mom's place

[id10t]

Mom had her knee replaced last week, so I spent the week hanging with her (she's doing great, thanks)

Her yard is in full-go mode so I popped out to the front drive and took a few pictures turning around in a circle.

Enjoy -

[ted]

Gorgeous garden.
I bet where she lives her water bill must be half of mine and my yard is less than half the size of her park like place.
She must have some help from a gardener?

[masraum]

Wow, really beautiful.

The only time that I've ever seen that sort of display was in the PNW and in British movies/shows.

[KFC911]

Is her place within the city of G'ville... seems as I recall you posting pics of her pond also. Her little slice of paradise... in spite of those Gators

[stevej37]

It surely isn't MI...unless that mulch is grass.

[Eric Hahl]

Beautiful!

[id10t]

Originally Posted by KC911

Is her place within the city of G'ville... seems as I recall you posting pics of her pond also. Her little slice of paradise... in spite of those Gators

Yup, just close enough to the stadium to hear the crowds when the Gators score, just far enough away that no one tries to park in her yard without permission.

Standing invite to any/all Pelicans that come for a game to park and/or pregame - got plenty of space.

4.5 acres on the main lot, with pond frontage out front and woods and a creek in back, plus a secondary lot that is right next to it (never merged into the big lot). The way the house is laid out, I could probably remove her home and build 8 places with nice 1/2 acre lots... but I'd never do that. I wanted this house 45 years ago when I was fishing there before we moved there...

[id10t]

Originally Posted by ted

Gorgeous garden.
I bet where she lives her water bill must be half of mine and my yard is less than half the size of her park like place.
She must have some help from a gardener?

Summer weather is halfway normal for around here, so plenty of rain. She rarely runs her sprinkler system.

As for garderners, she's got a crew of 3 - one who only does design work, and usually along the lines of "well, i saw these at this local nursery cheap and so we put a bunch in over here... " and his assistant who does a lot of the manual labor for the major bed work. Then she has a guy that does the weeding and edging and little bit of mowing that is needed.

Right now, a lot of beds are set up with annuals/perennials that need maintenance, etc. When the place becomes mine, I'll work with the crew to bring it back to still beautiful but low maintenance. Highlight and focus on the 80+ camelias, the citrus, and various tree species. I'll mow and maintain, but I don't wanna deal with replanting beds of annuals, etc.

[SCadaddle]

I grew up in a home in central MS that was built in the mid 50's on a 1.25 acre lot. For about the next 50 years I helped my parents and then finally my Dad maintain the place. Monkey grass borders, azaleas all colors, camelias, you name it they planted it over the years. And took great pride in the presentation of the yard. At age 96 my Dad was still using a mattock to get rid of vines and roots.

Dad's brother and his wife lived in Mobile Alabama, in the Country Club. I remember as a kid visiting them with my parents, and at some point in the visit I would get dragged around Bellingrath Gardens near Mobile. I hated it. Boring to a kid.

Fast forward 50 years, Mom has been gone for 10 years, Dad is gone as well. The home place was basically given away as part of the small family estate. Last year I vacationed near Mobile. Went to Bellingrath Gardens. Midway through the walking tour of it all I had to sit down on a park bench and reflect.

This place was the inspiration of all the beautiful landscaping and hard work my parents had put into their own place. The place I had spent 50 years of my life helping to maintain. And it was basically given away. Given away I surmise as it's a lot of work to maintain it and most folks nowadays would rather walk around looking at their cell phone than spend time in the yard.

Different times indeed.
Id10t your Mom's place looks great. I can certainly appreciate all the hard work that has gone into it.
If anyone wants to see really amazing landscaping and are near Mobile Alabama, you should make a visit to Bellingrath Gardens during the day, and go back during Christmas time for the night tour. It is absolutely incredible.

[herr_oberst]

Beautiful

[Baz]

Originally Posted by id10t

-snip- When the place becomes mine, I'll work with the crew to bring it back to still beautiful but low maintenance. Highlight and focus on the 80+ camelias, the citrus, and various tree species. I'll mow and maintain, but I don't wanna deal with replanting beds of annuals, etc.

Good plan and I'm pleased to hear that beautiful property - your family home - will remain in the family and be cared after.

That's how it should be.

Having lived in Gainesville from '72-'77, your Mom's property looks like what I remember seeing as representative of properties in that neck of the woods. Some great memories of those times....

Would appreciate it if you could get back to me with the name of the large flowering tree (upper right) in the 2nd photo. I have a few in mind it could be but would love to know for sure. Might just be a White Crape Myrtle. Trunk looks smooth enough....

Originally Posted by SCadaddle

I grew up in a home in central MS that was built in the mid 50's on a 1.25 acre lot. For about the next 50 years I helped my parents and then finally my Dad maintain the place. Monkey grass borders, azaleas all colors, camelias, you name it they planted it over the years. And took great pride in the presentation of the yard. At age 96 my Dad was still using a mattock to get rid of vines and roots.

Dad's brother and his wife lived in Mobile Alabama, in the Country Club. I remember as a kid visiting them with my parents, and at some point in the visit I would get dragged around Bellingrath Gardens near Mobile. I hated it. Boring to a kid.

Fast forward 50 years, Mom has been gone for 10 years, Dad is gone as well. The home place was basically given away as part of the small family estate. Last year I vacationed near Mobile. Went to Bellingrath Gardens. Midway through the walking tour of it all I had to sit down on a park bench and reflect.

