If you had $50K to spend on your garden

[Alicehunter2000]

Say you had 50K that you must spend on your yard/garden what would do?

For example I would:

Build a 10 ft. concrete block and stucco fence around all 200 linear feet of my yard with nice gates and low voltage lighting on each of the pillars.

Put in a nice drip irrigation system and put paver pathways throughout the garden.

Put in extensive low voltage landscape lighting.

Build a huge waterfall feature using native holey limerock.

Would buy really nice looking pots.

Any money left would be spent on plants.

[_Keith]

Forget about it, and use it to pay down my home loan. Sad, but true.

[Ben in Norcal]

Bigger koi pond. My 3,000 gallon pond is nice, but I'd love a real monster.

[Palmdude]

A tall waterfall or two dripping with plants and gushing water into the pool

The largest Victorian style glass greenhouse that 50k could buy with, say 40 foot tall ceilings. It would be spectacular in a hurricane!

Several nice sized Copernicia fallaensis, some large blue cycas encephalartos and the lot next door even though the lady who owns it is mean and evil and wants too much money for it!

Edited July 24, 2014 by Palmdude

[Alicehunter2000]

Forget about it, and use it to pay down my home loan. Sad, but true.

Not an option for this scenario Keith.....you don't get the money unless you spend it on the garden. Where would you spend it in your garden?

I like the idea of purchasing the lot next door....hadn't thought of that one....more land.

Something else I thought of for my garden would be an automated clear retractable cover for the courtyard pool area....that would be cool.

[DoomsDave]

I'd get me whatever I could on the east side of the Big Island.

[Walter John]

Firstly, a decent size Wooden gazebo right down the back centre, a short boardwalk through the back bush area, some stoned pathways, and the rest on palms. 50k ain't enough really, can we up this fantasy spend to 75k ?

[trioderob]

I would buy one huge Copernicia - the biggest one in the western united states

[MattyB]

Say you had 50K that you must spend on your yard/garden what would do?

For example I would:

Build a 10 ft. concrete block and stucco fence around all 200 linear feet of my yard with nice gates and low voltage lighting on each of the pillars.

Put in a nice drip irrigation system and put paver pathways throughout the garden.

Put in extensive low voltage landscape lighting.

Build a huge waterfall feature using native holey limerock.

Would buy really nice looking pots.

Any money left would be spent on plants.

Apparently 50K goes a lot farther in Florida than California.

[Jim in Los Altos]

Say you had 50K that you must spend on your yard/garden what would do?

For example I would:

Build a 10 ft. concrete block and stucco fence around all 200 linear feet of my yard with nice gates and low voltage lighting on each of the pillars.

Put in a nice drip irrigation system and put paver pathways throughout the garden.

Put in extensive low voltage landscape lighting.

Build a huge waterfall feature using native holey limerock.

Would buy really nice looking pots.

Any money left would be spent on plants.

Apparently 50K goes a lot farther in Florida than California.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Maybe we'd get the waterfall, low voltage lighting, drip irrigation, and plants for 50 big ones.

[Sabal Steve]

Say you had 50K that you must spend on your yard/garden what would do?

For example I would:

Build a 10 ft. concrete block and stucco fence around all 200 linear feet of my yard with nice gates and low voltage lighting on each of the pillars.

Put in a nice drip irrigation system and put paver pathways throughout the garden.

Put in extensive low voltage landscape lighting.

Build a huge waterfall feature using native holey limerock.

Would buy really nice looking pots.

Any money left would be spent on plants.

I would largely follow that plan, minus the pots and the waterfall.

[Pando]

Low voltage lighting can be had pretty reasonably. I think I spent something like $350 and got 25 spotlights, MR16 LED bulbs, wire, and a transformer from Amazon. The place is lit up every night until 11pm and only uses $3/month of electricity.

For 50k I would redo some hardscape to put in flagstone and stamped concrete, new gates and fence, and buy some bigger palm tree specimens.

[wimmie]

Low voltage lighting can be had pretty reasonably. I think I spent something like $350 and got 25 spotlights, MR16 LED bulbs, wire, and a transformer from Amazon. The place is lit up every night until 11pm and only uses $3/month of electricity.

For 50k I would redo some hardscape to put in flagstone and stamped concrete, new gates and fence, and buy some bigger palm tree specimens.

I would use the money to move to the Italian Riviera or Madeira! All my palms, Cycads and Citrustrees in the ground! Boy, dreaming can be so nice

Wim.

