Saying goodbye to Cynthia’s garden in Rwanda, Day 1

A duo of years ago ( February 2012 ) we visited Cynthia Goodson ’s garden in Rwanda ( HEREandHERE ) , and we all fell in lovemaking with it . At that time , she stressed that she could n’t take credit for the garden , since she ’d moved there just month before . Well , she can certainly take acknowledgment now ! She just commit in a slew of exposure of what she ’s been up to for the retiring two years , and it ’s spectacular ! She says,“We moved to this business firm in Kigali , Rwanda , in 2011 . It is a diplomatical abidance , so we use the bench and garden for receptions and other large events fairly often . Over the last almost three years , we have made a number of change to the garden , but the biggest were open up up the region in front of the terrace with grass and widening the planting beds along the larger lawn below . If you would like to bang more about the garden , which we are actually leaving quite soon , please take a look at my web log , enclos*ure , and snap on ‘ Our garden ’ under ‘ Categories ’ in the right - hand sidebar(or just clickHERE ) . These photos were taken between April and November 2014.“How can you digest to forget , Cynthia ? The garden is arresting , and obviously hold LOTS of inspiration and work . Thanks so much for hiving us an update ! * * * Cynthia sent in so many expectant picture that I could n’t whittle them down , so we ’ll spend two more Clarence Shepard Day Jr. in her garden , welcoming in 2015 ! Stay tuned … .

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Saying goodbye to Cynthia’s garden in Rwanda, Day 2

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This is our driveway. If you parked your car in the back, you would walk this way to get to the front terrace and the front door. The overhanging tree on the left is a white-blooming Plumeria sp. During the last year, we have planted palm trees on both sides of the semi-circular driveway. Otherwise, this area is mostly planted in yellow daylilies, small pink shrub roses, Salvia leucantha or Mexican sage, orange Lantana camera, and burgundy-leafed cannas. (August)

This is also along the driveway, looking to our acacia tree. There is a Ravenalas madagascariensis or traveler’s palm behind it. You may want to compare these two photos to those of this area in this blog in 2012. (June)

The planting beds in this area end in acute angles, so we finished them off with stone paving. (June)

Another view of the acacia tree, which now has orchids growing between its branches. (April)

Yellow-blooming orchids in the acacia tree. (November)

Turning to the left from the last photo, this is the entrance to the terrace and the house. Sadly, the crape myrtle on the left side has never thrived (powdery mildew), and I think I will take it out and move the small palm tree between the pots (in the center) to that spot.

The upper lawn in front of the terrace. When we arrived in 2011, there were 3’ – 4’ clipped hedges on either side of this space, with just a 3’ wide grass path down the center. The columns were covered with vines. The arrangement made the terrace feel claustrophobic and obscured the wonderful view. (July)

There are two retaining walls (3’-4’ high) between the upper lawn and the lower lawn, with a planting bed between them. In this picture, from the right: an orange-blooming tropical hibiscus, orange Kniphofia uvaria, blue Evolvulus ‘Blue Sapphire,’ Graptopelum in pots, and yellow daylilies. (August)

Turning around from the last photo – in the lower left corner: variegated ornamental ginger; and, in the middle: a large Croton bush (both growing in the middle planting bed between the two retaining walls. The grey-blue succulent is Kalanchoe, possibly “mother of millions,” K. daigremontiana. There is a very large red-flowering Mussaenda erythrophylla vine (aka “Ashanti blood”) growing up into the acacia tree. Its leaves and bracts look very much like a poinsettia. The acacia also had small white blooms in this photo. (April)