Shade Shifters - So Coooool

The shade garden is really cool with the roof over it, whats so great is that the ferns and the palms pick up the slightest breeze. Its quite amazing what you can do with such a small space. Its 3,7m x 6.5m. This design could be created to any size. We were lucky as the other spaces for display gardens were much smaller. Hopefully you will all have time to go inside and sit on one of the sleeper benches.

WE FINISHED IN TIME

I have not been able to put up final pics as we had no phone line due to weather.
We made it, you have no idea how hectic the weekend was, for showgardens, every single dead flower must be cut - so imagine when you plant violets as a groundcover?
Brenda was amazing she got every one of them. I scrubbed the path, as Sunday wore on we
were all fighting over the hose pipe, buckets, scissors, whatever. We were all so tired, but WOW
when we finished it felt so good and so amazing to see the drawing come to life.

We presented to the judges on Monday, you have 10 minutes per garden. Actually 10 minutes is good because there is no time to ramble or say the wrong thing - so I did not run over time.
They asked very particular questions, for example why are the trees facing the sea, when the wind blows off the sea, I quickly replied that we used creative liscence as its a show garden, we needed depth and we needed everything to lead to the focal point (advertising does teach us a few tricks!)

They don' t say too much, but they do try the steps, sit on the benches, check the heights etc etc.
We have an awards lunch tomorrow so I will post the results on the blog tomorrow.

I am sad its over, I am quite sure what to do with myself today, after working flat out everyday,
but we are all tired and I don't think we could have taken 1 more day. We were lucky we were a great team, and worked really well together - maybe we can do it again sometime.

To all of the followers, thanks for following our progress, we all need work so think of us when someone asks for some help with their garden.

ONE MORE DAY TO GO

I just wrote an update for today, and lost it. I dont have time to redo it. Have to get on with drawings and presentation - more tomorrow

CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW HERE WE COME

We worked flat out today.
We loaded all the plants onto the trailer, then started to lay them out in the garden. I had an anxiety attack as I did not know where to start.
We worked it out, planting from the front backwards, remembering to fold down the bags so you cant see the plastic, to cover the edge of the path because it crooked, to cover all the plants with soil so all the pot tops cant be seen. Its really time consuming and you use so many plants - I thought we had completely over ordered. I think the planting is working beautifully, we finally positioned the olive trees and they look fab, both 'blowing' in the same direction.

The plumbago looks so good along the path, it gives such a wild overgrown feel. We did not finish the planting, but we did well. We stopped at 8.30pm as the light is not that good.... its almost time to get up again. Must get some sleep

OUR SHADE GARDEN IS PLANTED - PLEASE ENTER

OK so its not QUITE finished, but we are almost finished.

The shade garden is a formal pattern planted with soft textures
to give it a more intimate feel. The garden consists of two rooms
one a more mediational space surrounded by jasmine and mandevilla (the original plan had Maple trees) with a bark floor, the other room is more energised with a checkerboard floor
and the soft sound of falling water from the mosaic water feature.
Both roos have sleeper benches to sit on. Whats I love is the way the palms and the Australian tree ferns pick up the breeze, the shade garden is so cool, everyone wanted to sit there today.

Planting for show gardens is very time consuming, you have to plant the plants in their bags,
so you have to roll the plastic down and cover the tops with soil, NO plastic showing. There is still alot of tidying, training the creepers onto the trellis behind, finishing the checkerboard floor.
The floor will be filled with Penny royal,(giving that mint scent when you step on it) and the other square filled with stones...... need to work on my photographic skills.

I am filthy today, but thrilled with our progress. I get more stiff everyday, instead of fitter
but I ave gone down one more notch on my belt. This work beats gym any day. I am filthy everyday actually, and cant wait to get home for an ice cold beer.

Tomorrow, we start planting the fynbos, that will be something. The banner is up with the view of the sea through the door, so hang in for more tomorrow. We have had two sunny days in a row, so readers your job is to ray for more of them please..... Good night

By the way we have to know all the plant names for our presentation, can we talk about
Mandevilla bolivensis sundevilla hybrid - that is what we used to call the Dipladenia, google it so you can see.

SHAMBLES

We did not know where to start today, so much to do, the deadline looming and rain and rain ad rain... But we managed to put the roof on the shade garden, I painted the wall, we finished the pergola. That was a laugh. We had cemented in the two vertical poles last week 41/2 metres apart,
anyway today we happily choose a pole to go across the top, only to find that it doesn't fit and after unpacking half the graveyard and some heavy lifting by henie we found THE ONLY 5m POLE left at lifestyle. So I guess one should check what size these thing are available in before designing a garden. Cheryl (our drawing lecture) came by and mentioned that with pergolas the poles should only e 2m apart - we are changing NOTHING at this stage.

I have no photos today as I left the camera in the trailer. But I am uploading a drawing of the shade garden, so you can follow the progress.

They announced today that we can work late on Wed, Thurs, Friday.. PHEW!!!!! At the moment everything is such a mess and a shambles.

