Who Hid The Rubber Tree Stump?

Unfortunately I do not have a photo of the rubber tree next to the gazebo, although it was less than 25 years old the mighty tree and roots claimed territory like Napoleon. It provided shade and beauty but had begun chewing the earth, in conquest of all ground, pipes and foundations in its subterranean path. Hurricane winds bent and shoved the trunk spewing leaves and debris in all directions. The removal of the tree not only wounded hearts and souls but left a huge whole in the sky and an ugly stump with multiple above ground roots. Those roots did serve to stabilize the hill where the reception drive gently winds through tropical foliage, but made digging and planting nearly impossible.

Knowing we needed to disguise it was one thing but how to accomplish that task in a reasonable amount of time with a reasonable amount of money and limited materials was a heroic task. Many ideas were kicked around but it was Chef Orlando's concept that was the winner. He suggested using the antique sugar pots and stone to hide the tree skeleton. We had the pots on sight albeit scattered, the crushed stone was easy to obtain but weed barrier, rolls of plastic or other weed blocking fabrics were not readily available. I compromised with the purchase of a 20 x 50' tarp which we cut to fit, the tarp was around 450 EC. Buying plants and good soil completed the material list.

One thing the owner of Ladera, Mr. Hooper requested was that I try to find a new home for a beautiful wood sculpture that had been repaired after suffering insect damage. In addition Mr. Hooper is a big fan of hummingbirds and wanted a location where the majority of guests would be treated to feeding hummers. Chef Orlando wanted to revitalize the herb garden I planted in 2008 so I designed a garden space that attempts to meet every ones needs and is athletically pleasing. One component I could not install yet was the dry creek bed constructed of round, flat sea stones that are readily available here. Currently most sea stones are buried under mudslide debris from the torrential rains that were the aftermath of hurricane Tomas.

I am pretty satisfied with the results and more importantly the boss's seem pleased. We used coconut husks as edging and one sugar pot is a water garden. The overall effect is well balanced, structurally sound, hides a big sore spot and provides a fresh look to an otherwise mundane seating area. I applied 30 #'s of sea salt to discourage the trunk from sprouting again. We hauled soil from the back forty to level the area which I top dressed with Canadian peat moss.

I bought some Bermuda grass seed on a shopping trip and have sown it with high hopes. Most local people have never seen grass seed sown, it caused a bit of chatter.