Back Yard Renovations

It's been a busy week in the back yard, with temperatures in the high seventies each afternoon, and plenty of sunshine, I've been getting as much done as possible during my lunch hours and after work before Emily comes home.

For starters, in addition to clearing out the Ficus tree and myoporum ground cover to make room for an (eventual) swing for Brenna, I tore out two orange jubilee bushes that were behind the tub pictured here, and moved them to the south side of the house, replacing the yellow elder bushes that were severely damaged from our twenty degree weather a few weeks ago.

I've also moved two of my sage bushes into a semi-circle with the other two that I already had, and positioned all of my emu bushes around the tub to where they're all together.

To anchor the corner where the orange jubilee used to be, I moved my chaste tree, which eventually will grow to about fifteen feet tall.




Here's a closer picture of the emu bushes and the chaste tree (which right now looks like a twig, dormant until March, when it will be covered with spikes of purple blooms).




Here is where I moved the two orange jubilee to replace the yellow elder. I've moved one of the lounge chairs into the spot where the third yellow elder was, and am putting up a bamboo screen along the arch to create a semi-private reading nook, as well as make room for the other lounge chair, which was a tad cramped in this tight spot.

On the north side of the house I've planted an addition rose, this one a yellow climber. I'm hoping these will do better on this side of the house where the sun is not as intense in the summer. The blocks here are to keep our meandering fat dog from digging trenches everywhere, which he tends to do either out of boredom, or seemingly as revenge for our not paying as much attention to him now that Brenna is here.

My bush river willow tree is finally showing it's "fall" color, a deep bruised purple. Not the prettiest thing in the world, but an interesting plant nonetheless. The ones they have at the arboretum in Superior turn shades of yellow and orange, and are about thirty feet tall with very knotted trunks. I have yet to find a logical place to plant mine, and have put it back into a pot where it can stay shaded in the summer. If it ever outgrows this pot, I'll have to figure out what else to do with it.

The amaryllis that my brother-in-law gave me for Christmas now has five blooms on it. It's nice to have someone nearby that shares the same interest in gardening, I'll post pictures of his yard sometime, very impressive.