Woody, this garden is extremely compact compared to your own, the overall dimensions of the back yard portion of this garden on two levels is 40 feet across by 15 foot deep at the upper level above the house, and another 10 foot deep adjacent the rear of the house where the patio/arbor with hanging baskets are. This being California, and my clients working 10 to 12 hour days, everything is on automatic irrigation, with the pots on their own individual valve. The design is exactly as you've expressed; carving out just enough space for a raised terrace for seating/dining/viewing at the upper level, limited pathways for access, and packed to the gills with plants. Plants were chosen that would keep their relative height relationships over time, and layered to give depth without the need for perpetual thinning/pruning to keep it visually coherent. Kim, thanks for linking to those IPS field trip photos to Sitio Burle Marx! I assume too much I guess when I think that anyone interested in landscape design would have at least passing familiarity with one of the most well known landscape designers of the 20th Century. Roberto Burle Marx was perhaps the most designer most responsible for modernism and a painterly approach to planting design, and is considered a true innovator amongst landscape architects and city planners. I think his influence was more seminal than the American Thomas Church, who worked with similar themes with a more temperate plant palette. Burle Marx was part of a team that helped remake the face of the waterfront along Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro, and the southern beaches of Leme, Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon. Anyone who knows the history of this urban redesign also knows that he wasn't singly responsible, but his name is the one that gets all the credit these days. I enjoyed the trip down memory lane revisiting Sitio Burle Marx, as I had the luxury of spending a Sunday afternoon back in 1980 at one of Roberto's weekly Feijoada sit downs, as well as an accompanied tour of the gardens, a tour of his art studio and current paintings, and hearing him belt out a few arias while he accompanied himself on the piano. I'd agree with Kim that the pool area behind the house with that reclaimed architectural ruins wall planted to bromeliads was one of the most stunning pieces of the garden. I think we all owe a huge debt to Roberto for pointing landscape design in new directions that were/are both more visually related to modern art, plant oriented, and cognizant of using plants ideally suited to their intended use. Burle Marx was a master at using plants in mass for color and contrast at a distance, as well as giving them prominence to appreciate their features up close. I think his mastery of planting design came from his love of plants, and regular trips across the vast territory of Brazil to appreciate how they grew in habitat. Kim, it must be exciting to have two completely different gardens to be working with at the same time, and I've enjoyed seeing your initial planting layouts at the Hawaii garden. Working with bromeliads in particular is always liberating for me, as they are so easily moved, split, divided and replanted. All those Aechmea blanchetiana's in particular are a species that I would love to design around, but they just don't like a SF Bay Area winter...

Those pumpkin candies look scrumptious! We get something similar to the first one in packets here, but they're dried and have that dried fruit texture. The cut one looks much more delicious inside. I have always thought "chocolate fountains" were unattractive. That stuff makes it worse. What is it? There are a couple of tropical candies we don't see anymore which are also wonderful; dried guava and candied jamaica. I have plenty of dried jamaica which I could just make up into candy, but I never bother. (I don't actually eat candy, most of the time, and my cousin who also adores it, lives too far away.) I hope you'll make the pumpkin candy and show us pictures! (Vicarious thrills and all...)

Here is a statement from one of the other swimmers involved: http://www.georgiadogs.com/sports/c-swim/spec-rel/081916aac.html Aug. 19, 2016 Statement by University of Georgia Swimmer Gunnar Bentz "I want to offer a sincere apology to the United States Olympic Committee, USA Swimming, the extraordinary women and men of Team USA, and the University of Georgia. Being a member of the Olympic Swimming Team was an honor and a dream come true. The accomplishments of my teammates were awe-inspiring and I'm so pleased I got to see them up close. I regret this situation has drawn attention away from the Olympics, which have been hosted so incredibly well by Brazil and its citizens. "While I am anxious to put this matter behind me and rejoin my Georgia teammates in classes, practices and competitions, I feel compelled to stress several key points. 1. I was never a suspect in the case from the beginning (Brazilian law enforcement officials saw me only as a witness). 2. I never made a false statement to anyone at any time. "I also want to be forthright about the details of what transpired last Sunday. What follows is consistent with the account I gave to the Brazilian authorities when I was interviewed for the first and only time on Thursday in Rio de Janeiro: "After attending an event with several swimmers from different nations, I left in a taxicab along with U.S. swimmers Jack Conger, Jimmy Feigen and Ryan Lochte around 6 a.m. On the way back to the Olympic Village, we pulled into a convenience store to use the restroom. There was no restroom inside, so we foolishly relieved ourselves on the backside of the building behind some bushes. There was a locked door out back and I did not witness anyone breaking it open. I am unsure why, but while we were in that area, Ryan pulled to the ground a framed metal advertisement that was loosely anchored to the brick wall. I then suggested to everyone that we needed to leave the area and we returned to the taxi. "Two men, whom I believe to have been security guards, then instructed us to exit the vehicle. No guns were drawn during this exchange, but we did see a gun tucked into one of the guard's waistband. As Jimmy and Jack were walking away from the vehicle, the first security guard held up a badge to me and drew his handgun. I yelled to them to come back toward us and they complied. Then the second guard drew his weapon and both guards pointed their guns at us and yelled at us to sit on a nearby sidewalk. "Again, I cannot speak to his actions, but Ryan stood up and began to yell at the guards. After Jack and I both tugged at him in an attempt to get him to sit back down, Ryan and the security guards had a heated verbal exchange, but no physical contact was made. "A man that I believe to be a customer approached us and offered to help as he spoke both English and Portuguese. Understandably, we were frightened and confused during this time. Through the interpreter, one of the guards said that we needed to pay them in order to leave. I gave them what I had in my wallet, which was a $20 bill, and Jimmy gave them 100 Reals, which is about $50 in total. They lowered the guns and I used hand gestures to ask if it was okay to leave and they said yes. We walked about a block down the street and hailed another taxi to return to the Village. "Videos of this situation have been emerging the last several days. However, I am confident that some video angles have not been shown that would further substantiate my account. I also believe some scenes have been skipped over. Additionally, I would like to stress that our original taxi was not pulled over; the only occupants of the taxi were the four of us and the driver; and to my knowledge, there was no damage done to the door or the inside of the restroom. "I am so thankful for the love and support of my family, my friends and my teammates during this time. Without question, I am taking away a valuable life lesson from this situation. In everything I do, I am representing my family, my country and my school. I will not take that responsibility lightly." -- Gunnar Bentz, Aug. 19, 2016 SWIMMING & DIVING HOME

I remember she left them in her windowsill outside, in the front part of the house with only morning sun, under the shadow of a tropical almond tree (they have the ability to make environment a few degrees colder) we had in our house. She would cut the old leaves and I fertilize them sometimes with organic fertilizer. That's all I remember. But now I live in the 9th floor of an apartment so I can't have a tropical almond tree :(. That's a tropical almond tree in my street, they are like natural AC that's why they are very common here in Rio. Thinking back gramma was very smart, maybe her violets thrive because of the tree.