Tidy garden, happy person

I knocked myself out this weekend to get the grass mown after the mower had been out of action for over a week. Apparently it had water in the carbie - I need to ensure the mower is stored under cover. Also, they (Griffiths Mowers - good crowd of guys there) suggested I use a plastic storage container for the fuel, rather than a metal one, as the metal 'sweats' they say. I would have thought the other way round (the plastic sweats), but there you are.

So, I got a little more fuel and will dispense with the tin container shortly. At least the grass was mown and I put in about 3 hours this morning pulling weeds along the edges - oh, for a whipper snipper. It's first on my ;garden-buys' list. It will save me so much time, and I expect it to bring me much satisfaction in terms of quick and 'easy' (relative to pulling by hand) weeding. I plan to get one from Griffiths Mowers as their sales and service is fab.

Finished product - we need some rain to green up that grass.

Yes, I hate the power poles. And yes that's correct - there are weeds over the driveway pavers. Weed sprays have not worked. As the pavers will be all dug up soon, it doesn't really bother me, although I'm going to try the 'boiling water' approach soon to see if that gets rid of some of them (and make the pavers easier to get out).

And what to put in the big brown pots (which need a concrete base first, to support their weight)? Bird of paradise is pleasant but can look so messy. 

Frangi's maybe? 

Or how about ficus benjamina which can be shaped into, well, shapes? See below.