[Tyrone]

A huge Kew Gardens style Palm house, with a geothermal vent so I can grow every tropical thing I want.

[Xerarch]

A huge greenhouse

[Jeff Searle]

I have a nice pond in the front yard that sorely needs a killer waterfall on the back side. Also Andrea has always wanted a Bali style structure built in the back yard. Something that would be open on two or three sides, with very comfortable seating. And a bar built in to serve cold refreshing drinks. Probably with no money left over, landscape lighting would be third on the list.

[redant]

I don't know of anything that 50k would make my yard better then it is now. I have thought of a Tiki hut by the river but I know it would seldom get used. I hardly have any more room for plants and I have done all the low voltage lighting myself. I don't like or want a CBS wall so I guess my 50k goes to charity.

[Capnrey]

We just spent 35K + on our yard, *pool remodel* and still have 15K to go! Not to mention all the understory palms I still have to buy and plant! It's a very small yard in a somewhat urban setting- the pool (only 13K gal) takes up most of it. It was a long overdue remodel. We splurged on LED pool lights - 3 of them, and have drip irrigation, LED landscape lights, a corner mini pool water feature and of course . .rare palms planted along the poolside.

[NorthFlpalmguy]

I would install a new pathway in my back yard and possibly buy a few bigger phoenix sylvestris. The landscape lighting sounds cool also.

[Kim]

Oh, fantasy garden design! I love it!

In the real world, acquisition of the empty acre next to mine is something I'm exploring, but that would consume less than half the $50k. Actually, I'd use whatever is left to fix up my San Diego kitchen and buy lots of plane tickets to Hawaii.

But this is fantasy! So... definitely the acre next door, and then hire Doyle to use his backhoe to carve out some pathways into the forest. Get a few loads of cinder and big rocks delivered to formalize the paths. A succession of trips to Floribunda, and at that point I'm a little over halfway through the cash... Oh! Add a new lanai to the Moku house and add glass sliding doors for access; that will easily eat up the rest, if not more. Yup, this is definitely fantasy.

[Cocoa Beach Jason]

In the real world I would put that toward my $180,000 student loan debt. But in your hypothetical:

Build an awesome tiki bar or tin roof patio with bar and humble outdoor kitchen area. Add nice pavers to extend out to my coconut palms and place a fire pit relatively near them to hang out around them as much as possible and to also give them some ambient heat during freak cold snaps. In addition, I would try to get some big boy chambeyronias and call up Ken Johnson and see what big specimens I could have placed in my climate.

I would also install some gas powered tiki torches around the property and add in sone low voltage spotlights and path lights. Also, depending on if I have about $8k-$10k left I would put in a small in ground jacuzzi.

Yes Cali guys, $50,000 could probably get you this in my part of coastal central florida. In S. FL, not so much.

Edited July 24, 2014 by Cocoa Beach Jason

[Moose]

Forget about it, and use it to pay down my home loan. Sad, but true.

Not an option for this scenario Keith.....you don't get the money unless you spend it on the garden. Where would you spend it in your garden?

I like the idea of purchasing the lot next door....hadn't thought of that one....more land.

Something else I thought of for my garden would be an automated clear retractable cover for the courtyard pool area....that would be cool.

Is acquiring more land an option ? Keith paying down on the land he already acquired is not. The ying and the yang are not in harmony ...

[dalmatiansoap]

Wow 50000$! About 1000$ in plants and 49000$ for zoom onto next biennial.

Oups, that would be a bit less, I would have to pay IPS membership first.

[Justin]

Oh, fantasy garden design! I love it!

In the real world, acquisition of the empty acre next to mine is something I'm exploring, but that would consume less than half the $50k. Actually, I'd use whatever is left to fix up my San Diego kitchen and buy lots of plane tickets to Hawaii.

But this is fantasy! So... definitely the acre next door, and then hire Doyle to use his backhoe to carve out some pathways into the forest. Get a few loads of cinder and big rocks delivered to formalize the paths. A succession of trips to Floribunda, and at that point I'm a little over halfway through the cash... Oh! Add a new lanai to the Moku house and add glass sliding doors for access; that will easily eat up the rest, if not more. Yup, this is definitely fantasy.

Sounds very similar. I'd buy the third acre, clear some paths like i did for the second acre, and then plant a bunch of stuff along the paths, including a bunch of bamboo next to Marvin's lot to block the noise. That would probably run $30k or so. With the remaining $20k, I'd maybe splurge for some of the big stuff that's going to crap at Palms of Paradise, or spend $20k to have someone come every 2 days to kill mosquitoes.

