Sunday, April 10, 2011

It's (not) a jungle out there

After yesterday's Bird of Paradise fiasco, DH and I were both a little under-excited about today's planned redo of the back yard. Actually, the hubs was in quite the grumpy mood this morning before church. Thankfully, the worship was wonderful, the message was inspiring, and the fellowship was encouraging. That, and we got to think about working with the most horticulturally talented person that we know: the bestest roomie in the world!

Let me refresh your memory about what we were dealing with so that you can fully appreciate the transformation of this space. We started with this:


 The jungle. All told, these BOP were probably about 10-12 feet high.


After yesterday, we ended up with this:










Clean slate!








Our wonderfully talented friend came over around noon, scoped out the place, and made some suggestions and calculations. After a brief stop for lunch (yummy Five Guys!), we headed to our local home improvement store (the one with the blue theme). We found just the plants for us: 4 podocarpus to create a barrier and 2 climbing fig to cover the ugly pink wall. We also ended up taking a trip to the other blue big box store to get a watering can and some veggie seeds on a whim. And then back to the first blue store for mulch. There was much labor, mud, digging, and fun had by all. And because I'm just so excited about the transformation, I'm just going to share the photos.




I think it's beautiful. And the best part about the whole thing (besides being right on budget) is that we were able to reclaim the space that is rightfully ours that one of our neighbors had tried to steal from us. I can't wait to watch these new plants grow. And because this friend who knows my gardening abilities so well chose the plants (as in, if it's in the yard, it's on its own), I know she selected plants that will be hard to kill.


I feel like a garden party may be in order. The question of the post: do you have a green thumb or do plants whither when you come into view?

5 comments:

  1. Good luck with that. It seems like every time I try to do something with our back yard, it gets sabotaged somehow.

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  2. Podocarpus are pretty indestructible! Look at ours, they grow as well as the BOP. Shouldn't you have a fountain out there?

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  3. Hopefully, there will be no sabotage!

    Actually, I was thinking about converting the green pail into a water feature. When the podocarpus was suggested, I immediately thought of the ones you have out front :-)

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  4. I have never ever seen your backyard!

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  5. On purpose. Up until just recently, we always kept the blinds pulled to hide the mess. Now, the blinds are all open :-)

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