Let's get a-planting!

Entrance - BEFORE

It's been 10 years since we moved to our house.  We didn't buy the property because the house was great, but because the yard was expansive and the houses in the neighborhood are not sitting on top of each other.  It was also dotted with at least 20 palm trees, bamboos, and oak trees.  Other than the occasional mowing of the yard, we have not done much to add to the aesthetics of the yard until this year.  We hired a tree trimming service to trim back overgrown palms and oak trees.  It looks so much neater to look at now (if there is such a thing in trees!).  Before they were trimmed, Megan would say to her friends who are visiting, "you'll drive through well-kept yards then you'll see a jungle - that's our house!".

We also started to add some landscaping to the entrance to the yard.  You will see above where we cleaned out a portion of the entrance, shaped it with pavers and planted some sun-loving perrenials.  Voila!  The next picture shows what it looks like after we added plants!

Entrance - AFTER

Newly planted butterfly garden

Butterfly garden after 4 months

 What we didn't have was a butterfly garden.  So, plant it we did.  A friend said one time that if you plant it, the butterflies will come.  We added plants that would specifically attract monarch butterflies, etc.  Monarchs are starting to become endangered so why not help out nature by planting plants that would attract them to it.  True enough, before we even planted the last plant, we already saw a couple of butterflies fluttering around the plants.  A few days later, we saw a couple of caterpillars munching on the leave of a couple of the milkweeds.  I have never been more enchanted to see nature on display.  Four months later the

Monarch caterpillar feeding on milkweed leaves

plants have bloomed and thanks to the recent dousing of rain, the plants are robust and healthy looking - still!  I just love to look at the different colors every time I get out the front door and head to the car.  I always smile when I pass by.

We haven't had an herb garden in years now.  I found this broken wheelbarrow that was sitting behind a fence.  Ralph drilled holes let water drain, covered it with potting soil and planted the more popular herbs that we use for cooking, such as, basil, mint, sage, rosemary, cilantro and parsley.  The herbs have really taken off and we have pinched off several leaves from the basil, parsley and cilantro to for some of the dishes we've prepared.

An upcycled wheelbarrow used a planter for our herb garden