[_Keith]

Add bulkhead along the bayou and back fill. Will add 3200 sq ft to garden. Probably plants in Livistona species. Cost $33000

Cement driveway all the way to the road (400 ft), walkways and turn around, with side beds, probably planted in Mules, Livi, sp. and W. filibusta, Cost $30,000

Ain't hard to bust the budget on 3 acres.

[NikauNZ]

I'd recreate a NZ coastal native bush walk through my back yard with a lush stand of Nikau, Rata, Beech and Rimu trees leading to a golden sandy beach.....hang on a minute! that is my back yard! Awesome....there's also glow worms for low voltage lighting.

Perhaps I'd use the 50k for a top of the range Pizza Oven instead.

[Tyrone]

I'd recreate a NZ coastal native bush walk through my back yard with a lush stand of Nikau, Rata, Beech and Rimu trees leading to a golden sandy beach.....hang on a minute! that is my back yard! Awesome....there's also glow worms for low voltage lighting.

Perhaps I'd use the 50k for a top of the range Pizza Oven instead.

I like the sound of your backyard.

[NikauNZ]

Yeah Mate, The Family Bach (little holiday hut) is one of those hidden secrets of Golden Bay. Tucked away in the bush on the edge of the Able Tasman NP.

We lost a big chunk of the bush, up the hill, a couple of years back, after days of rain, a blocked creek blew out and caused a hell of a mess. We only lost one of the palms down in the gully. All good now but!

[Gary]

apparently no real cycad addicts answered as my cycad collection has cost me more than that but spread over a number of years-I don't need the nikaus as some many natural grown ones in my area but I have added many other forms over the years

[KennyRE317]

pavers, low voltage, and drip irrigation are 3 things that are cheap and fairly easy to do on your own.

[JT in Japan]

Well, for me the spending has started, since I bought a new weekend place in March. On the one hand, $50K won't get me that empty lot behind me that could readily become my backyard; empty lots around here start at $100K. On the other hand, I'm doing my front yard, and what with creating the beds, buying the small-ish palms, putting it all in, setting up the irrigation, getting in mulch,... all this shouldn't cost me more than $4K. Now, if I went for mature trees, three of the 3M Howeia belmoreana I hunger for would cost me $12K, then another triple of 3M trachycarpus fortunei would cost another $3K, then a row of 5 Livistona Chinensis, $5K. then $3K worth of understory. Then redoing the hardscape, $10K for machinery to move around boulders. Then I guess I'd spend the remaining $17K on scotch and cigars... because, well, it's time to enjoy the garden.

[_Keith]

Told me wife about this thread, and then $50k. She busted out laughing.

[aussiearoids]

Put on power down the back and whack in a Donga .

[PalmnutVN]

1x Lodoicea maldivica..... done......

[waykoolplantz]

I already spent $30000 replacing the screen enclosure around my pool..50x40x22 feet high. Have plans to replace the overhang inside with a real roof with a deck...Overlooking the plantings inside...make an access point into the second story of the house...add a circular staircase inside the screen enclosure.

My lighting needs updating too. Have often thought of a Tarzan style waterfall with a hidden room behind but have yet to see a residential waterfall thet doesn't look contrived

[Alicehunter2000]

Wow! 30K for a screen room? .... it cost me 7K to do a approximately 40 x 40 x 20 high screened enclosure with super gutter. There must be more involved.

I hear you on the contrived waterfall....people don't seem to know how to make them look realistic. I might just go for a stucco wall contemporary type Moroccan/Mediterranean waterfall with some limestone boulders for accents.....might not look as contrived.

[Cindy Adair]

I would buy the beautiful land behind the vacation house next to mine. I would also buy several acres of the pasture land on the other side. I would then build a secure fence around everything to cow proof my farm! I would likely still have money left over for hiring help to clear paths.

[avanza]

don't forget copernicia fallaensis

[Palmdude]

Whack in a donga? Sounds like something that's free

[Ken Johnson]

Forget about it, and use it to pay down my home loan. Sad, but true.

Well that is where your garden sits so it goes to the garden loan just the same.

I like the way folks are thinking. The "hardscape" parts seem to be the ones we want to improve but a few new plants are always welcome!

Lights and electrical wiring would be on my list too.