If Brandon couldn't be a doctor, his next chosen profession would be landscape architect. The high point of downgrading from our new and spacious home in Phoenix to our old and cramped Philly row home was the backyard...a new palette for Brandon. Each of our Arizona homes had a backyard of hardened desert dirt, which he somehow managed to turn into an oasis, complete with water features and sculptures. Taming this backyard jungle was an entirely different brand of difficult! He battled poison ivy and poison sumac, not to mention weeds and vines that grew at alarming speeds (have you seen Jumanji?) The only way to get to the backyard is through the house, so he's wrestled enormous amounts of dirt, debris and foliage through the house.
It all payed off!
Thanks to Kay and Ann's prodding, we entered our backyard in the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's 2009 City Garden Contest. To Brandon's surprise and my delight, he won 1st place!
So, if you don't mind me indulging just a bit, here are some before and after pictures:
Before...
Spring of 2009
Fall...
13 comments:
That is awesome! If he wants another project (since I am sure he isn't busy), we are thinking of redoing our backyard.
Stunning! And he accomplished this during his residency?! I'm going to show this to some of the whiny med students in my ward. :)
Congrats!!! It's beautiful! Want to come do our yard? :)
Brandon, you are a jack of all trades. Very, very nice, and I'm so glad you entered that contest. Hope it was a nice monetary award to pay for all you put it into the yard.
Despite your doing all the work, please realize that Kay is claiming full credit for your win. Feel free to argue with her but I'm stearing clear.
Sadly, due to the economy they eliminated the cash prizes this year :(
Nice work! It looks awesome.
wow...Brandon is welcome to hack at our lawn anyday!!! I HATE....I repeat HATE gardening!!!
Congrats Brandon! Chaci, I found your blog because there was a link at the bottom of an email you sent me. Hope you don't mind me looking! It is really neat. Oh and Brandon - you are more than welcomed to jump the fence anytime and work on our yard :)
This is amazing, really. Not surprised at all you won. I just showed my mom these pics (I'm at her house right now), and she said, "I have a magazine with a pictures of a transformation like that!" So, if they didn't give you a cash prize in philly, maybe enter Martha Stewart or something.
I'm very impressed, looks so nice. I wish I had just a little bit of your talent. Congradulations.
Chaci,
May I tell you how incredibly rewarding it is to read about your life and to see the amazing things you two/four are accomplishing? I am so very "other mother" proud of you. Keep it up!
-Georgia
Beautiful....you definitely have the "gift." I'm thinking that healing and gardening have a lot more in common that what you see on the surface. Well done.
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