The Cottage Garden Makeover!

I hope everyone’s Christmas was as magical and memorable as mine. As we begin to think about the new year ahead, I want to revisit how much all of us have accomplished and created in the past year. Let’s celebrate our ‘tada’s!’ and not just focus on that big 2024 to do list!

In that spirit, I’m taking time to review the past year…starting with my very first Wednesday Walkabout at the Cottage. Join me? #cottagestyle #cottagegarden #gardendecor #gardendesign #gardentour #backyard #holidaycottage #gardening

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Well Stuart nothing ever happens as as fast as I would like it to but nevertheless we’re starting to make progress here at the cottage you can see that one of the very first things I did was put some of my signature touches out and put my own stamp on this new house

With some topiary so they may or may not stay in these pots but right now I think they fit the space really really well little touch a Linda yes and I brought because I one of the things I am sad about is that I won’t have my tulips

Thousand tulips that I planted last fall but I did put some in pots and they’re kind of scattered around these These are graceful Beauty tiny little aliums so they’ll be sweet in that pot some of them may or may not go into the ground from from their contained residence

Right now but we shall see um I did bring my pineapple finals and I think they look really good there don’t you steuart they do I just got nervous cuz I started walking backwards and I haven’t done that here enough to know what’s behind me behind you you don’t want to

You’re going to be like Jack and Jill we’ll be tumbling a moment of fear we’ll be tumbling down what is a very distinctive feature of this neighborhood so you got to watch me walking backwards okay I will watch you I’ll reel you in I’ll R you in I’m a lot further than I

Thought I was so do not tumble down the rolling Terrace of this neighborhood so here I’m going to give you a little bit of um of a prev of some of my thinking so what I want to do I may have talked about this before is I’m I’m going to bump out this

Side and there’s going to be a flagstone and gravel seating area I don’t know if I’ve told you guys about this or not and that’s my question of the day my question of the day is what features from the old house are you really hoping I bring to this new house a good

Question and because there will be a number of what I think of as my signature touches that um I first I first started to incorporate in my garden at the other house and definitely will follow me sir are you saying hello now sadly you can see some of my

Topiaries in the window and I’m a little bit heartbroken because um I think in many ways hubs and I fared better in this move than some of my Myrtle topiaries because there just was so much activity going on um doors opening and being shut in the co and

Cold blasts but um hopefully I can resurrect them and if not I I will replace them because you guys know I have to have my Myrtle toer okay so the biggest news is the trees so finally finally we got some rain we have had a gentle rain for the past two days

Which is perfect for my new trees and just again a little tease in our upcoming Sunday show I’m going to talk all about the tree planting how it went how to properly plant large trees like these these are 3in calipers um show this one these are really gorgeous specimens these are

Nuttle Oaks and you’ll notice that I have staked them well and more importantly steuart if we can walk this way and you come down to the corner you can see that we sighted them so that they are in perfect alignment with the other trees look at this camera work look at that camera

Work and then boom up here just at the top of the Rolling Terrace hold on one second let me get over there get over there steuart is another beautiful tree so the next obvious and there’s a lot of things about to happen you know I’ve got

To get my irrigation system in I’ve got to top dress you Noti how many people were so happy that you started with trees there were they were a lot of the comments were like just a lot of people really happy that trees were the first

Thing that you kind of got to well my goodness for posterity we want our trees to get as as fast to start as possible and and you know steuart Matt needs to come over here and take a picture with his son in front of the trees as they’re

Beginning as they’re beginning to grow even though he does doesn’t live here it’ll be a fun reference point so and there’ll be more trees coming a little bit later the other thing that I want to concentrate on now and by the way having this this Trio of trees this Trinity of

Trees immediately makes me feel as if I have a little bit more privacy on this public corner it’s kind of hard to tell right now because they’re they’re of leaves but I think they’re just going to be really beautiful and I always enjoy Bud break on trees in the spring but boy

This year it’s going to be really special isn’t it and I’m I’m so looking forward to the different ways that the light will play at this house and different micro environments that I have that’s going to be fun um but I’ve kind of gotten off the topic at hand and the

Next thing that’s really important to me me and the next thing that’s really important to me is that I get kind of some visual weight and some grounding on this corner and get and have a little bit of privacy right here steuart you must come over because

