Definitely boulders. And stone pathways. And lighting. I would have enstalled fencing in some areas to help define the structure and border of the garden. An area set aside for a raised garden for veggies with it's own watering system. I would not have planted the large palm right where it blocks my view of the little lake. I would have built a small greenhouse along one side of the lanai - just big enough to hold the orchids and other patio plants when the weather turns cold - that would have been so easy when we first moved in here but I didn't think of it.

Kate

well, do you mean if money was no object??????????????

UGH - I *WISH* I could start all over. When we moved here, we had a completely bare yard and I had such grand plans.....

But, my over-enthusiasm and ignorance of gardening in Florida have really messed up my plans.

If I could start all over, I would have hired a professional to make up a garden plan for me, one that I could fill in as time/money allowed. Right now I have a hodge-podge of stuff, things growing in the wrong places...like I said I would really like to start all over.

i think i'd invite Ricky over and have a large bottle of that fancy mash...

goldenpond - That's what I meant by a "bucket of cash." More money than you need.

Thanks, Beth.

I like the idea of elevation too. But the truth is I change my garden all the time. If I don't like something out it goes or if it's hard to grow, it's gone. I have expanded the beds all that I think I will, and that's one thing, I wish I had started with them this big, now I wouldn't have so much to move. But it keeps me out of trouble. ;o)

First thing I would do is move farther south! Hate those frosty teens in the wintertime!

Ohhh...a bigger pond would be great. And lots of colorful pots in all shapes and sizes to pop here and there. And more spigots. An arbor. And raised beds for veggies. And maybe a new set of knees:)

Oh, man! We have the land - cleared and with power and a well. Guess it will be "scratch" from now on 'cause I don't see Ricky OR that bucket of cash anywhere. What we PLAN to do is build the structure (house) then dig the pond. The pond dirt will be used to berm the house - which will provide the hill on otherwise flat land. Will probably grow an evergreen ground cover on the hill.
Of course, if money were no object, the house would be built by now, as well as the greenhouses, the meditation garden and the pond would be stocked. All would be fenced and water and power would be available wherever needed. THEN WE COULD HOLD A MEGA-PLANT SWAP! With room enough for those with travel trailers to spend the night if they like.
(darn, I wish I could find that bucket of money!)
;o) cora

cora - Don't berm the house! Dig the pond first and use the dirt to raise the house up higher than the flood plain. If you surround the house with a berm or even just do one side of it, you will be trapping water rather than letting it run away from the house. Forget about all your other plans and heed this advice. That's how all the builders do it - they raise the house to protect it against a flood. Every foot you can raise may someday be that foot that saves your house from a flood.

I don't know exactly how he plans to do the foundation, only that he wants the house to be bermed. When he Googled the area, it was the highest elevation around - about 100'. I'm guessing that's pretty good for Florida. Thanks for the heads-up. I'll certainly pass along your information. (still looking for that bucket) cora

Floods happen - even at 100 feet . Trust me - been there - don't like it !!
Elevate the house !
We did not get flooded from a body of water - like a river , stream , canal or lake but just plain ol' rain running off too quickly to be absorbed !
4 inches predicted this week-end so it could happen again - you never know !

Well, I was chastised for not remembering construction details. The house will, indeed, be elevated, how could I have forgotten? (Because I didn't design it??) ;o) On the other hand, the design and construction is so advanced, even getting the plans approved is proving difficult. The stick and block engineers seem to be afraid of the methods. Will probably have to get someone just a couple of years out of school, who's not thinking is the past century. What an adventure!
cora

I would like to invite you over and and you could have your way with my yard LOL. I would really love to get rid of a lot of the lawn and have a really nice patio with bricks or some natural looking pavers , a few raised beds, a little pond too..hmm now you've got me dreaming LOL

First I would like to be 40 years younger, about 5 to 10 acres with a lake and someone to tell me how to get a botanical garden, like you Ricky! I can see it but I know it ain't gonna happen.

With only a couple of exceptions, I have made good choices, and I don't have any regrets. The biggest change I would make is a larger property. I have a half acre which isn't nearly enough to implement the grandiose plans I have in my head.

Wanda, you're talking my talk! 40 years younger would be fantastic! The arthritis wouldn't have started and my back and knees would still be working at full capacity! I've been promised a solar powered golf cart to get around our 7.5 acres. Sounds REAL good to me!

New knees, definitely need new knees!

I am kind of starting over. Not from scratch though because I am keeping my tropical plants. I'm having to move alot of them as I put in low stone walls, arbors, roses, etc. Putting in the walls is raising the beds which is great.

