Beautiful gardens Ann. I look forward to seeing your new area develop. Please keep us posted on how it goes.

Oh, yes, they are beautiful. Thank you for showing us your garden..Loved it!!!

Thanks Margaret & Charleen. And Charley would be welcome to eat a few of my flowers any day!

Ann I love the gardens you have created, such a sense of peace and enjoyment without all that weeding, mowing and watering. I can't wait to see what you create at your new home. What an adventure it will be.

What beautiful gardens you have Ann - WOW

And I can't wait to watch you build and grow on your new property. Please post lots of pics.

You sweet doggie is a doll

Thank you for sharing your beautiful gardens with us.

Very nice tour, Ann. Enjoyed it!

You did such a great job with that first house. I love transformation photos.

You have an art for design, too, Ann. Ya done goood~.

I think I'll like your new place even better. It has room to stretch your eyes outwards as well as upwards (love those trees!)

Looking forward to seeing grow.

Shoe

Wonderful garden and so healthy!!! Thanks for sharing!

Beautiful gardens, Ann. I love all the colors and how there's always something blooming. Good luck on your next adventure in gardening. Please keep us posted. I'm going to mention this article to the Texas bunch. We like having you visit us too!

Thank you very much Lynn, Vic, Tee, Jo Ann & Carol. Vic, my doggie is a sweet but at times STUBBORN (terrier) doll.

Shoe, thanks ; but I'm not so great at interior design (gulp). But I don't like to spend as much time inside as I do outside. And you're right about the room to stretch the eyes outward as well as upwards. Elbow room! Deep, deep breathing room. And vistas. I can't get over the vistas. It's the right time in our lives for this property. When we first saw it; it wrapped itself around our souls like a warm, comforting patchwork quilt.

Bubbles, You are the sweetest thing. I like visiting the Texas bunch too. So much of the same things grow there as here.

Everyone, I will post photos even though the building process has not yet begun as we are still in the planning stages. I have begun a blog. Right now it's about discovering the wonders to be found on the property. And I will need all of y'alls help to ID some of the plants & trees. Won't you please visit me there?

http://garden.org/blogs/view/f...

See you in Blog County, ATP.

Shoe

Oh, gosh, Ann, that place is pert near perfect. And seeing it immediately took me back to being a child living on the Space Coast (a lonnnnnnnnggg time ago ). Didn't realize I had missed Florida so much. Thank you for letting us tour. Looking forward to see the progress on your new place.

Debra

Thank you Debra & I'm glad I could do a time rewind for ya.

Hope you'll stay tuned to my blog. I'm going to use it also as a feedback place for questions/opinions/experiences on different things related to the house. IE: gas fireplace - vented or unvented, expanding foam insulation questions/experiences etc...., etc..... there are a billion things DH & I will have to decide on. I will need you guys to give me some help & opinions.

You have done a LOT of work. Good job.
I know you will have lots of fun on your five acres. Very pretty place. I live in N. FL too. NW FL to be more precise. I look forward to seeing your pics as you build. Sounds fun.

Ann darlin I am in absolute AWE. What a wonderful and I might add Caring piece of heaven you have created. You deserve and Hats Off for all the work and creativity you put into it. The colors of the blooms along with all the greenery and the placement are just lovely. You are saving water and not adding poison to anything and the birds are loving you for it.

I have found that animals love mulch when it is hot as it cool from the soil beneath so that cute lil pooch has to love it. Cannot wait to see what you do with you new property and I love the big old trees with the moss hanging from the branches.

Thank you Pam & Stephanie!
As to the 5 acres.... those big old trees are going to stay --- every single one of them! We need to have some branches big as tree trunks cut off one of the largest Live Oaks for both the health of the tree as well as to expand the view. Those branches are literally dipping down to within a few inches of the ground & reach out about 45' from the tree trunk. I will do my darndest to turn the pasture grass into wildflower meadows. I won't be adding many other trees -- couple 3 Magnolias for no southern home is complete without a few. Plantings of flowers immediately around the house. The property is telling me what to do with it & it's saying not to domesticate it too much. Wild & natural is the way to go. Nature has set the tone & I couldn't possibly improve upon that which has already been determined.