I have to show you one of my very very favorite things about this Cottage and one of the reasons I call it a storybook Cottage is because of these diamond shaped windows and look at my sweet hent can you see them right through the pan the whole house is fragrant with

Them um you can see that there’s lots of boxwood already here and it will be repositioned and then I’m going to come back in here H everybody knows the barrel oh yes and it’s going to be moved to the back it’s kind of heavy it’s hiding for now it’s hiding for right now

Um but in here I’m probably going to kind of do something of a wall of Evergreens right here to give me um more bone structure and and Evergreen interest in the winter time so over here I’m probably going to be adding some more Hol maybe one more

Deciduous tree I’m going to be careful to stay far away from the foundation of my house and even from this this brick wall but I’m starting to notice things that are all new to me like the algae that start to grow on the brick which I

Just love I know it’s it’s a nemesis in some parts of the country but right here it means it’s a sign that we’ve gotten some rainfall always always a good thing here um some surprising things I absolutely love it it’s been so fun to meet my

Neighbors as they walk by and some of them shout at me and know that I’m the garden lady it that’s been very very fun the woman across the street I’m so glad to know that she Gardens organically and she was cleaning up things because she was getting ready to put down her corn

Gluten meal for weed suppression um the pansies this these yellow pansies aren’t exactly aren’t exactly my my color palette but nevertheless they look kind of cheery and we’ve had some warm days and they did survive the Arctic blast uh the soil is pretty good in these established beds but obviously I’m

Really going to have to do a lot of soil amending and a lot of really really good um soil conditioning and soil work to grow healthy soil as well as a healthy garden if you want a little glimpse into my muse for this Stuart we need to put

Up a link to my friend marquette’s Garden oh okay cool uh which which is one of the most popular garden tours I’ve ever done it’s one of our more popular videos yeah popular videos and it will give you an idea of of some things that I am copying one of my

Favorite Gardens here in Oklahoma City all of this over here is is kind of going to change be freshened up revised flagstone will go in in place of some of these Square concrete pavers um here’s another thing I’d like your opinion on this area faces West so I’m

Going to have just great exposure over here for lots of slpc plants so Southern Living plants get ready because I’m going to plant lots of white wedding hydrangeas um lots of En chazelas on this some ter hydrangeas some Tera hydrangeas um actually I that’s one of my prized plants that I will be

Replanting here and relocating to this Garden um I’m thinking about climbing a rose over this door frame so those are just some of the ideas that I had two ginkos will be going in down here Um and and I’m going to try to make this passageway because I am I am the route that that parents walk as they are taking their children to school and dropping them off literally walking to school and walking back one of the reasons this neighborhood is so young

And vibrant and energetic because a few blocks down is the local elementary school and I want to do as much as I can to make this corner inviting and a delight to people fun block yeah people who pass by and and Stuart um we need to put this

Still image if we can well maybe we can’t because we’re going to post this right away but if you go to the community tab let’s say that go to the community Tab and steuart how do you get to the community tab just from the homepage and YouTube uh you know I guess

You’re Lo once as long as you’re logged in there’s a community tab right there yeah on the menu at the top just scroll to community tab hard to explain and I yes and I will put a picture there of something you will be so happy about there you go a snowball viburnum a

Chinese snowball viburnum that might take a very prominent place somewhere here on this side I’m not exactly sure where but it’s a large specimen and my friend John told me that it already has buds on it so we’ll keep our fingers crossed maybe this year we’ll get some

Balloons if not next year and and and even though I’m I’m disappointed and I will miss all of those things in my previous landscape I’m I I’m like a drug addict and I need I need a new high and and boy this spring everything’s going to be a

New high because it’s all new yeah it’s all brand new yeah it’s all brand new so I’m going to be experimenting with some things I haven’t before I will try to um when I have time really get my inspiration board updated with images of some plantings that I have in

Mind uh I’m going to be using a lot and I’m really excited about this Stuart a lot of the new better boxwoods a brand that’s that is coming out that I I am hoping to be a spokesperson for that is blight resistant so I’m thrilled about

