Just like my mother, I thrive on projects. My latest project has turned out to be one that will keep me busy for a long, long time. After 13 years at our house in Austin, I am finally planting plants, some for landscaping and some for pure enjoyment. Sure, I've planted a handful of things from time to time, and even attempted a little vegetable garden, but I was clearly a newb and the desire to transform the yard never took. Well, I might still be a newbie, but I have found my green thumb, or at least my perpetual dirty fingernails and feet. Welcome to my young garden.
This all started with the deliberate falling of a dead tree in our front yard. We beat it to the punch -- the old hackberry was destined to fall on the house (specifically our son's bedroom) with the next strong wind. Somehow the process of removing it got me inspired to plant a few things. And suddenly a little project became a full property focus.
I started on the entryway. There were 3 beds of almost complete dirt that had sat there empty (except one yew and some annoying weeds) for years. Now they are filled with small shade plants that will someday be big plants. The beds have room to change -- in fact one change was made today. We've had rain for the past 24 hours, and it turns out the water running off the roof was bombarding my little wood violet, trying to drown it in the process. The wood violet is now safely tucked away in a different bed, and I have buckets collecting any additional runoff. Yes, we need gutters. Yes, what a grand opportunity for a rain barrel. No, we can't do any of that at this time. But my wood violet may yet live, and for now that is what matters.
The cats and dogs have been my gardening companions. When I'm in the front yard with the cats, the dogs are jealous and whiny. When I'm in the backyard with the dogs, the cats want to come outside. But they each have their area, and they don't go outside without me.
Tooga loves to garden with me. Any hole I dig in the front yard, she is right there to test it out and make sure it was just right.
Even Cricket has found her adventuresome side, though she still scurries back to the house or garage at every noise.
Tooga doesn't always see the toads. The toads prefer it that way.
The garden is bringing all sorts of wildlife -- toads, butterflies, lizards, skinks, caterpillars, wasps, birds, and squirrels. A few pest bugs, but so far so good (well, except for the goldenball leadtree that was filled with fire ants). Here is a monarch caterpillar on the milkweed.
I went to plant my baby Dutchman's pipevine, only to discover it half gone with a big pipevine swallowtail caterpillar! It was awfully cute though.
But I didn't have enough plant to support it, so I took the caterpillar back to Natural Gardener's so it could feast on their pipevine. And wow, was it happy. But my poor pipevine was dragged by the dogs through the yard before it got planted -- amazingly I've managed to get it growing again, and it seems quite happy now.
A toad made use of the toad bath right away.
Here's a view of the butterfly garden before I put in the edging. I'm not going to overdo the edging in the yard, but I wanted to make sure the butterfly shape stayed. It was a pain to get those wings even! You can see the original and much smaller bed in the butterfly shape. The area along the fence and house, separated by a line of bricks, will be a bed we prepare for spring planting.
A view of the garden with the edging and some of the plants put in place. Michael helped dig out the bed, but I did the edging and the planting, giving myself a bit of tendonitis in my right elbow during the process.
This is our old wheelbarrow in which I planted with herbs and colorful annuals. I used some of that basil just this evening! Yum.
Eastern tiger swallowtails came to visit this weekend, and two danced and went off together.
All in all, it's been fun. I seem to be spending most of my waking hours thinking about plants. The yard is officially certified as a wildlife habitat, and now I'm trying to bring in as many native Texas plants as I can to help get the yard certified as a Texas Wildscape and a Best of Texas habitat. Someday our yard will look very different. Right now it's in its baby stages.
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