landscaping
Fall Colors Abound
Our valley is more colorful this year than I can ever remember it. I don’t know what determines the level of color in our native trees, but we have had very little rain here since last May, very hot summer temperatures, and a very mild fall so far. The red oaks seem to get more […]
Laying Rock in the Courtyard
Work on laying out rock in the courtyard has been going slowly. It’s just too darn hot to move rocks for more than an hour or so at a time. It was 102 today! Brutal. But in the afternoon, rain developed north of us and the outflow cooled it down to 90 so we worked […]
Zen Shade Garden Expansion
It is during these really hot summer days that working in a shade garden is especially appealing. So with the help of my other half, Ron, doing most of the heavy lifting, I doubled the area of the Zen shade garden, built a higher retaining wall, and backed the bed with a bamboo curtain to hide the propane tank.
Texas Hill Country Garden Art
The previous owner of our house was a collector of many things, among them was old farm implements and tools. When we purchased the property we inherited these items. They have been scattered about and moved around over the years we have been here, but I just recently decided to use some of them as garden art. To be honest, my decision was prompted by a spot I saw a couple of weeks ago on Central Texas Gardener. They were featuring a Hill Country garden that included alot of garden art, some of which was old tools and farm implements. I got inspired and asked Ron to rustle up any artifacts that he could find laying around the property that looked interesting.
Can’t Get Enough Roses
Pictures and brief discussion about the progress of the front courtyard landscaping project.
Front Yard Project Continues
Well, it has been a while since I posted an update on our front courtyard project so I thought I would share a few photos showing the progress that has been made over the past couple of months. It has been very hot here for the past few weeks and some of the plants are […]
New Views and Greenhouse Tomatoes
I planted about twenty broccoli plants in the fall this year. Some have done really well, and others have struggled. The one pictured below is the biggest one we had all year. They are the most tasty broccoli I have grown to date, equally good raw in salads and lightly steamed with a little butter, […]
Last Day of the Year
We have been eating tomatoes from our greenhouse for the past month or so, but up until now they have been tasty but on the small side. However, we are now starting to get more and more large, juicy tomatoes. What a treat in the Winter. Below is an example of the larger tomatoes that […]
Front Yard Holiday Lights
I am thrilled by my first attempt at taking night time photos of our outdoor holiday lights. The new front yard landscaping looks good even in the dark. Peace.
Front Yard Project: Part 5 – Planting Has Begun!
Planting has started!! I wanted to get some of the main architectural plants installed first so I could begin to visualize other aspects of the planting bed designs. I have a high level plan that we are working from, along with a plant list, but there are many detailed elements that are yet to be […]
Front Yard Project: Part 4
We are well into filling the new raised beds with dirt. I don’t know how many tons of dirt we will end up using for these three beds, but it is a lot of dirt. The second truck full of dirt was delivered yesterday, and another large truckload will be delivered today. With the help […]
Front Yard Project: Part 3
The cold weather has finally arrived, just in time for Thanksgiving. We went from a record high 89 degrees to 50 degrees in about two hours on Wednesday afternoon. The rain is forecast to commence late this afternoon, and then to continue all weekend, and the temperatures are going to stay in the 40s. Brrrr. […]
Front Yard Project: Part 2
Removal of the primrose hedge on the east side of the house is moving along quickly. It is surprising how much of a difference it makes to the view of the front yard from the house to have this hedge gone. Even though I tried to keep this hedge well trimmed, these plants grow so […]
The Front Yard Project: Part 1
As I mentioned in my last post. We have started to work on a landscaping project in our front yard. We built a cedar fence to define the space last year, but we just recently began the rock work that will form the raised beds. We are filling the raised beds with Geo Growers Thunder […]
More Condo Project Photos
These pictures show a bit more detail of the features that were installed at the condo project. All of the plant material is native or well adapted to this area. Much of it is deer resistant. Lantana with Monarch Bamboo Muhly and Crepe Myrtle on Side Yard Path Front Steps Variegated Ginger Variegated Miscanthus Desert […]
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