Why a bold garden?

So what triggered me to start a gardening blog? I have long been fascinated with lush, tropical gardens and the layers upon layers of bold texture, color, and foliage you find within them. Chalk it up to a childhood in Florida. When I became a homeowner 10 years ago, I had dreams of converting my backyard into such an oasis.

Then reality set in. I was just one person. How could I single-handedly transform my standard suburban yard into such a paradise?

I just finished reading an advance copy of "Exotic Planting for Adventurous Gardeners" by the late Christopher Lloyd and friends. The book will be released in December 2007 by Timber Press. Lloyd is well known in the gardening world for ripping out the roses at his mother's English country estate and installing in their place what has come to be known as the exotic garden. This same look is what I crave in my own yard, and I'm finally feeling the bug to take a whack at it again.

So, I figured why not document my own yard's transition from blah to bold using the medium that's known for pushing the limits--the Internet. Who knows--maybe there are others of you out there who are attempting the same!

The title for the blog is taken from a quote in the book. Mary Keen wrote:

"When Christo sacked his mother's roses years ago and replaced them with bananas and other weird and un-English plants, I loved it. It made me laugh out loud to see the dahlias bouncing about with the cannas and bananas."