Nothing But Blue Skies...: May 2012

Going Green...A Cautionary Landscape tale?

I am happy to say that this tale looks as though it will have a happy ending.

This is no small feat at my house. Let's just say that my wonderful man does NOT like to spend any time doing yard work. Don't get me wrong, he loves the end result, he just aborres spending the time required to get the job done.

I, on the other hand, actually like puttering around in the yard, but I have to be honest, ever since my cancer and chemo, it's kind of slipped off my priority list. I am very fortunate to have a wonderful man that comes once a week to take care of the basics, aka "mow and blow"... (very reasonable). I used to be better about weeding, planting, and maintaining things myself, but since I've been blogging, it's only gotten worse. *Cringe*

From afar our yard looked fine.

Nice, even.

But, then when I really started looking at all that needed to be done, I would start to feel overwhelmed. My trick for a while was to slap on the blinders, and walk away.

That ended this past week! Thanks to the Mission Possible Garden Party that I am linking to today. I had a real reason to "just do it", and a deadline to boot! Gotta love that. I work best under pressure.

The good news...I was able to rally the troops to help me. I got my wonderful yard guy, AND Mr W to work with me and get things rolling! We are still having some more done this week, but we are well on our way to our very own Green Acres.

Um...ok, more like not quite half an acre. Hey, this is Cali. There ARE no big lawns. Just postage stamps.

Check this out...

That's something you don't see everyday at our house! Yep, that's Mr W with a wheel barrow!! (Sorry honey. Hehe.) I love that he pitched in to help me. We went to Home Depot and bought a TON of mulch and plants. I had my yard guy Erik, help plant and mulch. (I planted and mulched too!)

I tried to spruce up front and back.

I added new sweet potato vines and coleus to the little wagon at the front door.

And in the backyard, I planted a variety of flowers in pots and hanging baskets.

We mulched all the beds, and planted new perennials.

I love this weird plant. It will be loaded with beautiful little purple flowers soon.

A pot with a flowering succulent, and lobelia.

I put a houseplant in one of my extra outdoor containers topped with some small rocks.

My son and I are trying to grow grapes along the back wall. We planted them last year. I think they will cover most of the wall by fall, if we are lucky! The little guy takes caring for these very seriously. He waters them daily, and reports on their progress. So cute!

The side yard is a work in progress. There are citrus trees over here. Lemon, Orange, and Grapefruit. We are taking out the stone on this side, and putting grass back in. When we had our dog, she used the side yard to go potty, and we put the stone in to avoid having to look at dead grass here. This encouraged her to go all the way back to the grass area, and we did not have to look at dead spots while sitting outside. The bottom line for me is, I want all the grass I can get. Plus, NOTHING we planted between the stones stayed alive for long. The sun is just relentless here by mid summer. Even built in sprinklers were not enough.

This wall planter is loaded with my huge hydrangea bushes, but they are in their "sleep" year this year. No blooms, but pretty green leaves.

Another small bed beside the house with new perennials and mulch.

My bloom-less hydrangeas, and a chippy old park bench.

Our house backs up to mountain trails. We have a lot of wildlife. Good and bad.

This sun was a wedding gift from my parents, and we placed it on a blank spot on this wall 11 years ago when we moved in. I love how the vines have filled in around it.

I still have pansies for another few weeks, and then I will change the pots to last for the rest of the summer.

Pansies will usually die after June here. It gets too hot.

I am looking for a large sago palm to replace the one that died this year suddenly. There is a little rock filled bed on the left of the pool in this pic with a sad little stump where the palm used to be. We have no idea what killed it. :-(