It is very much a work in progress still – but a recent vast improvement in the photo on Google Earth has enabled me to start working on a map of my gardens. The first map was a bit of a disaster, so in the meantime here are a few photos-with-overlays to give you an idea of how it all fits together.
Just right of centre at the very top, a bit of my neighbour’s dam (lake) can be seen. My boundaries form a wide arrow pointing towards it. An almost vertical line cuts down the left of the photo; my ground is to the right then and my cousin’s to the left. The grove of large trees on the very right are the Sequoias that gave the farm its name. Pine plantations grow behind the house and across the road, where the bulk of the productive farm lies. My cottage (The House that Jack Built) is near the centre to the right of the dam. The photo below gives more info.
The next three photos show the main garden area in more detail: in the second I’ve added the main axis lines and in the third defined the garden areas.
For those who are interested: the point 23deg53’59.61″S 29deg56’57.34″E lies just behind the big house, if you want to take a ‘live’ look at Sequoia Gardens and its surroundings. And there is a tourist map here which gives you our setting relative to the greater surroundings as well as our more immediate ones. We are just below left of the centre of the map, on the L road, below Cheerio Gardens; the word “trout” lies on my farm. My guess is that when the map is updated, it will no longer be necessary to describe where to find me: Sequoia Gardens will literally and figuratively be ON THE MAP!
February 20, 2010 at 8:53 pm
Fascinating, Jack. It will need more examination to appreciate all facets.
Google Earth is fun. Unfortunately the pic of my garden shows cows in the back pasture where none have been for several years, dating the picture rather badly. Trees are gone, new features added that are not shown. On the other hand, the feature where you can motor down the paved road shows lots of amazing detail.
March 5, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Hi Jean, and apologies for my two week delay! It seems that I’ve been worse than Blotanical when it comes to disappearing off cyberspace!
February 24, 2010 at 2:04 am
Bravo! This looks like a perfect way to start. Questions I have looking at these aerials include: Where is the huge trellis for the Wisteria? Where are the steps which lead down to the lake? Where is the enclosed rose garden, named after a relative I believe?
Then you can build up to having one of these views marked with numbered arrows which indicate where various included views are taken from. Already Jack’s garden seems more real to me from these shots. Nice!
My biggest surprise is that, from the air at least, the lake (never will get used to calling it a dam) looks so much smaller than the many photos looking out over it would seem to indicate. I’m not sure I’ve seen the lane of Sequoias. I imagine they must be very difficult to photograph owing to their size and the forested background.
March 5, 2010 at 3:04 pm
Hi, Mark, and here at last is a reply! The Wisteria trellis struck me too as being completely lost. If you go to the unmarked detail photo you can clearly see at 2 o’clock near the centre the double Rosemary hedges that lines the path from the trellis; with a little imagination you can make out the arc which defines the front of the trellis curving around the hedges.
Steps down to the lake? Are you referring to the very rustic ones under branches on which, at some stage, Doubly the Border Collie featured? They are immediately opposite my cottage, leading down at an angle from the road towards the top left ‘corner’ of my dam where the bridge crosses the overflow. The Rondel Garden, where Francois’ ashes are buried, is off shot to the right centre of the first photo. I think soon I most post on the Sequoia trees…
And yes – the map needs work and vantage points… and then I must figure how to keep map AND tourism details very visible at the top of any page… work, work, work!
March 5, 2010 at 3:34 pm
Thanks a lot. You have been busy. The aerial view sure does stitch together a lot of my mental images of your gardens.
February 25, 2010 at 6:56 am
How amazing, to see your gardens from above. Everything is so lush and green and looks huge!
March 5, 2010 at 3:06 pm
You can imagine how thrilled I was, Deborah, after years of agonising about how to do a map to discover the new Google Earth view!