Hi I'm Debra Lee Baldwin this is Hannah Eubanks who needs no introduction because she's all over
YouTube in her mother's own videos Laura Eubanks the cool thing is that this is
Hannah's almost totally independent design independent yes completely my mom has been hands
off so this is all me it's such a delight for me and you know I've known Hannah for maybe five or
six years we've traveled together we went up to the Succulent Extravaganza together I absolutely
fell in love with her it's a joke with her mom that I want to adopt her and now to see her coming
into her own design not only is it a fantastic installation but it shows the creativity of
Hannah Eubanks who is a name that we're going to remember for a long time now and in the future
of succulents and succulent design and uh we're gonna we're gonna have a closer look I hope you
enjoy We are rocking I am rocking on top of the rock yes hoping to add a little bit more contrast
and textures so now how close are we to completion well this is the last day I don't think it'll take
us much more than an hour to to get it all done and yeah I mean the first day was just bringing
in the soil and the boulders and then day two and three was dedicated to planting and now day four
we're rocking so the first day after Hannah left I already saw that my expectations were so surpassed
I was very familiar with her mom's creations and Hannah being on the team she has such
imagination and has tied in things that I've had in my yard that are are sentimental to me
the plants and the rocks do dads from the sea and it's just magic and my dog loves it too she
goes down and under the bridge and looks around make sure everything's in place well I think
dachshunds are burrowing dogs anyway right yeah oh yes yes they definitely are After meeting with
Susan I could tell how important the ocean is to her in her life she spent a lot of time in Baja
with her husband and fishing trips and she had all of these really cool pieces like this is
a real whale bone, all the garden art is from her yard that we've scavenged around and found
so I knew then that I wanted to do an undersea theme for her this was a koi pond so the idea of
water was already in my head it's been so much fun playing because this is my very first installation
like this I've done one xeriscape installation before so this is my first of uh this nature.
Your mom's busy she's got very high-end clients yeah now you're able to sort of step in and get
your own clients how's that gonna happen I mean she needs you too of course and that's something
i think about all the time and working with my mom has always been my number one top priority
mainly because it's fun and i love doing it and it's taught me how to create something of scope
she's also been my biggest supporter and fan so when it comes to getting jobs she's encouraging
and even though she loves having me around to do the videos or to be kind of her right hand
we have she has an amazing crew that she's trained and can maybe not take my place completely but
get in there and get the job done so well one thing your mom told me a while back i said well
you know what about all these copycats what about all these people who are taking your ideas and
running with them and you know monetizing what you've created and developed and she said there
are plenty of yards to go around. When I covered homes gardens architecture and interior design
for publications one thing i looked for was not only the source of inspiration for a new creative
right but how how were they make it their own. Good question uh she definitely has rubbed off
on me in the sense of design i love what she does and again she's taught me everything that i know
but if somebody has a space that just doesn't speak to her she doesn't want to do it but for me
I like that challenge i think it's fun to cater to the client and see what i can create
with those limitations so that's one thing, and in this design my mom always says there's three r's
rock repetition and restraint and i feel like i've shown a little more restraint than my
mom in that sense but other than that i must say i think our designs are kind of similar
to be fair. I predict you will have your own signature that there will always be references
to your original mentor and inspiration but inevitably you're going to find your own voice.
I'm very excited for that i must say because i do agree and this has just honestly given me a lot
of confidence because i'm so used to having her around to ask questions or just for her advice
in general and i think that this is just showing me that i can do it and i do have an eye for this
and yeah it just feels good so you know hearkening back to the water feature that was here and
working with that concept making it much more practical and livable yeah, wait what happened
to the koi? they they got re-homed a nursing facility i believe the koi went to a nursing home?
they'll get fed very well there i'm sure i see some dramatic changes in elevation yes
and i think that is one keynote of what i see in your mother's gardens
but also there's this lovely sense of snorkeling yes past the reef generally we bring in a lot of
soil to create those high mounds but i've had fun doing the opposite as well and digging lower and
creating crevices along with the height so i think that's really adding to that effect of snorkeling
and going beyond the reef. are you aware of jeff moore's work? oh of course yes his work's stunning
i've really been interested in getting my scuba license so and i think
that this is just gonna make me do it when working with my mom i've really really
been drawn towards rocks and riverbeds kind of created another one again more undersea themed
but just bringing in the flow the movement without using the plants so using the rocks to create
that movement for me and i think that that's something that i uniquely do,
dug that all out and still brought in two yards of soil to create all the different elevations
emphasis on lava rocks and you've also incorporated some of Susan's treasures
and i see repetitions like you've got this kind of funky whale or whatever he is yeah maybe
i think yeah a little whale yeah some sort you've got the eye flowing along the seashell
toward Euphorbia polygona 'Snowflake' and so you're repeating your blues and
and then you've got this nice euphorbia oh i know i love this no undersea themed succulent garden
should be done without 'Gollum' i agree i cannot agree more you're even using a little wisp of
tillandsia yes and under the bridge we went ahead and brought it in as well so how much maintenance
is Susan going to have to do on this not much i mean we have it irrigated for her on a timer and
she shouldn't have to touch anything aside from deadheading spent blooms for at least six months i
just thought it was beautiful it was the prettiest one it's a nice branching down at the base
i love the whimsy and i love how it's restrained yes it could go horribly wrong oh yeah and she has
so much Talavera and i really wanted to bring more of it in but again it's the restraint
yeah it's very important unless it's more yes and was this her this must have been her yeah
here's some slag glass oh yep and we're going to be bringing more of that in once the the
top dressing is down i love these snorkel-worthy canyons you know that was also intentional because
Susan wants to be able to walk in her garden so i wanted to leave space for her to do that
without tripping over rocks stepping on plants
they created these almost like planters with the lava rock and you've positioned the caves
and the lava rock for interest i mean you know what it is Hannah? what is it?
if you can take the viewer out of the present moment
and into a new place, that's hard to do. i commend you for picking out your rocks because
you've got these cavernous rocks you've gone to the trouble of positioning them
so that i'm suddenly this little goldfish yes yeah and i'm exploring and it all suggests that
with the garibaldi-like Talavera over there well i can see that Cullen is needing to finish over here
and yeah basically i'm just trying to get
up in between these plants you see you lift the crown of the plant and you tuck right yeah as the
how long have you been with Laura? I think it's been like five years now
and you know every year we just do different things and we're always
having fun so yeah it doesn't get old but i really enjoy working with DFS
it's it's a creative thing where you get to do something different every time right
so you're using a hand shovel or a trowel yeah usually we don't really have to do it
like this we can just kind of dump and push but since there's so much intricate rock work going
on and we want to make sure not to cover up any of the details i want to be more careful yeah kind of
be more precise with it
What is that funky smell? Sorry I'm bending over. That was a comment worthy of your mother. Yeah
oh mushroom compost
Great job, Hannah,
and thank you Susan for letting us come Find additional information about Hannah's coral reef
succulent garden in the video description and on the corresponding page of my website
where you'll find design tips photos and more about succulents for undersea gardens. I hope you
found this video helpful and entertaining my goal is to inspire you to enjoy using succulents in fun
and creative ways in your own garden and outdoor living spaces please know I appreciate your
comments and do subscribe and hit the like button I'm Debra Lee Baldwin thank you for joining me