This place was the inspiration of all the beautiful landscaping and hard work my parents had put into their own place. The place I had spent 50 years of my life helping to maintain. And it was basically given away. Given away I surmise as it's a lot of work to maintain it and most folks nowadays would rather walk around looking at their cell phone than spend time in the yard.

Different times indeed.
Id10t your Mom's place looks great. I can certainly appreciate all the hard work that has gone into it.
If anyone wants to see really amazing landscaping and are near Mobile Alabama, you should make a visit to Bellingrath Gardens during the day, and go back during Christmas time for the night tour. It is absolutely incredible.

That was a nice story, SC. Oddly enough, my fav. professor at Florida was an Auburn grad who got his Masters in Landscape Design at Michigan State and then came to UF as a young associate professor. I still have all my drawings from his class along with all his notations on them. He wasn't there long - departing to take a Director of Gardens position at Callaway Gardens and then later the same at Bellingrath, having just retired in 2019 at age 73.

More here: Bill Barrick.

[GH85Carrera]

I grew up in different rental homes all my life. Dad as an Air Force Pilot had us moving all the time.

In 1967 dad was set to Korea for a 12 month TDY that ended up as 18 months due to the Pueblo being seized and North Korea still has it.

Anyway, in 1967 we lived in the OKC area and went to our grandparents house a lot. Dad's dad had a wonderful rose garden in the front yard, on a corner lot, that was wayyyyy out in the country when they moved there. He had dozens of rose bushes and great landscaping. Every morning one of my chores was to go out and pick up the litter from the night before from all the (explicates deleted) litterbugs throwing litter out the window of their cars. That made me a life long anti litterer.

His rose garden was the inspiration for my bachelor pad house. I ended up with 18 rose bushes front and back. All summer I had roses to give away like crazy. I handed them to waitresses, bank tellers, and brought in a regular supply to the office.

My wife of 30 years is a master gardener.


This is just one of 7 garden areas at our house. The curving path is actually between two of the gardens.

She keeps pointing and grunting and we put in yet another garden area. Just less to mow, but more to use the string trimmer on.

[id10t]

Originally Posted by Baz

Having lived in Gainesville from '72-'77, your Mom's property looks like what I remember seeing as representative of properties in that neck of the woods. Some great memories of those times....

Would appreciate it if you could get back to me with the name of the large flowering tree (upper right) in the 2nd photo. I have a few in mind it could be but would love to know for sure. Might just be a White Crape Myrtle. Trunk looks smooth enough....

It is indeed a crepe myrtle, but I don't think it is pure white. I'm swinging by after work, so I'll get some better pictures of the color for you and if possible get a variety name for it.

If you recall your times from Gainesville.... Not quite 11 blocks due north of the stadium (1000 block of NW 21 street - hit google maps, you'll see it no problem), 3 blocks north east of the big hill on 8th avenue and 22nd street

[Baz]

Originally Posted by id10t

It is indeed a crepe myrtle, but I don't think it is pure white. I'm swinging by after work, so I'll get some better pictures of the color for you and if possible get a variety name for it.

If you recall your times from Gainesville.... Not quite 11 blocks due north of the stadium (1000 block of NW 21 street - hit google maps, you'll see it no problem), 3 blocks north east of the big hill on 8th avenue and 22nd street

Awesome - thank you - and PLEASE tell Mom I said HI!

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by id10t

Enjoy -

Good luck to your Mom for her knee recovery.

I love the style of the gardens and landscaping. Soft lines and a natural look to it. My own Mom had that "organised chaos" look with her gardens. The front lawn was almost completely taken over by daises.

[id10t]

Originally Posted by Baz

Awesome - thank you - and PLEASE tell Mom I said HI!

Slightly pink. Mom thinks she remembers "apple blossom" or something but she really has no idea. Only aware of a few others like it in our area. You have a standing invite to come and take snippings if you think you can clone or graft it.

Managed a quick pic in full sun just before a storm hit this afternoon
you can also grab that image url and change extension to HEIC and grab a copy as it came straight off my phone

[Baz]

OK thanks - nice pic! Will take a rain check on the cutting. I already have too may plants here - running out of space!

[mattdavis11]

Originally Posted by id10t

Yup, just close enough to the stadium to hear the crowds when the Gators score, just far enough away that no one tries to park in her yard without permission.

Standing invite to any/all Pelicans that come for a game to park and/or pregame - got plenty of space.

4.5 acres on the main lot, with pond frontage out front and woods and a creek in back, plus a secondary lot that is right next to it (never merged into the big lot). The way the house is laid out, I could probably remove her home and build 8 places with nice 1/2 acre lots... but I'd never do that. I wanted this house 45 years ago when I was fishing there before we moved there...

Has to be in University Park, I'm guessing just north of NW 8th Ave. My Grand parents built their home on NW 7th Ln between NW 20th and NW 21st. If it's close to there, it's possible, well maybe I shouldn't say...

[GH85Carrera]

It is obvious your mom’s garden is not newish. Many years of work to look like that. Very nice.

[id10t]

Originally Posted by mattdavis11

Has to be in University Park, I'm guessing just north of NW 8th Ave. My Grand parents built their home on NW 7th Ln between NW 20th and NW 21st. If it's close to there, it's possible, well maybe I shouldn't say...

Moms front drive is on 21st, her back drive would have a 90x 20th terr address if it had one. Literally shouting distance. Mom welcomes anyone who wants to stroll along the pond or down the drive Shoot me a PM if you end up in the area