Bubble-dom going pretty in green

I have quite a large garden in my Kingdom. Since moving in years ago, i have failed to do any kind of landscaping - partly coz of the cost and partly coz of being too involved in the business of ruling the Kingdom. About a year ago, i started to take an interest in plants...I thought they made the Kingdom look warm and alive - for as long as they lived. Which wasn't very long if the Royal Gardener was yours truly.

The local nusery is now my second home...I have to pick up new plants almost every fortnight to replace the ones that have gone to green heaven. It's really not my fault...let me explain the various ways a plant can go to Green Heaven:

1) Death by Thirst (this is when the King and I forget to water them over a couple of days)
2) Death by Pee (This is when the royal knights decide to empty their little bladders on the plants to help them grow big and strong - the plants usually die from too much goodness)
3) Death by Fertilizer (The myth is fertilizer is good for the plants - they should advertise that artifical fertilizers are much much much much stronger than the au naturel ones)
4) Death by Drowning (No one told me it was possible to drown a plant)
5) Death by Attendance - of a dog fight (The knights can't help it if they hurl themselves around in their fight for alpha male domination - the plants should know better than to stay potted there)
6) Death by Bugs (Ever seen an infestation? No? Come round for a cuppa - and i will show you the royal grounds...)

There...those are the most common death patterns of the plants around the royal grounds. But now i have a new project (i can hear my king groaning at this). That is to plant a border hedge just outside my bedroom so that i can wake up to beautiful ixora (yellow ones) every morning...of course provided they survive long enough to "grow up".

So it was with this project in mind that we went to purchase the little bush packs of yellow ixora (all from the local nusery of course - the queen must support local industry - and if i do say so myself - i do a grand job at the local nusery). We got 15 in all, carted them home, brought out the hoe and made myself a nice ice lemon tea to sit in the shade whilst my king worked on getting himself a blister on his soft royal hands. Have to say...he was kinda cute....sweating buckets and constantly looking at his little blister and breathing really hard. In the end all good shows must come to an end...so we managed to dig 7 holes. The good news is that some shows have sequels and my fun will begin once the weekend starts again - he has another eight holes to do.

If i viewed my life as a garden then i would have planted many plants (attempted many things) some lived and flourished whilst other passed on (sometimes i succeed and other times i dun), and i keep going back to the nusery for more (i try try and try again).

To date i have about 9 fir trees (the kinds that scare the ghoulies away), 15 yellow ixoras and counting, 8 Orchids, 3 Jasmines, 2 good luck plants (they are flourishing - i take it as a good sign), 1 cutting from an unknown shrub (also flourishing), 1 wild grass flower, 5 roses, 2 Elegant plants, 1 money plant (also fourishing), 2 baby ferns, 1 giant fern, 3 bonsai, and possibly 9 snake plants (fingers crossed) and finally a herb garden consisting of coriander, chili, chili padi, daun limou perut, mint plus a couple of others. I have consulted a landscaper and i am planning to have frangipani trees and more jasmines in the main part of the garden. I'm also planning to go round my estate to get bougainvilla cuttings...so i have to say my garden and life is looking good.