That because you guys know I I cannot live without my boxwood and all of those boxwoods that are now in hiding on the other side of the property um those will come out and take their proper place in my landscape some in the ground and some in pots now

At this house more gardening is going to be taking place in the front yard than in the backyard the backyard will be primarily just a large outdoor living space with lots of plantings but nevertheless most most of my real gardening is going to be taking place up

Here in front um I guess for the neighbors and the world to see so I’m excited about that I I hope you guys are as excited as I am if you are and if you enjoyed this this is this our first official Wednesday walkal Wednesday

About at the new we did well we did one last week kind of on before the trees went in talking about where the trees at the new Cottage I think I don’t know we did a lot of videos but uh if you are new to this Channel please make sure to

Subscribe hit the Thumbs Up Button if you’re an old hand at following Stuart and me then please share with others because I really think it’s going to be an impressive transformation of this space into a beautiful new English Garden in a new location well welcome to today’s Wednesday

Walkabout we’re starting that up again regularly and steuart it’s kind of there’s a nice breeze today but it’s not at all windy like it was yesterday that was absolutely horrific insane it was insane well last time we did a walkabout we started at this point I think and we

Walked in the direction of the front yard and kind of what’s starting to happen there so I’m not going to talk about the tree anymore but we are going to put up a digital rendition of the plans that I have for the front yard at this point which is always subject to

Change at this point I don’t think I will have any to very little grass it will be boxwood lined and later on as we start fleshing out what will go into the design I’ll talk about that a little bit more but for some of you who are just

Eager to see how it might start coming together their steuart’s going to put up a digital design of it that is just a work in progress so right now I think I told you climbing rose Sentinel Evergreens I’ve been checking out to see if some more tulips are coming up out of

These pots please Lord and they are but now let’s walk this way because I haven’t showed you really anything about the backyard and you’ve had lots and lots of questions now now what’s interesting about this Cottage compared to the other place is that the areas that I have to

Plant are different in orientation but they’re just kind of diff different in respect to the house itself so this here which is outside of my bedroom window this is going to be a pretty deep bed and it should be very good for what I intend to plant here I think I mentioned

Southern Living some lots of Southern Living plants where I can plant my beloved hydrangeas and some other things and then I’m going to be looking at gravel and flagstone samples hopefully this week because we’re going to put in a flagstone path here that will be Far More Level which Stuart will appreciate

Because he’s on an incline now and what we’ll do is put up some a rot iron barrier right here to kind of hold in some dirt level it out support this a little bit and help to get this section all on the same grade and so so probably

As I just continued to garden over time more and more things may be planted along here but addition but initially my my design uh concept is just large pieces of Flagstone in which things will be played placed in between the pavers not so much that it impedes fo traffic

Because this won’t get a whole lot of of of I guess people just navigating their way from one point to the next but it will get some so I’m thinking auga some things that I want to self seed in between here just things like that maybe some Creeping

Time and then and it’s a pretty long walkway and yes so many of you very it’s like you read my mind you said that the steps on the porch the faux porch porch the Phantom porch could be used as staging area for different pots different of my container topiaries and

Things and yes it will not as many as I had before cuz I’m going for a less cluttered look look but nevertheless I think it’ll be really Charming so this is the gate that goes into the backyard and this is going to be switched out for

One that has a profile may be similar to one that I had in the past I’m not really sure and you’ve already seen if you watched a previous video that I put up this lattice work extender I think of it as on top of the existing fence and

That gives me more privacy it gives a more sheltered feel to the backyard and also I think it’s decorative and it repeats the diamonds in the windows now someone made a comment Stuart come come into my garden someone made the comment that a lot of these features are starting to look like

Features that I had at my other house and they thought I was wanting to have a different vibe and in a perfect world maybe that would be the case because I think I have shared with you in the past that when I we were hoping to move I

Hoped to move into something that had more of a Mediterranean style that was a little bit more Mediterranean or Spanish in aspect but you know you just have to work with what you get and there just were no homes like this in the area that I wanted to live within and this

Neighborhood which we’re going to be showing you more of was really where I wanted to be for reasons that I’ve already expressed this neighborhood is really really up and coming and actually um because of its location in ok Oklahoma City the prices here are actually higher per square foot than