The one thing I'm missing is a bucket of money!! lol I'm buying stone pavers every 2 weeks on a budget...what a pain! When I can't buy pavers, I buy mulch. We put down 3 yards of mulch yesterday in the rain. At least it wasn't hot :)

Definitely the hardscape. I would already have a brick path that meanders around the house that would be the anchor for my plantings. More hose bibs on the back side of the house and an in-ground sprinkler system covering 20' out from each side of the house to water the flower beds. I would have also made the beds wider to start with and would not have to be extending them now.

Boy if we start thinking about our garden like that what's next, the DH? lol.

I did start over by moving here a year ago. Everything in life is a compromise and my yard is smaller than hoped for but it does have lots of sun. With no limits on money I'd add brick walkways, arbors and pergolas out the wazoo.

The St. Augustine grass would be removed professionally and bahia put in some places, dune sunflower completed where it's been started as a groundcover and the irrigation would be just right for all the plants.

A professional designer would appear like a genie without searching and they would like all the plants I do and know where to get them cheap, a crew would install them of course. They would design the garden of my dreams and the plants would be instantly mature and blooming but never get too big so as to need constant pruning.

In lieu of any of this materializing I'm off to the big box for bahia grass seed to fill in where pests have reduced my St. Aug to brown carpet.

Such is life for the middle-class and non-famous.

Denise

I wish I had a small stream snaking through part of my garden that would dump into my lake. Secondly, I would have put in a white sand beach in my lagoon area, where I have the boulders today. I would love to have a 30' bamboo tiki type tower (Like the one at Tropical Bamboo) in this area of my garden that one day will hopefully be surrounded by very tall trees, bamboo and palms. I would also love to do away with all of my grass which makes some parts of my garden look too formal. My ultimate dream would be to take my front yard and put up a tall hedge (keep the HOA out) in the front and make make my driveway enter from the opposite side and snake up to the house. I would then fill in the front area like my back with all kinds of palms and tropical flowering trees.

I would go away on a dream vacation and return to find everything just like pictures in my favorite magazine .

Although , I am expecting pigs and cows to fly first - of course .

Beth,
What a great question and you had some really great design ideas.

For me it isn't so much a question of starting over as it is implementing the designs I already have in my head. I've worked hard to have what I have now and the thing I love about gardening is that it is always a work in progress. What I would love to have with buckets of cash available would be lots more hardscape and a pergola and a large rock waterfall with a snaking creek following some of the curvy beds and another brick patio with built in outdoor fireplace and kitchen... and on and on the dreams go.

If it's something that can be dug up or planted I can handle that myself... and I'm pretty sure I'll just keep right on taking up sod and extending beds until that's all there is in my garden.
Meems

Oh my gosh, I started completely backwards, first putting in bulbs & annuals & NOW dealing with hardscapes & structure 20 years later, lol! I'd do just the opposite of what I did, starting with structures, paths, then trees & shrubs; working my way down to the perennials, bulbs, & sweet little plants.

Here is a link that might be useful: An Artist's Garden

I'd hire a bunch of guys, sit back, and give orders. Oh, I forgot to mention, I'd have a nice bottle of wine and some bon bons to go with the orders.

I did start from scratch 2 years ago. All I was missing was the buckets of cash.
I'd really like to live in zone 10 but it isn't happening.
I've had more land and it got to be too much work...like a ball and chain! Careful what you wish for.
I'm on 1/4 acre now and it keeps me from over extending myself.
Since my house is actually part of the picture...I'd paint the house another color and replace the wood siding with Hardie board (I think)something that wouldn't rot. The concrete driveway would GO and replaced with? I'm not sure. I've got and like flagstone paths so I'm thinking something along those lines.
I've got my shade house but I'd make it bigger.
I'd install a great big ole cistern under ground/with pump.
I want to do a raised succulent bed too.
A water feature would be nice but I don't know where I would put it...maybe a small one.
Yeah, the trouble with stating from scartch is those small trees. I have an immmature landscape and it is going to take some time so have that lush feeling I want.

Oh my where do I begin....
First I would have amended the soil in all my beds!

The I would have made my goldfish pond bigger....then I would have made the brick patio bigger....then I would have built the deck a little bigger....then I would have built the verandah bigger....are you getting the picture????
I have filled up all that I have now.
I broke my back putting down mulch, yes, mulch is heavy when you do it everyday for 2 weeks straight.
My hubby hates yard work so it is all up to me.
I need new back, new knees, new hubby, more plants!!!!

to get immediate shade, desperately needed on that side.

The bamboo I have is at least 25 feet tall and I bought it two summers ago and stuck it in my car, comfortably!

