Thank you so much for the very kind words all. Landscaping/gardening was my 1st hobby and I still love the design side of it. I just can't move stone and dirt like I used to though. I'm glad I did all the heavy stuff when I was younger. I look at some of the boulders I moved by hand back then and cringe....I'm lucky i didn't seriously hurt myself.
I actually only started taking woodworking seriously a few years ago. I decided when I saw what they wanted for a garden gate (the moon gate in our garden) that for that kind of money i could buy the wood and the tools to make it and still save some cash. The chair was the 1st piece of fine furniture that i've made. I have thought of building for others but then think that the best way to ruin a hobby you love is to turn it into work. It's also amazing to see all the very talented woodworkers (much more talented than I) that are out there struggling to make a living.
I've considered starting a landscape design and construction company. But that will have to wait until i know what the docs say. Tough times to be doing that but I think I would enjoy that more as work than woodworking. I get a LOT of compliments on my yard even though I've done all the work on a very tight budget. We spent less than $1,200 building this complete garden 10 years ago. With a broader range of materials and a bigger budget it would be fun...especially with a crew to do all the heavy lifting. I've moved enough stone with my bare hands for one lifetime...
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Speaking of chairs and stone...this is the chair i put in the corner of the garden for my daughter. Cindy...this garden started as an idea of my daughter as a place to read.
It gets warmed in the sun and is actually very comfortable. She used to spend a lot of time reading there. She actually designed most of the garden....when she was 13. She was pretty specific...3 waterfalls, 2 ponds, moongate, firepit (we compromised on that with a purchased one since we already had a big one elsewhere in the yard.), scattered seating. The two of us spent probably 200 hours each building it over the course of about 5 months. She still comes home to help me clean and prune in it the spring and we'll find her out there studying sometimes when we come home even though she has left the nest.
A few more pics.
The moss garden in the bog area at the edge of the lower pond. The cherry tree is just starting to lose its blossoms in the pic. It looks like it snowed pink in there after a couple days.
Water lily...we have pink, white, yellow, and red. I had to thin them out shortly after this picture. They were covering too much of the pond....tough to feed the fish.
I really like the moss garden. Very easy to do. I have a lot of moss in my woods so any that doesn't do well gets replaced each spring. One of my favorite gardens to work in....like building in miniature. The bog also has carnivorous pitcher plants in it, ferns and iris that keep threatening to take over. Here's one of the iris. We also have purple ones.
The hummingbirds love the trumpet vines on the moon gate. Drives the cats crazy though.
Had a very funny encounter with a hummingbird last summer...actually AN related. Was having a particularly bad day, couldn't drive or work. Went outside and was watering the garden and a hummingbird flew down into the spray of the hose where it was splashing onto one of the flat stones we use for seats. For 5 minutes he splashed and fluttered his wings, did a little dance on top of that rock while i sprayed the hose on him. Made the day a little sunnier...
Last couple...my Mom found the plans to a bird feeder that my dad had made her 30 years ago and asked if I could make another. I made it so that she could easily fill it from the window and watch the birds as they feed. I like mixing raw woods and dimensioned lumber. This cedar has a chickadee carved from a branch stump. I usually carve straight from an existing feature in the wood. I have a large, 10' long x 14" dia. cedar log with lots of branch stumps that I'm thinking of making into a carving of climbing geckos....hey...maybe I could sell it to Geico....