They are where I was in Crown Heights so what was available that was one story that was a bungalow that I was looking for that was a finite amount and so when I moved here it it was just an English cottage and it is just speaking the same

Language as the English tutor that I lived in prior to this and so yes a lot of the features will be recreated here but with a Different Twist and certainly with a lot more restraint now I’m kind of embarrassed for you to see all of this the backyard is really

Not that large I don’t know the exact dimensions to it most of my a lot of my gardening with flowers and things will be done in the front because the front yard is so much larger than back here but I love this concept of having an outdoor living room and there will be

Very little probably no grass back here at all there will be deep beds around the perimeter I’m not sure about some of these trees if they’re all going to stay or not my emphasis in this first season is going to be primarily on the front

Yard um but I do hope to just have a huge dining and entertainment space right here in the center and it will be either on brick or on flagstone and gravel at this point that remains to be seen now there’s a lot of things there’s a lot of stuff out

Here in the way of garden furniture pots um hanging baskets that I’ve got in storage and everything it’s very cluttered looking and as I said I I want some of my signature touches but maybe with more restraint at this house so what I did was and I’m not necessarily

Sure this methodology was correct and that’s my that’s my question of the day you guys let me know but since I wasn’t sure and I’m still not sure what Garden ornament garden furniture Garden features that I’m going to going to want to use here um I didn’t want to discard

Things that I might want to use so I would say out of the maybe 100% of things that I brought over here I did slep them over here um probably only about 20% of it will remain but I want to go through and curate out of what I

Have in my in my inventory to see what I want to keep before I discard the rest and then um and then it will either go to Goodwill or go to friends I’m not really sure exactly at this point so my vision here is for a large seating and

Dining area out here now one thing that I really dislike about the cottage are these back steps they are way too steep the Treads are way too high and it makes Ingress and egress really difficult so that is something that I’m going to address right away and I will probably before I

Left the other house I took lots of pictures of my very favorite features of that house and one of them was my back stoop Stuart you recall the back stop with all of the topiaries marching up and down and I also loved it because it

Was easy to Traverse it was easy to get in and out without too much of an incline so there is a grade to this property that’s going to be a little bit challenging but that is going to be one of the first things that we tackle is

Taking out these steps uh there will be some HP issues but not nearly as many in the back as there are in the front and definitely we will make these broader wider and with with much shorter Treads probably in that combination I love so much of vertical brick for the risers

And then for the flat sections probably some kind of Flagstone again that will match and and really communicate well with everything else that’s going on in the front and on the sides and I’m thinking at this point again I know sometimes when I say things you guys

Think oh she sounds so confident that she’s cast in stone that’s exactly what she’s going to do no I’m just confident at that moment in time that I think that’s what I’m going to do and everything is subject to change before it’s actually executed because I get

Lots of input from lots of different people including you and even Stuart right steuart so I imagine that most of those steps will come out over this way this walkway that goes to the garage and yes I do have a yep there it is yeah so many of you have

Asked I do have a sweet little garage here this all of this concrete will be broken up we’ll come in here with Flagstone Pavers that will probably kind of swoop this way to the West a little bit more before they go up the stairs so the back door will be

Approached from a different vantage point which will change the whole dynamic back here again there’s some drainage issues that we will address and we’ll take care of that this mound of all of these boxwoods that I healed in here temporarily most of these will be relocated to the front

Or to other areas so I’ll have this expanse here to work with um again some of these trees I’m I’m trying to decide which ones I want to keep and which ones I don’t and this whole area is is the one I’m I’m I’m really thinking about

And really wanting to be a little bit playful with and when I say playful um where I like to play in the garden potting shed um maybe I don’t know a tiny greenhous I I don’t know that there’ll be enough light for that here I’m not really sure at this point

That all remains to be seen and the other thing is before I pre prematurely just come in and rip out everything and make some changes I kind of want to see what’s going to come up first what’s going to happen first I’ve noticed that there’s lots of daffodils planted in the

Front uh but none of them have blooms on them but I want to you know I’ll give them their time I’ll see what they do before I decide how I want to revise them um and then what I love about this property too which I’ll share a little

Bit later it has all sorts of fun little nooks and crannies that I just love that I think are going to be fun also to play with um one thing that I wanted to share with you when we were inside the great room I talked quite a bit about this window and

How it screams 1950s or 1960s so we have already talked with someone and these are going to be taken out and they’re going to we are going to replace them with CA casement windows with muttons in them which will be able to open so that we get fresh air inside

And I think will really be a beautiful um a beautiful vantage point from which then to look out here at the outdoor dining room and one thing I love about this neighborhood is that a real signature Touch of this neighborhood are the string lights you can see some over

There at my neighbor’s home and it’s so fun at night they keep them up year round and so I’m thinking that here I’ll probably have posts or I’ll use the trees or something but I this will have almost like a ceiling of those string lights over them and if you can imagine

It Stuart being filled with candle light and good food and wine and music I think it’ll be really charming and it’s a little bit more protected from the wind back here so I really like that and I’m thinking of it more in a courtyard Garden way in maybe a Charleston

Courtyard kind of way or something though it will have an English flare and then I will have my signature plant stands I can’t wait to have lots of geraniums this year scented and and um pelargoniums and and regular geraniums I do have lots of pots look at how how

Well the Tulips are coming up in here Stuart and so as they begin to do their thing these will be staged and placed some place where they can be appreciated a lot more but I I really think that it has a cozy Vibe back here don’t you

Stuart I do definitely and this is probably the first time we’ve been back here when it really felt warm yeah and and we’ve had I think maybe uh a vision of what it will be like in the spring and in the summer when we’re back here I

Just I can’t wait to get started but I’m trying to be patient um things don’t happen overnight and nothing right now is cast in stone I’m thinking about maybe even changing out my outdoor dining table eventually like I say I’m just thinking about a lot of different things and there’s a lot to

Process and for every bit there is to process outside I’m processing it inside and really getting rid of lots and lots of things so as soon as I have any kind of plan to show you for the backyard in a diagram or a rendering form I will I will definitely do that

But right now I don’t I do know that in some way I will want to hide um the fixtures on the house and the HVAC system um and make some kind of changes and then definitely I’m going to want to add some vertical elements here so what

Those will be I’m not really sure they may be roses Carolina Jasmine I’m not really sure that too remains to be seen but I’m looking forward to it and I’m also looking forward to getting together with my friends at Southern Living plant collection in encor iselia really soon

Because we’re going to start finalizing I think some of the things that I want on my comprehensive plant list particularly for the front and that will be so so much fun and it might I think think kind of lessen the heartache a little bit from not having a lot of

Things in my own garden this year that I can see watch coming up but the other the upside to that steuart is this is all new to me yeah so it’s just it’s fun kind more exciting right yeah it’s a lot more exciting and I i’ I’ve been amazed

At how little I have really looked back because I’m so excited about looking forward the other thing I can’t wait to see is not only watching this property unfold but also watching how the neighborhood unfolds and what kind of blooming plants and things there are here and with that comes a promise to

You guys that Stuart and I will do some walking around on camera won’t we steuart walking around visiting some of the wonderful places one of my goals in moving and one of the the things that was so important to my quality of life let’s go this way Stuart so people can

You can be in the in the Sun a little bit more but what was so important to my quality of life was that there was real walkability is that I really wanted walkability I I like that about living close to the urban core and it’s just

Something that I I just found and still find just so charming and Crown Heights was walkable but this is even more walkable so my favorite bookstores coffee shops restaurants are all within spitting distance aren’t Stewart very much so in addition to some absolutely unbelievable older homes that are just

Magnificent a lot of which um in years past I’ve helped them with their homes so it’s fun to see them unfold but also to see like what does well in this neighborhood what kind of blooming shrubs and blooming trees are here I’m I am just well I’m kind of like a kid

Steuart it might seem a little bit obnoxious to you guys out there but it’s nice to feel still young and enthusiastic again um indeed in my dotage so there you go I hope you guys like this brief update today’s Walkabout there’ll be more to come I hope to share

Things that are a little bit more colorful and a little bit more interesting than just a Barren backyard with Furniture but it still is February after all process it is part of the process and it makes it that much sweeter when things really do explode in the spring thank you guys for following

Along if you haven’t subscribed please do so make sure to share if you think somebody else will enjoy this and give it a thumbs up if you liked this content so thank you guys and I’ll see you next time well we have a windy working Wednesday Walkabout for you today I’m

Here with my friend Kayla you guys know her from the tree planting awesome awesome job on those by the way love the way they look so Lots going on today uh I’ve got some magnificent Nelly Stevens holes steuart if you don’t mind kind of showing them in the truck and these are

How tall uh 8 to 9 foot 8 to 9 foot and because everybody appreciated that we gave them a price point and and some people were Amazed by that how much would that be to your average consumer for them to have a nelly Stevens Holly of that size by itself and then

Installed uh buy itself purchase with tax um 507 give or take okay uh install on that for for that big Hol right now and remember prices change over time based on availability almost weekly almost weekly so I must have gotten a good deal um and then to install one

With a massive root ball of that size you’re probably pushing another $500 yeah okay so I’ve got two of those going in right now my my friend Roger just got here Roger come on over darling howy hello how are you we are we are miked up already Roger is not

Because he’s tardy I know well he’s he’s brought a gift but you brought me a gift what is it oh my gosh from soup soup oh my gosh this enough for all three of you oh my gosh and Stuart was just complaining that I didn’t have any

Treats in my house oh my gosh okay hom homemade strawberry shortcake okay well does that make up or that makes up for not in trouble he’s not in trouble anymore yeah I’m sure he’ll get in trouble again later but for right now so I was just talking about

Today Roger is my Cedar Elm Source Kayla is my Holly source and what we’re and October Glory Maple and yes that’s right yes so so and this is going to unfold and I showed you guys we showed you a copy of the plan that we have been referring to with great vigilance right

Now so it’s kind of like um I I’ve divided up who is sourcing what based on this the quality of the specimens that they have so I’m going to be getting some really large yopon Hol and Stuart a Chinese Snowball VI burum happy day happy day we got it with your

Name on it yeah from from garden designs and and then Kayla is is doing my holes and she’s going to actually uh do most of the dirt work and things like that so Roger is a little bit more my design buddy and Kayla is more the Executioner

The facilitator but we’re both good at both jobs but they’re both exactly we we both do design but I could not do this new Garden without in without having both of you that’s right that’s right okay so yeah and we don’t mind yeah no no no no they work very

Very well together and I am so fortunate to have them and then oh yeah I give a little input too yeah you get a little a little a little a little a little input okay so steuart has already showed them the look at these magnificent holes I know it’s all those aren’t they

Incredible because it’s become extremely apparent to me on days like today this wind is driving me Oklahoma is Oklahoma but it’s very very windy on this corner so immediately I know I need a windbreaker on on this side so we’re going to talk about that a little bit

More um we’re going to be deciding on where the cedar Elms are going to go respective to the Hol and then once we decide on that we’ll come back and explain our rationale does that work with you guys okay and then you can also see that uh I’ve got all of my potted

Topiaries one of them’s dead but a lot of my potted topiaries out front just because I had to moving them from the side of the house and some of these uh and we’re keeping these in mind because every every one thing relates to every other thing so that’s where we all are

Right now and we’re just going to break here Stewart and we’re going to kind of do some work and then we’ll explain our rationale Shortly Okay turn watch the streak sign all Right all right turn oh watch the curb watch the curb all right we get down here before we go up the hill we’re going to stand it up and take a break you know in between it but I’ve got I’ve got to play with I don’t need to worry about that

Now so was they were trying to get this huge Holly up the hill uh steuart of course quit filming and helped them push um and that’s where the video fell apart so this oh my gosh ready that is incredible these guys are so strong and they we will introduce them to you

Shortly they have helped me on a number of projects and are indispensable in getting these projects installed let’s recap a little bit what what we talked about so I’ve got some uh Oakland holes from Southern Living plants and by the way they’re a good substitute for foster holes if you

Fosters have been kind of hard to find well and fosters are kind of difficult to use here they tend to get chlorotic really easy in our clay soil yeah I didn’t have a problem over at my other house but I had very acidic soil so at any rate and we’ll of course take

Precautions when we install them but we’re thinking to well not right here because we we want this is right where we want to walk but out here approximately right out here we’ll have two Oakland Hol two Sentinel holes to frame this door again we’ll have the climbing rows over here then we’ll have