By the way our plants arrived today from Arnelia in Cape town, their web address is www.arnelia.co.za if anyone is interested. The proteas are flowering, we have the Sylvia and the Pink Ice. PIcs tomorrow I promise

MEET THE LITTLE GUY

We managed to grow a baby in our show garden! This is Ethan, he was born last week Tuesday.

LOOKING BETTER EVERY DAY

Brenda scrubbed the path, its ready
to be sealed (when the rain stops), its looking beautiful.
It took us the whole day to put up the boundary wall, sorting and washing stones. The stones we ordered are too small, so it took forever. But worth it in the end, I did not actually finish....

Finally we have a front wall and everything looks neater, we have started the pergola and the screen is up between us and the wetland garden. Hennie and I spent hours measuring the curves hoping to have a window behind the sleeper bench, am not sure what went wrong. Clearly we have measuring isues.

Its getting exciting. Our fynbos is leaving Cape Town today so we can start planting next week.

CAN WE TALK ABOUT OUR BEAUTIFUL BOUNDARY WALL

COASTAL SUPPLIES GARDEN DESIGN

We worked against the weather all day, but were determined to finish the pebble path and did. We thought we would finish at lunch time, but then discovered how hard it is to plaster. The cement kept falling off the step! Everyone else was completely oblivious of our frustration and stress levels, and interupted us all day asking advice and borrowing all our tools, all day every day
(hence the title) I guess I dont mind usually but today it was too much. We kept running out of stones. The stones we oredered were really ugly, Brenda andI found pebbles in an old pond in the graveyard full of old rotten water. After that they all have to be scrubbed and then wet when laid. My hands are like prunes today.
I am sure Hennies sinuses are completely clogged with cement.


The cemcrete paint samples came today. Not sure if we have the right colours. The light grey is too light, but Ilike it. The dark grey is not right and the sea green too cold mmmmmm.... tomorrows problem. Time is really running short, we have so much to do!

We will finish and it will be fabulous, I know it. Til tomorrow.

ALL IN A DAYS WORK

I was so excited about the pebbles I had to put it up first. Here are the pics of the preparation.
I think we only stopped for lunch at 3! Enjoy.

The exciting news is that Tracy is having her baby tomorrow. His name is Ethan, we all cant wait.
And put a few pebbles in the concrete for him today. We wish you all the best tomorrow Tracy.
I miss your photograhic skills as I can't sit still for long enough to click.

THE PEBBLE PATHWAY

We finally started the pebble path,
we're using a Cemcrete product called Decocrete which holds the stones better, (we'll see tomorrow).

It looks fantastic, I cant wait for tomorrow to carry on. All the preparation has really been worth it.
I'll upload pics of the preparation.
But we are on a roll now, there is still so much to do and the deadline is two weeks time!!!! I hope you are all holding thumbs for us.

LEVELS LEVELS

Getting the levels right is a nightmare.
We finally got help from Mike
(lecturer) You take a long plank
and balance it across all the paths at once and then check the levels.
So its done now. We laid the bricks for the front step and today we start the concrete pebbled pathway........
Stay with me its getting exciting.

The sleeper bench - how beautiful?

Our bench is finished. We still need to sand the top of the sleepers.
On the right of it will be the Olive tree. The honeysuckle looks so lovely behind it. We had ordered the September bush to go there
(Polygala Myrtifola) but fortunately it was not available in a decent size, because this looks so perfect. We still need to raise it at the back.

Quite a few of the plants we ordered are not available, so we have to reconsider the plant list. When I have time I will put the list up for those of you that are interested.

MARKING OUT THE PATHWAYS

On Saturday we started to mark out the garden according to the plan. The pathways are quite tricky, we used pegs and strings at the right lengths to mark out the circles. The hardboard is used to define the edges and the ground level. The one path will be filled with gravel and the other cement and pebbles.

We struggled with the levels. Our fron wall will be made with stone cages, but they have not arrived yet. We ran out of hardboard so decided to put up the bench. This involved putting together wirecages filling them with stones and levelling two sleepers. If you ever do this, fill the center of the cage with bricks so you dont use too many stones- it gets expensive.

Choosing the Olive Tree (Olea europea subsp africanus)

The big trees are all in the graveyard, naturally its first come first serve, we found two that were slightly crooked which we liked as they looked windswept as most trees do in the Cape.
Then Hennie lifted these huge trees on a trolley and we pushed them up the slope to the nursery. In the end I am not sure if I was pushing or hanging on. It was hilarious - I was exhausted for the rest of the day. Fortunately when we got to the top Hannes had arrived to help offload. See how easy it is to lift big trees when you use two poles. After that I needed a coke moment. Tracy got to enjoy sitting under the olive trees and help us learn the names of a few plants every day.

Today, Thursday was a disaster, it poured and poured, we were trying to lay a foundation and level ground. It was impossible, we went home early, I really felt as if we were losing momentum today... but we'll get there.