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| Carolyne Roehm's Charleston Garden |
I have made so much progress with my plans for the garden. Yesterday I did lots of reading and research. As you know, the color palette in my home is blue and white with pink and green. These are the same colors I love in the garden. I am personally not a fan of using a mix of every color in the garden - I do not care for orange or yellow, for example. I also like the color palette to flow together, inside and out. And I like an anchor of green with pops of pink, white, and blue.
I was so fortunate that in this lovely garden I inherited, there are stunning Royal Palms (the most beautiful of all the palms,), coral pink Ixora, deep pink Bougainvellia, red Hibiscus, a huge hedge of Viburnum, and many other beautiful plants. One tip - when I moved in, the previous owners had been having the gardener tightly prune everything in little balls, cutting off all the blooms in the process. The entire garden was green balls. It was difficult to even know what things were.
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| Ixora |
I told the gardener, who I kept, that I would take over pruning, and I now have gorgeous flowering shrubs. Live with your new garden a while until you figure out what you have - one ugly big ball turned out to be the most stunning Bougainvellia.
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| Bougainvellia |
I've decided to have large swaths of blue Agapanthus lining the approach to the front door with my pair of vintage blue and white Chinese garden stools and my blue reclaimed lobster door mat. The foliage is beautiful year round and the flowers are stunning.
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| Agapanthus |
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| My Front Entrance |
I have a large vintage urn and am looking for an Agave Americana for it today.
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| Agave |
Here is a view from my living room.
And look up the oak tree and see who was watching me. My new friend.
I love Carolyne Roehm's Charleston garden with its palms and blue and white Chinese porcelain. My community is very strict though - you can only have three decorative objects in front of the house and they can be no further than 6 feet from the structure. My neighbor had an urn with flowers and they made her move it because it was 10 feet from the house. Luckily the garden stools flanking the front door do not count.
Plumbago would be a nice addition as they are a stunning blue flowering shrub. Be sure to check them out. The croton you see on the other side of your window could be replaced by them perhaps. The croton don't seem to fit in with the rest of your color scheme, not exhibiting the colors you mentioned that you like. Agapanthus are the loveliest of flowers. My very favorite flower of all. Saw so many around the weather resorts in both Kenya and Tanzania. Again, such a gorgeous color of blue--LIly of the Nile, common name, is so romantic.
ReplyDeleteYes, plumbago is definitely going in somewhere and the croton is going bye bye. I am not a big croton fan to begin with - I find them a bit tacky. That also is too tall, blocking my view. Thank you.
DeleteGreat plan for the garden! For the Bougainvellia I have found that BGI Bougain bloom boast from Home Depot works really well.
ReplyDeleteI bought it yesterday and they also make one for Hibiscus that I got. And bone meal which is great for both.
DeleteLove your garden colour scheme. Looking forward to seeing it develop.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much.
DeleteIt looks like a botanical garden, so lush and beautiful.
ReplyDeleteAre you able to sit outside in the evenings or are there a lot of mosquitoes?
I have a lanai that is fully screened, but I walk the dogs in the evening and have never seen one.
DeleteWould be interested in which variety of Agapanthus you choose...loved them in our home in CA but having difficulty here in FL with them surviving.
ReplyDeleteYour home is looking awesome! Congrats on the house and new start!
Thanks. Are they in full sun? They are very Florida friendly so there must be an explanation.
DeleteYour plans for the garden sound perfect. I've always loved a garden with a strong POV as an anchor to everything else that can change as the spirit moves you.
ReplyDeleteAbout the community rules: I understand the rule about decorative objects in the front of the house closer to the street--not everyone has good taste. Curious about whether they allow any type of planting and structure like a trellis, espalier or say even hedges on each side of the driveway leading to the front door and garage? What about tall narrow juniper trees? Are the rules more forgiving in the back of the house and outside of the lanai? Also...can you paint your house within the lanai any color you want, like pale pink?
A friend is considering a move into one of these type of communities in Venice and it is hard to find out about specific rules. They don't post them on their websites at least not for people who are not residents.
For my community, all the rules are posted on their website available to anyone. This was also true of other communities I considered. No, I can't paint the house pink. This community has lots of rules but it also the most beautiful of any IMHO because of it. I spoke with the chair of compliance yesterday and he walks the community every day. It keeps up community standards and home values not letting people do their own tacky thing. And yes, the rules are looser for the side and back.
DeleteI just checked it out.
DeleteI love your house color/trim/door combo, hopefully you won't need to repaint in a long time. The new guidelines have a whole new palette to choose from, all 50 suggested combos pretty deadly. And they don't even allow repainting in original colors.
Get on that committee asap! ;-D
Yes, I agree. They are going for a more modern coastal look. The white with navy blue I like. Fortunately, I won't need to paint for quite a while.
DeleteYes, Carolyne’s Charleston home is divine. Don’t know where the two of you get all your design energy to accomplish so much!
ReplyDeleteMy veterinarian told me years ago to assume that any raccoon is rabid, whether dead or alive. Your little friend may look cuddly and approachable, but he also carry dangerous disease. Best wishes.
Yes, raccoons can carry rabies like most wild animals. But there has been one case in history in the United States of someone dying from rabies from a raccoon. He is up a tree, not in my home. The preserves are just yards from my lanai so there is a steady stream of animals since it is their home.
DeleteWhat a great post. I can't wait until I see what you do with your garden. If I could live in any room in the house, it would be the garden! That courtyard garden of Carolyne Roehm's is just gorgeous, and that giant magenta bougainvillia in front of the white house with blue trim is stunning. The exterior colors of my house are the same, and I would love to plant a bougainvillia in front, but it's not a fire-safe plant and I live in California where everything is aflame. Please tell me what the shrub is in front of your palms.
ReplyDeleteYour furry friend is tres mignon, but raccoons are very precocious creatures, and yes, they do carry rabies. Keep Margot and Harper out of harms way.
The shrub is a Croton. VERY overused here and it's being retired from my garden. LOL
DeleteThe pups do not go out in the yard, just in the lanai when I am out there too.
Well,you had me at Agapanthus...then the agave...then saying bye-bye to the croton (agree with your tacky assessment!). Your garden will be glorious. Years ago I saw a pool planted with agapanthus in blue and white fish bowls around a pool. Breathtaking. I still remember how stunning that combo was. Pruning is definitely an art!
ReplyDeleteThank you. Gardening here is wonderful and 365 days a year. I adore being out in the garden.
DeleteI love Agapanthus at every stage, but especially [you will laugh] when the blossoms fall off to push out the plump green seed pods, which [given time and weather] will next give way to the seeds themselves. Most people deadhead them at that point, but if folks would just leaave them in the ground long enough for the black seeds to be blown in the wind, they will be rewarded by the Agapanthus' capacity to self-seed [which doubles/triples one's patch]. I also adore the speckled brown/gold/gray/black stalks that result from waiting out these stages. I've made a lamp and a mirror with my saved agapanthus stalks [are u still laughing?]!
ReplyDeleteFor those who don't like the pod stage, you just remove the pods and store them until they dry out and remove the seeds and plant where you want.
DeleteThat raccoon is exhibiting odd behavior being so visible during daylight. I saw one in my yard a few years ago acting like that and it became clear something was wrong with it. I called an animal control company who came out and said it had rabies. Be cautious!
ReplyDeleteWhile raccoons are nocturnal, they are often out in daylight looking for food and water. It is not a sign of rabies, nor is being up a tree. A rabid raccoon is lethargic, foaming at the mouth, difficulty even walking.
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