Anyone else here a gardening extremist?

[PureX]

Later today I am going outside with the hedge trimmer and mercilessly butcher the hedges around my house for no other reason than they annoy me. And I will probably call them ugly names all the while I'm doing it!

 

[syo]

I am a gardener.

 

[Whateverist]

I am a gardener.

I’ll bet that means you get paid to do what I love. I have many friends who do the same. I’d hire someone if I had the budget but I’ve never been 70 and retired before and it is hard to tell how much to spend and how much of a reserve stash we need. We have an advisor who thinks we’re fine but after the close call with Trump ending civilization as we’ve known it, I take nothing for granted.

 

[YmirGF]

I’ll bet that means you get paid to do what I love. I have many friends who do the same. I’d hire someone if I had the budget but I’ve never been 70 and retired before and it is hard to tell how much to spend and how much of a reserve stash we need. We have an advisor who thinks we’re fine but after the close call with Trump ending civilization as we’ve known it, I take nothing for granted.

I sold my gardens on that island paradise and now content myself dealing with my herd of healthy Cacti and succulents.

(I'm going to see if I can get some pictures.)
Woot. The succulents by the doorway. It's been so hot that they are not doing very well this year.

The remains of the Cacti from the island. The rude looking "Old Man" cactus is about 20 years old now.

And then there is this tree infestation... The sky sure is blue today. Wow. It is not an enhanced image too.

 

[metis]

If I get too old to take care of our garden, I told our son to bring in a bulldozer because that's what it would take as I have so much planted. I label mine "Mediterranean Zen", as it is mostly drought tolerant, but the design pattern is more similar to a Japanese garden.

 

[YmirGF]

If I get too old to take care of our garden, I told our son to bring in a bulldozer because that's what it would take as I have so much planted. I label mine "Mediterranean Zen", as it is mostly drought tolerant, but the design pattern is more similar to a Japanese garden.

I remember when my sister left the property the summer before I sold it, I had to do all the work myself and having a mature garden on 3 levels is a LOT of work even just maintenance. Watering alone, took 3 hours, every two days! I miss the views and yard, but not the work.

 

[metis]

I remember when my sister left the property the summer before I sold it, I had to do all the work myself and having a mature garden on 3 levels is a LOT of work even just maintenance. Watering alone, took 3 hours, every two days! I miss the views and yard, but not the work.

I here ya.

I was fortunate that my shrubs, trees, and flowers were and are quite drought tolerant with the exception of those damn little pots my wife likes to buy.

 

[Whateverist]

I sold my gardens on that island paradise and now content myself dealing with my herd of healthy Cacti and succulents.

(I'm going to see if I can get some pictures.)
Woot. The succulents by the doorway. It's been so hot that they are not doing very well this year.
View attachment 80829

The remains of the Cacti from the island. The rude looking "Old Man" cactus is about 20 years old now.
View attachment 80830

And then there is this tree infestation... The sky sure is blue today. Wow. It is not an enhanced image too.
View attachment 80831

The trees feel nicely natural and I note you have good open space between them but with the rise in forest fire I'd be a little nervous. I hope you have no problem on that score.

That larger white cactus in the second photo has a pretty anatomically correct look.

 

[Whateverist]

I remember when my sister left the property the summer before I sold it, I had to do all the work myself and having a mature garden on 3 levels is a LOT of work even just maintenance. Watering alone, took 3 hours, every two days! I miss the views and yard, but not the work.

I hear you I love it but can’t blast away as long or hard as I used to. So I have to be more methodical. Before when people would speculate I must work on it all the time I could honestly say no, that I mostly just hung out there until the urge/inspiration to find out what-if became too strong. That’s over but I still love. I’ve been thinking about what compromises I can make to make truly more self sufficient.

 

[YmirGF]

I’ve been thinking about what compromises I can make to make truly more self sufficient.

Over the last spring I was on the property, I did scale back several sections. I figured it would make far less work for a new owner, plus, give them areas to place something they might like. One thing I loved was sculpting and pruning. My dad had started the hedge sculpting years before, but I took it to a new level and completely redid "the triangle" in the driveway. I think I spent a day or two on each of the 7 miniature trees.

Here is the only picture I could find of the area I'm talking about and it has a local resident too.