Gardening on the Bayou

I have a great friend, Sally, who lives on the bayou in south Louisiana.  Sally and I taught together for many years. When I first met her, she and her husband, John, lived in Youngsville and spent their weekends at their camp in Catahoula.  They always said that when they retired, they would move to their camp to live there full time, and that is exactly where they've been now for several years. 

When I say that Sally lives on the bayou, I mean the Bayou Mercier is her back yard.  She says that if you shined a light off her back porch at night, you would see alligators' eyes reflected back at you. Across the street from her house is the Atchafalaya levee. Alligators aren't the only wildlife she enjoys.  Sally is visited every summer by her "yellow birds", prothonotary warblers. The term prothonotary refers to clerks in the Roman Catholic church whose robes were bright yellow.  Sally also has flocks of hummingbirds!  She has seven feeders and goes through ten pounds of sugar a week!!

But today we are here to enjoy Sally's unique style of decorating and gardening.  She has a flair for using items in unexpected ways.

Sally's inviting back porch with lazy rockers, a slow swing, and a cool fan. Everything you need for a peaceful afternoon.

Her flower beds hold canna lilies, coleus, roses, purple haze, hydrangea, and she says," anything that's on sale".  The plants are held in bounds by a wide brick walk that I'm sure Sally laid herself.

It can get hot down on the bayou, so Sally put in her own version of a pool.  It is a blue plastic cow trough.  John jetted it and they surrounded it with a low deck for sitting with your feet dangling in the cool water while you sip on a icy, cold beverage.  I should know, I've sat right there laughing at wild OBC tales.

 The pool is landscaped with more canas, hibiscus, day lilies, indigo, and ginger.  In the background is the sweetest little Cajun shed. Now it is really your run-of-the-mill storage shed, but Sally extended the roof and added posts to create a porch. Then she added rough wood shutters to create the illusion of windows hidden behind them.  It is the perfect Acadian backdrop to this side of her yard.

Hanging from a high branch is a fun chandelier made out of broken bird feeders, bottles, red crystals, and lights.  It lights up her whole backyard at night.

Out by the water's edge, you will find yellow and orange cannas and bouganvilla flanking the steps. 

 Sally has tomatoes growing in black buckets with stakes down by the water and although you can't see them there are antique tractor seats for sittin' and fishin'.

A statue of St. Francis  is nestled into a rock lined bed containing roses, cannas, four o'clocks, wandering jew, wildflowers, and "whatever's on sale".

A triplex birdhouse enjoys the shade of Sally's side yard.  Indigo and an invasive weed with yellow flowers fill out the beds.  Sally says she loves this "weed" and has it growing in several places in her yard.

An outdoor kitchen, a la Sally!!! What a great old stove and awesome sink stand. but the piece de resistance are those black iron skillets hanging there as pretty as a work of art! More unique ideas than you can shake a stick at!!!

Before we leave this wonderful garden on the bayou, let's take a minute to enjoy Sally's humming birds!

Love you, Sally, 

and

 thanks for sharing!!!!

Shelli

A true friend is one who thinks you are a good egg even if you are half-cracked.

 ~Author Unknown