Today was warm enough for me to take “before” pictures of my project space. Deep breaths. I am getting a bit intimidated.
Currently: I don’t know what this shrub is on the far left. It has little red berries and the leaves come to a point.
Trey? Do you know what this is?
I’m trying to decide what to do with it. It’s pretty, sure, but it’s all by itself in the very middle of the area. It may end up being transplanted to the other side of the house if it will live.
The long leaves you see are the irises. These things are everywhere. Literally everywhere. And we don’t get rid of these irises. They were given to my mom from my grandmother’s neighbor, and some of these are antique bulbs. The peach flower irises cannot be purchased in stores anymore. They’ll be transplanted somewhere…but I don’t know where. The thing about irises is that you have to completely cut them down to the ground and let them grow back again, so we have to find something to plant with them for when they’re in their ugly phase.
We’ll clear out the rest of the brush. There are some plants I’ll encourage that others call weeds, though.
There’s one of our trees. I am going to try to get those brown leaves off so maybe we’ll get more green leaves this spring.
The millions of bare shrubs are althaea, the Rose of Sharon variety. They’re beautiful but out of control. I will probably thin them out a bit, prune them back a little so they won’t scrape our faces when we walk to the sidewalk. The branches are just tall enough to meet the other trees’ branches in the yard, so in the summer we have a nice bower going on that makes me happy. It’s a good place to read if the nosy neighbor doesn’t come.
I’m also going to plant a groundcover and a few taller shade-loving plants among the Rose of Sharon because it looks so bare.
The hose is all crazy right now but I’m going to find a way to fix it. There is a little bit of ivy climbing the corner, but not too much. I’ll probably cut it down so it doesn’t ruin the mortar. I’ll also try to scrub the green stuff off of the wall. The gutter leaks so that every time it rains the wall gets wet.
More irises and a stray Rose of Sharon plant. Maybe I can sell them to neighbors. Ha.
This is actually where I hope to plant the cutting garden. I think if I can control the irises I can grow them in the back, and then plant some dahlias, maybe some coneflowers, some zinnias, and I really really want to plant balloon flowers. The buds puff up like balloons and then burst open into star-shaped blooms. The pictures I’ve seen make me laugh. There are so many flowers I want to plant.
This is ground ivy. It grows pretty prominently in the yard and is considered a weed. However it is one of my favorite little wildflowers and sprouts the cutest little trumpet shaped purple flowers in the spring and smells good when it’s mowed over. I’m thinking of transplanting it to go under the Rose of Sharon, because neither one of them will push each other around. They’re tough. And cultivating a “weed” in my garden will drive my nosy neighbor (who is pretty much the male incarnation of Mrs. Cravitz from Bewitched) absolutely bonkers.
The other side of the bay window with a huge chunk of irises. They’re everywhere!
This is the garden in front of the porch. The shrub is called Variegated Privet. I’m going to prune it down so it isn’t above the porch railing. I think I’ll plant some flowers in front of them, in two levels. Maybe some herbs. Who knows. There are irises here, too.
Persistent weeds. They even filled up containers.
More stinking irises on the other side of the porch.
Okay, now this is the part that kind of makes me want to cry.
This used to be my vegetable garden.
Here’s more:
It used to have cucumbers and tomatoes and carrots and basil…
The piled up brown leaves you see are calla lilies (given to my mom from a lady who owned a bed and breakfast..I don't really like them. They're messy.). I’m going to cut off all the brown stuff and mulch it. They’ll come back.
The window by the porch will have the big shrub so Mom won’t have to sit in the sunlight. I haven’t decided which yet. I think the window by the fence will maybe have herbs…or some sun loving flowers…or another shrub for some symmetry. I just hate covering up windows.
More ground ivy (Hey! It’s evergreen!)
This used to have plants in it. They don’t do well because of that hideous weed cover. That will change. I probably will do something about those bricks, too. My shadow looks weird because I’m wearing sweatpants that are way too big for them.
These trees bloom really well and cover the whole yard in shade. My parents planted every single one, fighting against the clay.
This little part of our driveway has a car-scraping crepe myrtle and used to contain river rocks. They’re there somewhere under all that confounded grass. The myrtle will be trimmed and maybe some flowers planted right there.
This had to end with happiness: The ornamental pear with buds just waiting to burst. They bloom for a few weeks and then there’s always a humongous rainstorm with wind so hard that it blows all the white petals on the ground and makes it look like someone had a confetti party in our front yard. The leaves are this beautiful waxy dark green and sound so very strange when they blow in the wind.
As you can see, this will need a lot a lot of work. Again I welcome any information people have, from native Texas plants to gardening in Zone 8 to gardening in clay soil. Any encouragement or commiserating is good, too.
Sorry for the long post. Thanks for sticking with me if you did!
Kate
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