Little Bits 1.2

Our yard in Jakarta is great, and intentionally so.  Even though we no longer have a boisterous boy galloping around the premises, we still have a happy dog who likes to roll in the grass, smell the flowers (or putrid things) and sunbathe- so we all appreciate the large grassy areas in both the front and back of our house, especially because that is very often not the case here.  

This very large, very crowded capital city has no space for graceful lawns and few of our friends have any yard at all, or if they do it's only a small patch in the back or front.   

Because of our clever landlord, this house manages a good sized pool without swallowing all the greenery, and our house itself is set back from the street far enough to give us a lot of space up front to breathe.  

Back yard facing east.

Back yard facing west.

Back yard facing south-ish.

We don't have a million different flowers like we had in Africa- due mostly, I think, to the difference between our Lebanese landlord there and our current Chinese landlord.  





















Jimmy (our current terrific landlord) left the Mast trees (which we have always loved because they look like undeployed umbrellas) and the 30 foot avocado tree





when he demolished the original house to build the one we have now, and then he loaded up the yard with every kind of palm from Sago to Queens.  

Front yard facing east.

The main decorative flora in the yard are our Heliconias.  This morning, our gardener was trimming the yard and I snatched up a bunch of them for an arrangement.  I'm no florist, and I had to choose from the stuff he cut down, so it's not ready for prime time, but I like it...

There's two different kinds of Heliconia there- they are tropical plants, so almost everyone this close to the equator has them in abundance, but it's the first time I've had a yard full of them and they are very much a part of the visual landscape here in Jakarta.  



And finally, as long as I'm posting about the yard, here is a shot of a wooden statue we bought on our first trip to Bali.  We planted it in the yard at the edge of the pool to watch over us while we swim.