimes just laughable. The other day as I walked back from the mail box, I realized liriope had been planted on one side of the walk but not on the other. Rather than make repeated calls and wait for a response, I just robbed enough plants from “unseen” areas and planted it myself. That I could do, but I could not have done the whole project alone. Would I do it again? Yes. I have derived so much pleasure out of it in just this short time. I can view the fountain as I work at my desk in the study and hear it if I open a window. I sit on the bench when I’m waiting for a friend to pick me up and I sit at the table to read the mail. Many mornings I open the porch window and read the paper with my coffee sitting in the club chair. When the girls were home a few weeks ago, we had lunch outside one day and we all gathered there for cocktails one afternoon. Neighbors stop and admire it. They say they didn’t know what the front of the house looked like before because of the hedge. Now that the weather is getting warm, there are lots of birds, bees and butterflies at the fountain. I know if John were here he would enjoy it as much as I and admit I was right to make the change!

PLANTS:
Japanese Maple, Tree Ligustrum, Natchez Crape Myrtle, Sweet Olive, Wintergreen Boxwood, Frost Proof Gardenia, Shi-Shi Gashira Camellia, GG Gerbing Azalea, Holly fern, Butterfly Iris, Jeanerette Liriope, Dwarf Mondo Grass, Indian Hawthorne Snow White, and Pink Begonia

Before photos:

With mondo grass addition before renovation

After renovation: