by Dana von Rinteln, Club President 2023

Planning is probably the most critical part of any gardening project. Mark took pictures of the plants we liked. We evaluated existing plants to repurpose and measured the areas we planned to amend. Then, we interviewed and hired contractors for some help.

Our backyard is roughly pie-wedge-shaped with a point at the back. This point backs up to a road that is regularly traveled. On the left side was a chain link fence, and on the right, an old wooden fence. Our next-door neighbor was replacing his old wooden fence bordering the back of his property with a cement block wall. It would be more secure and hopefully reduce the road noise. He asked if we wanted to extend that wall to cover our property's 12 feet of road frontage. We considered it and decided yes. However, we planned to continue that block wall about 60 feet further down the left side of our yard that borders a preserved wooded area. We were excited about how a wall would enhance the look of our garden and further reduce the noise and visual distraction of passing cars. 

Our plan looked like this:

Clear the pineapple garden. It was somewhat cathartic for me to yank up the sharp pineapples, especially after all the blood and pain they caused me.

Remove the old chain link fence. This part of the project was relatively easy for us; it was about to fall on its own anyway.

Remove the pine trees.

We contracted with a local nursery to remove the pine trees. We were pleasantly surprised how reasonable the quote was for the job. The crew came out, scampered up the trees, and lopped off limbs without much hefty equipment. It was amazing how efficient they were. When the big trees came down, they shook the house and left massive dents in the yard. We were fascinated to find that the freshly cut wood of the Australian pine is a bright day-glo orange as you can see below in the photos.

The crew removed the stumps after a few minor mechanical failures and delays with the stump grinder. It was bare-looking, but we had a fresh start.  We gained about 30 feet of backyard!

Install a privacy wall. The vast openness without the trees was disconcerting after having that dense little forest back there. Gone were the old fence and the pineapples. I felt indecent being in a swimsuit and getting into our pool, and I was anxious for some color and contrast. Up went the new block wall. We were surprised by Florida's building codes for concrete walls, requiring reinforcement to withstand our weather. A father-son operation installed the wall and did a great job. Our next-door neighbor had a professional paint sprayer and was painting his wall white. He graciously let us use it, and we also painted ours white. 

Repair the right side fence. We have a wooden fence separating our two properties, and it looked a bit drunken as it swayed and bowed a bit. After shoring it up, straightening, and replacing any rotten boards, we set about painting it. It's amazing how a fresh coat of paint can change the look of something!

Add the nursery bed.  Having so many new places to plant, we knew our project could quickly get expensive. Since I love propagating my plants, it made sense to incorporate some of them into our plan. Starting with an area by our new wall, I created a nursery garden to grow a nice collection of new plants to repurpose in our beds.

Add a bed for the new block wall. We placed six, 12-foot-high areca palms and two small areca palms inside the new block wall. We were thrilled with how well they hid the wall, provided privacy, and hindered even more traffic noise. 

• Uh oh! Change in plans! Our contractor planted the new areca palms too close to each other! They looked cramped and frightened, huddled together in the corner of the backyard. The bottom line, they had to be moved! Disappointed, we called our landscaper and asked him to dig new holes and properly space the trees. The crew moved the palms, and what a difference! It looked perfect!

Add a bed for the fence. It was time to focus on the bare area along our freshly painted white wooden fence. We had two clusters of Christmas palm trees planted at the corners of our garage – under lights. Well, plants have a habit of growing, and the palms were about to become a problem with the lights. We decided to repurpose them, becoming focal points in the new, long bed we laid out along the fence. 

Add plant material to our new beds. Now for the fun stuff! We visited area nurseries with our wish list of new plants. I decided to invest in some beautiful variegated firebushes, a good-sized foxtail palm (to obstruct a way too bright streetlight), foxtail ferns, hibiscus, song of India, petra croton, trinette, coontie palm, bird of paradise, agapanthus, and Auntie Lou ti plants. 

I augmented these with my propagated bromeliads, spider plants, walking iris, and oyster plants. We dug up a crowded cardboard palm from another bed, which earned a roomy spot in the new bed next to a giant newly purchased split-leaf philodendron.