Garden and Yard Picture Post

[prosodic]

These pictures were taken around 5:30 PM PST. I'm keeping track of this so I can monitor where the light hits the yard at any given time of the day.


The view of the yard standing right outside the back door. The bird bath near the center of the photo was knocked over last week, and I'm mystified as to how, because it's really heavy. We had to have had a rather large animal in the backyard to do that. And I can't get it to stand straight now.


Looking at the rest of the yard from our patio. We want to rake up a lot of this mulch and put down some sod or grass seed so that we can have a little more backyard. It wouldn't involve that much extra mowing, and it would give our dog more room to play, when we get her.


Close-up of the incoming tulips irises and what I think is the rhubarb. I'm not quite done with the weeding yet, but trust me, it was MUCH worse than this.


Another view along the fence. I really have no idea what these shrubs are. They don't seem to require any maintenance though, so I'm leaving them. (Edit: I was told that they are rhododendron.)

While I was at it, front yard pictures:


A little cleaning up needs to be done here, but not much. The primroses have been around all year, even in the dead of winter. There are some other obviously dead plants that need removed. And I need a couple of hanging baskets for either side of the door and I'll call it good.


A closer view of the area against the garage.


The other side. I assume that the plant growing up that mini trellis isn't going to come back. So I should probably get rid of it. I'm not sure what that was.


Our pretty tree that leaves all the pretty petals all over the yard. I like it, but it's not nearly as magnificent as our magnolia tree we had in Germany. I miss that tree. It was the most gorgeous thing in the world.

Here's a picture of that glorious magnolia, for those of you who haven't seen it (I've posted this picture a couple of times before). Lance hated the thing because it shed so many petals in spring and so many leaves in the fall.



And finally...

I have mini violets for the kitchen! I picked them up today at the base exchange. You can't tell how small they are from the picture, but this pot they're in is teeny tiny. (I didn't realize how blurry this photo was until I saw it full size.)

Comments

[zipotle.livejournal.com]

It might make yard cleanup easier if you leave the mulch and train her to use it as her bathroom area instead. I know I'd rather pick up poop from mulch than grass any day. Plus it'll save you from the dreaded brown grass pee spots, since it's just mulch.

[prosodic.livejournal.com]

Good point. Kind of like a giant doggie litter box. ;)

[heartsinarmor.livejournal.com]

The shrub that you're not sure about... I can't see it that well, but I would guess it's rhododendron. It looks like the ones in the front are the same. It's a member of the azalea family. If that's what it is, it will provide you with fantastic blooms all summer long. Here is the wiki for it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhododendron There are a lot of different varieties, each having different leaf shapes and bloom colors, but I would say that's what you've got.

[prosodic.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they are the same as the ones by the garage. Looking forward to seeing them bloom.

[hetterrific.livejournal.com]

In the third picture, those aren't tulips-- they're iris. And the shrubs along the fence, I can't see all that well other than they look similar to the ones by the garage are rhododendron

[prosodic.livejournal.com]

Irises! Even better!

[hetterrific.livejournal.com]

I meant to add that the one climbing the trellis could be a clematis and if it is, it'll come back. I'm more of an "in person" gardener, so looking at pictures doesn't always help me. You can brush away some of the mulch at the bottom and see if there is any green... or try to break a piece off at the very bottom and see if it looks, or feels, like there is any life to it.

[prosodic.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Will check it out. I would really like to keep everything as low maintenance as possible.

[hetterrific.livejournal.com]

When I did my gardens I made sure that everything I planted was heat/drought tolerant and didn't require much care. I also tried to use plants that were native to this area. Although I love working in the gardens, I don't always have the time for them and I didn't want my plants to suffer for it-- and I didn't want to throw money at expensive plants that would die.

I am *so* itching to get out there an clean up my beds! I see little green leaves poking their heads through, just asking for the old foliage to be cleaned up and new mulch!

[katzies.livejournal.com]

It looks really good. I like the trees behind your fence, that way you don't have to see your neighbors' houses during the summer!!