The path along here and I’ve already told you guys and I was telling Roger that in here we’ll do something that’ll have some Evergreen visual weight but nevertheless this is where I want my AEL as my hydrangeas things like that to be because this faces East it’ll be great it’ll be great

And as and if you did some of the um like uh PG hydranges that are more sun tolerant you know even buy them in the tree form already that’d be great to give you just a little extra protection for you know like the macril right well and white wedding from Southern Living

Are more heat to are more sunent tolerant too but you made a good point share again what you said about if we have the holes over there and what they will do right here oh well the the holes will give us a little protection from the south the brutal

South Sun here on those yeah so that’ll be nice so that’ll be very nice so then coming around here this is where um you know I have to have my Chinese Snowball VI and steuart has to or he won’t work with me anymore okay so and I was thinking because I

Want to be able to see it you know from inside and I was was thinking like nestling it in the corner knowing I’d have to keep it limed up but but you made an alternate suest I think down here would be better I I just

Think I think down here this half of the shrub can be hanging over here limit up a little bit to make it as easy easy to walk under but I think that’ll feel a lot more open there and you’ll have to uh and cut on the snowball less and bear

In mind how happy that one was gosh how how tall would you say the one at my house got wasn’t it like 10 or 12 ft oh at least oh it was bigger than that it was probably at least 15 wires above the fence are in it uhhuh

Yeah so imagine if you will then it would be a beautiful point right here and have this fabulous blooming oh would be great right here and then imagine how fun because it’s elevated as the kids go back and forth walking from school that they can walk underneath I

Just think that would be so Charming great yes and a lot of the hydrangeas and things I’m going to have up here are also going to be white and um not that they’ll necessarily be blooming simultanously but I think that’s I think that’s real important and but you know

That’s something that’s fun to do sometimes is to uh even though they don’t Bloom at the same time keep uh white flowers together so you’ve always got that white spot in the garden yeah and I like I like the cleanliness of that I will however have to diverge from

That I think because I think I want a pink rose over my door oh yeah that’s yeah yeah so anyhow I think this is going to be absolutely beautiful and then the other thing I was thinking about and by the way this is treacherous we recognize that we’ve got some work to

Do we’ve got some work to do here and that will be done um but then the other thing that I wanted to do was write in in here somehow I’d really like to plant a holly in here because I’d really like some Evergreen interest and I’m not sure how far in here I

Can right um you know it might be nice to do like a tree form Holly that’s a good idea the holes that um Kayla is planting um have uh beautiful they’ve got like three or four Trunks and if those were even just cleaned up from the bottom they’ be

Nelli Stevens and yes we I I want them right now for screening but they make beautiful tree forms as well when you sculpt them like I love to do up from from the bottom and this would be one where we would have it’ be great because

You’d have it up here you’d it give you clearance to walk under and we could manage it’s it’s it’s wor and also it would give me I think fairly large it could we let it just get as wide as it wants but a really good foundation visual weight right here to ground this

Corner so I think that’s that’s really fun now I’m going to I have to show you this Roger I may have showed you before my other fireplace that I had we added it and this one was added but I I did not know about this and I wondered what

This little door was and this is where I clean out my ashes where somebody has not cleaned out the ashes not cleaned out the ashes because I I I clean I was cleaning them out from the fireplace itself on this fireplace on this fireplace it and here it is it’s right

Here though some of it still has to be kind of cleaned up and I wondered what oh I’ve I’ve always had an outdoor little door like that on any fireplace in my houses and I didn’t so see it’s just sometimes I’m the last to know okay

Let’s go back up front and check on the Hol cuz I I kind of like they’re not being too much contrast uhhuh um but this this gray is just too white it’s too gray yeah it’s it’s got it looks like driveway chat y yeah yeah which it

Is which it is what they they’re calling that Gray gry Hawk okay I mean it it’s nothing but a Sun screening yeah so so the Dilemma that we’re having here is the color that we ideally wanted that you guys are calling Black Eagle um which would not be nearly as white and

Bright as this looks this looks way too light gray um it is not is not available anymore yeah it’s not it’s not available anymore so we’re having to come up the Black Eagle is perfect for this um flag but again it shows how you have to modify based on availability of things

