the gardener in me

My daughter and her husband cannot be considered as gardeners by any stretch of the imagination (she's great on the inside of the house, just not outside). Whilst I have a wild and woolly wilderness outside my windows, they have lots and lots of neat even lawn. Their backyard has one lone tree and a couple of golden cane palms concealing the shed. Their front yard had two concrete-kerbed bed with sad and lonely palms in them.

The backyard was beyond my scope. The front yard I tackled. This is what their front garden used to look like (sorry, it's an old pic from the flood, I forgot to take "before" photos)

After much labouring (did you know that you can't shovel river pebbles? The spade won't go into the pile, you have to hand load them into a bucket.) it now looks like this.

Those poor lonely palms now have some yuccas, moses-in-a-cradle and kangaroo paw to keep them company. As well as some might big (and heavy) boundies.

The plants are small yet but will rapidly grow in their tropical climate. Soon it will look lush and bushy. My lass seemed pleased with the results and reported that her other half was impressed when he got back from out bush. I think all my hard work is a vast improvement (even if the plants are still just babies).

P.S. Happy Independence Day to all you US people out there.