Home & Garden: Garden Discovery

Sometimes all it takes is a little trimming to find some amazing treasures in one’s own yard. When Celia Edmundson moved into her home on Longboat Key, at the end of August, she wasn’t sure how to go about cleaning up the landscape. It was overgrown; the pergola by the dock and the lampposts by the pool were faded; and the walkway to the entrance of the house had been flooded.

Edmundson enlisted the help of Rich Alexander, of Three Seasons, to clean and reuse materials to give the landscape a fresh look. Alexander and his team were thrilled by what they discovered — a magnificent ponytail palm (21 feet in circumference), bird of paradise, banana trees and a variety of other specimen palms and plants.

Alexander also reused pavers already on-site to create a whole new look in the front yard. The pergola was restained to bring it back to life, and the power-washed lampposts revealed bright turquoise.