So you may not have the ideal solution so we’ll come up with something else but at least we’ve decided on the flagstone and the flagstone one thing I want to do today well I’ve got you both here is really lay out the Contours of actually it starts about right here lay out the

Contours of this little side patio cuz it’s going to be largely flagstone and and gravel edged boxwood if you if you look at the plan uhuh but um I’m getting ahead of myself let’s check on the holes now Kayla would you introduce these gentlemen absolutely CL oh yeah I’ll Stand close

To you because she’s not miked up now so introduce these gentlemen all right so the guy in Gray City Scapes cap is Sergio Gonzalez um the guy in the red is Javier um Sanchez both of which have been with this company for 12 years 13 years plus and Javier has

Actually been with this company longer than I have yeah and all and you guys have been working with me for for that for that like the time yeah and it is so good to have and Roger you’ll agree with this to have people that you feel comfortable with working around your

House if these guys are going to bring me firewood if they’re going to plant something for me or whatever complete trust these guys um that it is it really takes a lot of skill to develop that team that you can count on and that can sustain the quality you want to give to

Clients it’s huge anybody can come in here and dig a hole and throw a plant in the ground yeah but is it going to be done right so that that plant thrives after it’s put in the ground and we’ve collected our check and we’ve already gone down the road it’s not about

Collecting a check for either one of us it’s about making it and this is turning into a little bit which wasn’t my intention but a little bit of have a commercial for cityscapes but it’s a testament to getting people that you really trust to do things from the

Get-go because she’ll stand by it so if there’s something wrong if there’s a drainage problem and we identify something later um it’s great the other thing I have to point out with Sergio and Javier if if there’s a shorthand that you develop with people that you work with regularly and you don’t have

To work with with people on the scale that I am these guys have done really small projects for me um you know it’s just why spend the money on on an investment evergreen or something and not then not do your due diligence in making sure that it’s planted

Correctly well it starts with Kayla you know U selecting good plant material from good Growers that that makes a difference then planting it right you know citing it properly planting it right and I’m sure your guys do it mine all um have started they know that they

May set it in the hole but they don’t F in the dirt until we’ve approved approved and they they my guys have started second guessing me and they’ll they’ll decide what they think is the right face to turn you know for the most visibility before I say it and a lot of

Times they’re spot on they have learned from working with us I really don’t even need to be here today just being honest for them once once with me and Linda got it marked today I could have just vacated and these guys would have done everything exactly the same way today if

I wasn’t here as they did down here with except you provided that additional nudge yeah of course they couldn’t have gotten it up the hill without you was here in the rear right yes the other thing that they do we talked about it rogered extensively when she planted the

Trees is it’s not only how you treat the hole it’s how you treat the root ball and how careful you are with the rootball exact and this isn’t like so much like a really compacted root B shrub you’d get from Home Depot right these are grown in burlap and we really

Try on these larger plants to keep as intact as possible the Integrity of the you can’t just throw them around drop them on the ground break up the root ball I mean you can really damp set the tree back and especially on an evergreen you won’t you might not see the damage

For months away maybe maybe not still a year for the next spr um and then you start investigating and you find out half of that rot ball is separated down there in the hole when you start you know right well here’s where I have to do a mopa because when I

First started gardening many many years ago I mean first of all I was just ignorant so I’ll give myself a break for that but I was also lazy cuz I didn’t realize the value of a really big hole I mean we say two and a half times bigger

Is even even better and I just thought when I first started gardening that all you do is you dig a whole big enough to fit the red ball in there and then your work is done and then of course the plant would die and I would wonder why

Right so um so that is just so significant so okay well let’s get these in I appreciate you guys being here oh always and we’ll show we’ll definitely show what these look like once they get installed but this was our windy working Wednesday W about with my team here that

I couldn’t do without and they keep saying Linda you keep promising a party once everything’s in well everything’s not in yet so we will party down when is everything in in a garden garden yeah right it’s a process a garden is a working process it but I’m

Ready to get to the point where you guys AR aren’t doing all the work and I can get out here and start digging and planting W well and that’s the the flagstone we’ve got to get it ready and we’ve got to you know get dirt work done

And you can start moving okay till next time you guys we will see you Later