At The Office

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 For 25 years , I have been schlepping to work in a building with a typical corporate landcape of tortured meatball Berberis, scalped  Trachelospermum, thrip-ridden Rhaphiolepis and the requisite Agapanthus snail motels. All surrounded of course by a wide swath of water -guzzleing lawn. A few years ago I began to complain (incessantly I might add) about how dreadful the landscaping looked, particularly in view of the fact that one of the companies' divisions has a full service garden center , with a couple of staff members who possess some pretty respectable design sensibilities. I am happy to report that finally last summer the tired old plantings were given the heave ho, replaced by this:








 



These Huecheras need to go..this bed faces due west and as you can see they are burning..the only failure in the whole scheme though



NOT Stella d'Oro --victory !



 
 The mow and blow guys who come to maintain the one small patch of remaining lawn on the other side of the building have very little here to keep them occupied. The whole border is on drip irrigation and most of the plants are xeric.

 I am lobbying a couple of plant-people employees to join me in a fall work party to plant 1000 tulips. This is one of the busiest streets in our city, maybe other businesses will copy us ..I mean Buffalo Garden Walk had to start somewhere right ?  

Comments

  1. AlisonAugust 3, 2013 at 6:27 PM

    I love this! It's so good to see such a gorgeous drought-tolerant planting. Loved your description of the previous landscaping.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ksAugust 12, 2013 at 8:31 PM

      I sure hope we might be trend-setters on this busy street Alison. Maybe I'll do a post on the crappy plantings around the corner.

      Delete
  2. Kris PetersonAugust 3, 2013 at 7:49 PM

    Congratulations! Persistence pays.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ksAugust 12, 2013 at 8:32 PM

      ...and like minded business colleagues help too !

      Delete
  3. DeniseAugust 5, 2013 at 5:23 PM

    Who knew you were such a rabble-rouser?! Watch out, Bellevue Botanical Garden!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ksAugust 12, 2013 at 8:34 PM

      I can rabble-rouse with the best of them when it comes to plants Denise.

      Delete
  4. Jim/ArtofGardening.orgAugust 7, 2013 at 6:28 PM

    And Garden Walk Buffalo started with a handfill of volunteers and 29 gardens. Now its dozens of volunteers and nearly 400 gardens. If we can do that, you can find some volunteers for planting bulbs!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ksAugust 12, 2013 at 8:28 PM

      Garden Walk Buffalo was an inspiration to me Jim, not to mention the fantastic architecture !

      Delete
  5. LesAugust 16, 2013 at 4:14 PM

    Thank you for nagging your employers. I am sure it is a vast improvement and hopefully your efforts will catch on with neighboring businesses.

    ReplyDelete

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