Penny Carnathan

Penny’s a Nurture And Hold (NAH): Nah, I won’t pull that out yet, it’s still got a green shoot. She likes dragonflies, lady bugs and new stuff only after weeding, pruning and fertilizing.

Kim Franke-Folstad

Kim’s a Want It Now (WIN): Everything pretty, everything now. She will resort to full-spectrum insecticides in desperate situations, and believes it’s her duty and right to buy new plants every weekend.

Both advocate Plant Choice (SOMEthing besides crotons. Please!), lots of color and low maintenance. We don’t agree on everything, but we’re smart enough to learn from each other - and from you.

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Yard Crashers-Tampa: In which Ahmed Hassan says ‘Hi Penny!’ & little details like plans and plants

Posted Mar 10, 2010 by Loren Omoto

Updated Mar 10, 2010 at 10:45 PM

Kim and I visited the “Yard Crashers” Tampa renovation this morning, where work got underway about 8:30. It’s easy to see how they can completely transform a yard in 48 hours. They have their own folks, but they also hire local companies and tell the homeowners to invite friends and family to provide manual labor.

With all that muscle, they can do in a few hours what would take me weeks!

That’s show host Ahmed Hassan in the center, with homeowner Brooke Iarossi’s mom, Colleen Keane next to him and Brooke in the pink top facing the camera to the right.

Kim and I were both impressed with how much Ahmed throws himself into the job. He works! He also barks orders (a friendly bark, but by no means a gentle invitation), and he seems to really get into the job at hand.

But what impressed me the most? He recognized me! Our brief lap encounter on Sunday must have made an impression. Lesson here: If you want someone to remember you, blather, stutter and, as a last resort, show him the scratches on your arms from pruning. Gross is always memorable. And if you’re perched on his/her thigh all the better.

Not long after we arrived, we heard a scream and shouts from behind the big camphor tree (not an oak as I originally thought) in the middle of the yard. People went running in all directions and Ahmed, dangling what looked like a small snake, chased Brooke (screaming) across the yard with it.

“What IS that?” I asked as he held it up for the cameras. On close inspection, it sure didn’t look like a snake.

“Earthworm,” he said. “Want to hold it?”

Of course I wanted to. The rare, anemic little earthworms I unearth in my sandy garden are pure treasure. I love worms! So yup, here I am holding Ahmed Hassan’s giant worm while the DIY cameras roll. (Didn’t Kim get a great shot? And why is it I always find myself in compromising positions without even trying!)

On to the details that y’all really want to know! We learned today that the show’s producers research local companies on-line before they come here and hire them to do a lot of the nitty-gritty planning and work. So for all of you wondering where the plants are coming from, that’s TropicScapes Landscape Design & Installation. It was their guy, Mac Garner, who produced the detailed plan.

The lead contractor is Jason Smith from Outdoor Impressions, which specializes in hardscape—pavers, outdoor kitchens, that sort of thing. He used a free on-line program SketchUp, to produce 3-D illustrations of the different elements. He says you can use this for plant planning, too. It has a whole database of plant images. (I will definitely give it a try!)

This is the water feature they’ll be installing. The black, looped lines indicate the fountains’ spray.

Because the big camphor tree in the middle of the yard provides a lot of shade, there won’t be a lot of turf. But there will be plants many of us know well. Bird of paradise, some of them 8 feet tall, will be focal points in some clusters, surrounded by Hawaiian tis, including varieties called Bolero bicolor and Auntie Lou. (I didn’t know there were varieties of ti!)

The existing tangerine tree will be encircled with rocks from the yard and recycled concrete and Super Blue Liriope. The existing chain-link fence will be covered with wood panels and Confederate jasmine. Variegated flax lily (big favorite among Dirt readers), purple impatiens, Chinese fan palms, Asian jasmine and arboricola are among the other plants being used. Bromeliads will go under the camphor tree. And it will all be covered with 108 bags of mulch. (Darn it, I didn’t look to see what kind of mulch!) But they’re not adding compost or other soil amendments, which I found interesting. I guess the giant earthworms indicate it’s good dirt?

(Ahmed said that worm was so big because there was a ton of dog poop in the yard. Do I need a dog? Or two?)

Here’s the mulch and everything else, including what’s left of the tin shed that was the yard’s main feature, all sitting in the front yard.

The yard will also get an outdoor kitchen and big grill.

An interesting note: The Iarossis had told the “Yard Crashers” crew they’ve been in their home for five years and hadn’t done anything in the yard. That’s understandable—young couple and now they have a 9-month-old baby. But watching Brooke and her friends “raking,” I wondered if they might be just posing for the cameras. They were tapping the ground with the rakes. Literally. Tap, tap, tap.

I looked around and, no, the cameras were all on the other side of the yard. So what were they doing?

As I was watching, apparently Ahmed was, too. He appeared out of nowhere, took Brooke’s rake, and gave her a quick lesson in raking.

Which makes me wonder—how long will the landscape portion of this makeover last?

On a last, personal note, Kim is a longtime fan of this show, so I had to get a picture of her interviewing Ahmed. (She’ll have something in the Tribune on Sunday.) I think it’s important to note that she did not wear the dress (unusual attire for her) in anticipation of meeting one of her favorite gardeners. She was wearing it, and she won’t like me sharing this, because she was going to a Gordon Lightfoot concert tonight.

“For my husband!!”

(That was what she said to everyone at work today who asked why she was wearing a dress—and then, why a Gordon Lightfoot concert?) 

Ahmed thought she was Janna, who went with me to Lowe’s on Sunday when they were searching for the makeover winner. Kim was very flattered, Janna.