A little more progress...

In the last month I have been getting a lesson in patience. My patience isn't a strong point when I'm paying for a service and have a deadline (read: end of fixed price period) hanging over my head. I was very happy to hear from our CLO today who has arranged for us to sign our final contracts next week. A colleague at work started at the same time as us but is building with a master builder... They are nearly at lock up and I'm a bit jealous! It only took them a couple of weeks to clear council so we are praying we have the same good luck!

This week we have been playing around with landscaping software (Garden Designer available on the App Store) and trying to envision what our garden and landscaping might look like. We really have no idea about the layout but do know what sort of plants we would like. Last year we visited Kauai and had the privilege of staying at the Grand Hyatt Resort in Poipu. It had the most magnificent tropical gardens, full of colour and lush green palms. Here is a photo we took whilst there -

We are planning of using similar tropical plants which are suited to the Australian climate. Neither of us have done much gardening and I have been known to kill the sturdiest of plants, so I suppose we have some learning to do. Luckily my dad ran a nursery selling palms and tropical plants as a hobby while I was growing up and has lots of knowledge to share. Here are some of our favorites so far:

Hibiscus flowers are beautiful and come in so many lovely colours. I love the white hibiscus which are a Kauai native because they are one of the few varieties with a fragrance. I doubt it would grow well here in Australia though.

Bougainvillea is another pretty one that we could use a climber.

I've read that cannas are hardy and flower for long periods of time, not to mention all of the bright colours they come in.

This is shell ginger, I spent days snapping photos of it before I realized what it was. There are lots of great unusual flowers that come from ornamental gingers. 

Finally the bird of paradise, an old favorite. 

So it appears we have lots of flowers! I would love to try growing a lychee tree, they are my absolute favourite fruit. I'm sure the fruit bats would have similar feelings, and that's the last thing we need!