Gardening Plan Implemented

Yippee, my boss came by yesterday and noticed the work in the garden. He liked it!
So, gee, always good with seeing opportunity said yeah well we'd like to put in an English Ivy ground cover. And he said he loved the idea!

Now I can begin implementing part two of my plan. I am super excited.
My plan was immediate upon seeing this place. Despite all the nay sayers who told me nothing could grow on this property, I saw it in my mind's eye, what the landscaping could be like.
Only my Bosses Dad seemed to agree with my view.

After getting to know the property, it was pretty obvious the land had been neglected and even abused. The previous managers used the planters as ashtrays. How could the young plants compete with that? No wonder nothing would grow. They also complained that the nothing can grow under that dam tree. They wanted to chop it down even. An old growth 10 story tall evergreen housing innumerable varieties of life.

No vision.

With soil amendment, and proper matching plants to the environment (shade tolerant, thirsty, amiable toward acidic neighbours like evergreens) our yard has become much more lush and welcoming.

It's still not lush enough. By this high summer, it'll be getting there. Within two three years of my plan, this building is going to have a gorgeous natural looking landscape. No lawn, instead an expanse of evergreen and shiny Ivy, and white climbing roses, bright red bougainvillea draping over the rock features and planters. A cascading rock garden built with rock roses, waving flows of jasmine, Ivy and river rock. As a nod of recognition to the river that flows under the building, and the repetition of rock facing used all through out the building. I also want hanging screens of annual flowering vines that I can hang in front of a really ugly gate as cover.

But the part I'm going to do first is the ivy ground cover. I also want to add the bougainvillea and climbing roses this season as well. I'm going to try something I saw in my gardening book, training the climbing roses (bloom in late summer to fall) up and around the trunk of the tree. The two species work well together. (unlike the Ive we will have to aggressively prune back from the tree.)

I also want to train the roses and Ivy around a masonry pillar we have extending from one of the planters, and call in a professional to prune our out of control bush.

My final plan will include blooms every season of the year, including winter.

Always - Evergreen English Ivy, no bloom.
February-crocus, hyacinth (yellow and purple)
Spring - Tulips, bougainvillea (brilliant reds)
Summer - Climbing roses (white)
Fall - Flowering bushes (more red)
Winter- looking into snowdrops. (white)

If you notice a theme of colour, it reflects the interior colour scheme of the building as chosen by our boss. Hope he likes it!

Gee says he'll take me to the garden center today. But I'll spend the next few days spreading compost and organic material to the soil, some nitrogen based fertilizer. According to my farmers almanac it is best to plant when the moon is waxing (increasing), right now it is waning, a near sliver to becoming "new". It won't be long before planting season starts!