The lath house is done!

Today is the fifth anniversary of my blog.  In 5 years, I've published more than 850 posts, registered over 725,000 views, and have been honored to receive more than 9200 comments (not including my own).  Created to record the changes in my garden, connect with other gardeners, and share my love of plants and gardens with like-minded people, my blog has chronicled myriad projects, including several this year, such as my succulent bed renovation and the creation of my pocket succulent garden.  However, as the construction of my lath (shade) house was the project I was the most excited about, I'm pleased to share coverage of the project in my anniversary post.  Although I "consulted" on the project, the lath house is really my husband's handiwork.  He started it in mid-November and worked on it off and on through December 28th, when he installed the final touch in the form of two window boxes.

Here's the final product, viewed from different angles.

View looking down (and west) from the main level of the garden on the south side

View looking south from the dirt path that runs parallel to the street

Wider view looking the same direction from the street itself

Rear view of the structure from the street outside our neighbor's driveway (As previously reported, the oleander hedge that formerly blocked the area from view was removed in early November and we collaborated on installation of Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Silver Sheen' to fill the gap but coverage is still spare.)

Here's a recap of the project:

My husband set the footings for the lath house on November 16th and laid the floor of cement pavers on November 21st

The wall structure was under construction on December 1st and my husband had begun painstakingly staining each individual piece of lath to protect it from the weather

The walls, with lath in place, went up December 4th and 5th (with help from our neighbor across the street)

My husband said the pitched roof was going to be a challenge and it was.  He had to measure and cut each piece of lath to varied lengths.  Completion of the roof took almost 2 weeks.

The door was an easier job, completed December 20th.  He even bought me fancy doorknobs.  (You can see an inadvertent selfie of me in the brass fixture.)  My husband also installed a finial on the top of the roof.

The shelf supports went in on December 21st, at which point I "modified" the project specs to include a second level of shelves above head height to increase the space available for plants.  The shelves themselves were installed over the next 2 days.

My husband was worried that wooden window boxes would quickly rot.  I ordered plastic liners and he constructed 4-sided boxes supported by a metal brace to allow drainage without rotting a wood base.

He even made me a step stool so I can water pots on the upper level overhead without lifting them down.  It's heavy and takes up a lot of room but I'm not going to tell him that.

Now that you've seen the outside of the lath house, come on in!

There's not much on the shelves yet but I did move my orchids inside

Until I can decide what else to plant around the pavers, I put in more of my old standby, creeping thyme, which can take a bit of shade

My local garden center got in a whole shipment of different varieties of ferns from Monterey Bay Nursery this week so I couldn't pass up bringing some home for try-outs 

As you can see, there's a lot of empty shelf area at the moment but I want to be thoughtful about what I add as space is limited.  We'll see how long my circumspection lasts!  I'm planning an outing to one of my favorite nurseries soon.

Thanks to all of you who read my blog, whether or not you comment.  I do enjoy hearing from each and every one of you when you do, though!


All material © 2012-2017 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party