The other mistake I made was I added too much soil(raised bed) in the middle of the back yard and now all the water pools at the base of the house.

Luckily, it's fixable because the plants I put there have been moved to the front so I just need to dig up the soil and remove it, though I cannot fathom that type of hard labor on a day when the heat index is 105F!!!

What is up with these levels of heat?? this is crazy.

Really, shade, shade ,shade is what we desperately need and I put my beautiful, beloved magnolias on the sw corner of the house because I wanted to show them off in the front of the house, but bamboo is what I really needed there!

teeka

I would not plant Reullia. it's ground cancer, can't get rid of it and it grow into everything, the lawn, other plants, even from the very smallest piece of root. I'd also put a layer of weed block with mulch everywhere I don't have a plant to keep the weeds out, and try to stick to native plants.

scogebear
I agree with you about ruellia but here's something funny--I dug mine up and put it in pots not able to throw a living thing away. After about a month talked to my neighbor who took it and stuck it in some big rocks she piled up on her lot line. It looks pretty in her yard and is contained.

I'm still pulling baby ruellia (planted by the previous owner) from my garden.
It's popping up in the lawn too.

Denise

teeka, have you considered Paulownia trees for quick shade? I undrstand there are two types, a spreading type for great shade and a taller, straighter type often used as a lumber crop. Both beautiful, both very rapid growth. It's also called Royal Empress tree. Suggest you google it to find the best source. cora

The main thing to remember is to make the pitch (slope) of your patios, carports (anything concrete) MORE than the minimum required, with the grass, groundcover, mulch (whatever) recessed down from, AND sloped away from that concrete 'shelf'. With 2-3 inch-per-hour (or more) rainstorms, there will still be run-over from the gutters, and it will need to drain QUICKLY away from the house.
Make sure there adequate swales around the edges of your yard to slow and guide the water, and that you and any neighbors you may have don't mess them up. Also, if you plant trees that will become large (>35') make sure they will not interfere with good drainage. That is, as trees grow, they tend to form a large flare at the ground which usually humps up soil and possibly roots creating a barrier, preventing water flow, especially from back to front yards, in a narrow area. Prevention will save you thousands of dollars and hours of backbreaking labor...my neighbor did that this week...new sod was placed yesterday.

Boulders are a great idea, done well. Done poorly, they become a large blockade, are impossible to move and difficult to work with (not to mention eyesore and vision blocker)...get professional help for that.
There are many trees, like Paulownia which are invasive...the birds spread the seeds far and wide with a good dose of fertilizer. Florida privet or crepe myrtle would be better choices, but don't 'hat rack' them, just do enough pruning to give them some shape.

You can contact your local county extension office or the Florida Native Plant Society for more FREE help. For those of us who need more help, go down to your local "Labor Ready" (or similar) place and hang around outside until you find some one who speaks your language, and negotiate a few hours' labor with a couple of people who have enough experience to know what you are talking about...you will find all the help you need...make SURE you have a neighbor around when you do this, just in case, and don't pay more than minimum wage unless you feel they are worth it.

Really cool post Ricky,

My unfixable mistake? I would have shifted the pool just slightly so that it wasn't shaded for as long in the winter, giving us a longer pool season. I situated it where I thought it would look good from inside and outside the house and work with the foundation plants already there and the ones I wanted to plant.

I did not consider the 40-foot sapodilla tree shading the pool from October to April as a potential issue. Shifting the pool just a few feet caddy corner to the way it is now might not have looked as good, but I could have landscaped around that, and it would have added a month of pool time for us. Of course, with a bucketload of cash, I'd put a back porch on and put a solar pool heater on it, so this wouldn't be an issue.

That, and I would turn back time to convince someone 20 years ago not to plant mahoganies under the electric wires out front, because they're going to die pretty soon from the FPL hacking required to protect the lines. I've put in a gumbo limbo (from a trade at your place) that I hope will be ready to replace the most damaged mahogany before it dies, because I love a big spreading tree in a front yard. But I wish someone had put just one of those trees in the yard instead of the swale. Ten feet would have made a huge difference in the life of the trees, just because they would have only been hacked on the edges, not right through the center.

I have a friend (Amy, whom I brought to the last swap) who had a terrible problem with a bottle brush planted under lines, and I still see them recommended as trees that can go under lines because they don't get very big. Well... anything can get big sooner or later and her bottle brush was probably 20 years old and huge.

So I'm really aware of our lines and anything I might do that will cause some homeowner 30 years from now problems.

Oh, and I might have started querying gardenwebbers for advice earlier, but I've recovered from most of those early mistakes with y'all's help. :)
Susannah