Greetings From Ladera

After two days of travel I have arrived at Ladera Resort in St. Lucia, West Indies with many hugs and greetings from my Caribbean family, it is good to be here and I am anxious to begin work in the morning.  This evening I sat down with the owners of the resort and mapped our strategies and priorities of the next few days.  I am so pleased to find that Holly will be here for the first half of my stay, another woman cohort and sounding board.  I will be at Ladera for a month working with the garden crew enhancing, refining, adding and subtracting plants, working in paradise.  I need to put my tropical plant brain back into action, it usually takes a couple of days for me to switch from zone 5 planting to zone 12.

Nearly all of my projects were completed when I left Indiana with the exception of some paver sealing that required perfect weather conditions and my personal attention.  By the time I get back home we will only have about 6 weeks of season left and I have some plant installations that I have put off because of the extreme heat this summer, they will make good fall projects.

The stone walls on Lake James are finished and are exceptional.  The concept of using the repeating pattern of large blue stone matches perfectly with the poured, stamped concrete patio.  It is a bit unusual seeing the hardscape installed before the house but it was extremely practical.  The contractor has dug out for the foundation while Ryan finished up the last bit of the walls.  In the photo you can see how he is dwarfed by the depth of the walk out basement.

Bruce P is completing the sidewalk in this photo that finishes up the job for our old pal Sue.  The patio was done just in time for her out of town company and she really likes the look of the pavers over the old wooden deck.

Much of our work is on the lakes but we do get to town once in awhile.  This ranch house renovation went smooth.  We kept two of the original crab trees per the customers request, I gave Jamie some pruning lessons as shaped them and opened the centers, they look so much better.