The Entryway

So, I promised a friend back home that I would post a photo of the entryway to my house. She wanted to see a photo because I am always telling her how the frogs, toads, lizards, and geckos hang out there amongst the plants and I have to be careful not to step on them when I open the door! She says it sounds like I live in a terrarium, and well, I guess it sorta does look that way:



Here is what it looked like before (this picture may be kinda dark, but it was the only pre-plant photo I had):



And here is the same shot today:



This area is pretty much entirely comprised of deep shade (it gets maybe 2 hours of sunlight on the interior path and maybe a few minutes of sun right by the doorway). I didn't know what I wanted to do with it, but I knew I didn't want to look at the ugly dirt strip and big flat brick wall next to the pathway.

The solution? Start by removing the crap landscapers red-death filler soil in the dirt strip and fill it back up with a high quality soil and top it off with some nice river rocks. Then, with the Home-Depot gift card I received that Christmas, purchase a nifty Lion fountain and put it in the center of the brick wall to give some height to the area.




Next, I purchased some Philodendrons and stuck them on either side of the fountain. I also potted up a Japanese Aralia for the deep shade by the door and an Abutilon a little further out where the sun shines for like an hour or so.





Finally, I bought some boston ferns and hung them above the fountain. I tucked in some bougainvilla in the sunny outer corners and potted up a meyer lemon and put that out at the edge of the path in the front where the sun bakes and bakes it.



And Wha-la! I live in a terrarium ;)