The Daily Dig

I was hired to decorate the interior of a newly constructed modern home...so when the owner asked me to re-design the homes front garden, I was taken back a bit . I have decorated many homes before but I have never done a garden...besides my own. I thought this would be a great opportunity to design an outdoor space and was happy to give it a try. The owner, Mr. Peacock, was not satisfied with the original front garden. The gardeners chose white roses and boxwood for a formal hedge. I could see why the garden needed to be redone. The modernity of the house and the formality of the garden were fighting with each other. I asked Mr. Peacock what kind of plants he liked. He said he loves cactus and succulents. I told him that was exactly what I was thinking!

Before picture of the old garden planted with roses and boxwood

The bare root Barrel Cactus arrive!

I measured 2 feet apart. Once the cactus is in place there will be a 1 foot diameter around it.

I had always wanted to do a repetitive garden using cacti and symmetry, creating a grid-like pattern using the same plant. Would my client go for it? He did! He loved the idea. Mr. Peacock wanted the garden to start off looking mature...like it had been there for a while. I decided to use Barrel Cactus...130 of them. They grow about an inch a year and are perfect for Southern California.

The cactus are between 10-14 inches wide.

Yay! My first garden is finished :)

Close-up of the overlapping grid pattern

I am very happy with the end result. Thank you Mr. Peacock for entrusting me with your garden and my first gardening gig.