Potted combos

I love using combos of native plants and herbs. Here's an old terra cotta pot I washed with a red paint. Growing in it are a native red salvia and variegated lemon thyme, along with another decorative orb. LOVE those orbs! LOL. I also used a lot of leftover shells from a long-ago craft project as "mulch" in the pots and in the planting bed behind it. Also shown is a small bay plant in a handmade container.

dig it!

bobbi c.

Front yard landscaping

And here's the front of the house, mostly dead grass and all. But that's OK with me! I hate spending time on nothing but grass. I'd much rather have fruit trees, herbs, natives, butterfly plants, small shrubs, etc. It's a work in progress, always.

Future projects include painting the house (perhaps pink? or yellow?), a front decorative fence that I can grow roses against, perhaps a walkway through the middle of the yard for people who park on the street to walk up through the garden, front porch railings, perhaps a parking pagoda over the driveway and more small and medium sized shrubs to fill in.

And oh yes, more plants to hide these, the bane of my existence. UGH!



More later!

dig it!

bobbi c.

Front yard landscaping

Since I caught some small children (AKA "brats") picking up landscaping stones from my front garden and throwing them into the trees, I've decided not to put much food out there until I can put up some kind of barrier fence. It will be mostly decorative, but I hope it will also help deter the little pests.

So, in the meantime, I've been working on a general landscape using native Texas plants, herbs and small shrubs and one new Shumard oak.

The first photo is part of the front flower bed, right underneath the windows against the white limestone. Herbs such as lavender and rosemary do extremely well there.



This is the way I landscape, a little at a time, willy nilly, and THEN, all of a sudden, it pulls itself together into a cohesive design. LOL. It drives friends NUTS, but this is the way I work. I'll plant one thing, then add something else next to it, then mulch them together, in a sort of planting island. Future medium sized shrubs will grow to eventually hide the neighbor's driveway and trash cans.



I'll add smaller plants next to them farther out, adding more mulch. Eventually, the plan is to have the yard filled with all plants and mulch, with some paths, and NO GRASS.



This photo is a little planting pocket to the right of the driveway, next to the neighbor's yard. Eventually I want to extend this all the way out to the road. Pink native salvias, rosemary, red salvias, coreopsis grow happily with a pavonia.


An existing flower bed was there when we moved in, but was filled with black mulch and houseplants. UGH. Since then, I've replaced them with lemongrass and butterfly iris underneath the faucet where it's moist, and added rosemary, more salvias, Mexican bush sage and seasonal bulbs to fill in.



It's shaping up, a wee bit at a time!

Dig it!

bobbi c.

Another view of the corner garden "grotto"

Dressing up the garden

I love using found elements to help dress up my garden. Here are a few things I've done. The first one is a birdbath and sunface wall art next to the back patio. In this area I'm growing garlic chives, irises, yarrow and creeping oregano for a ground cover.



This is an iron shelf I recently found at the Goodwill Store for $5.00. I got the idea of adding shelves to my fence so that I can do some vertical gardening. I'm also adding lots of brackets for hanging baskets along the same side of the fence.



I mentioned that I'm "pink-washing" my old ugly fence using watered down clearance latex paint. Here's a pic where you can see the difference.





This is a cactus that neighbor dug from her yard and gave me. It's spineless, so it's not a huge problem. It's growing in an old iron trough and accompanied by another decorative orb.



This is one of my two apricot trees, growing near the back patio. A pot of Texas esperanza sits nearby, which attracted bees that pollinated the apricots. A colorful pot of geraniums adds to the colorful group.



And here's another old iron cauldron with salvias, bulbs and who knows what else growing in it! Funny, my great-grandmother used to use the exact same type of cauldron to grow portulaca in her cottage garden. That's the ONE memory I have of her.




I hope these have given you some ideas for dressing up your own garden!

Dig it!

bobbi c.

And more new photos!

To continue with the new photos from my small surburban garden....Just to show that my garden isn't all utility, here are some pics of the prettier things. I've been trying to figure out a way to block the view from my neighbor's windows since we moved here. I finally found this wonderful wrought iron screen at Hobby Lobby, but it was too short. That didn't deter me. I loved it so, and a good friend came up with the idea of raising the height somehow. I found these wonderful chunky faux stone look cement blocks and raised it up so that the top comes right over the wooden fence behind it. Husband added "L-brackets" screwed to the fence so it wouldn't topple over. I planted two pink jasmines in front, and they are already happily climbing up. Eventually, I hope that they will drape over the top and hide more of the windows.



I added potted plants at the bottom, a gazing ball, a new garden bunny and a few existing salvias and such help to hide the bottom part. Some old Mexican tiles leftover from our former house gives me somewhere to step. I love this little area, and already it's made my little backyard garden feel more secluded.

And oh, BTW, I sort of "pink-washed" the ugly old grey cedar fence behind it, and that really makes the colors pop!

Another bonus is that the jasmine helps mask the smell of the neighbor's laundry chemicals. Shewweeee, do they STINK!

dig it!

bobbi c.

New garden photos!

I know, finally! Sheesh. I wanted to get some of the new front yard landscaping done before I took photos, but everyone's clamoring to see. So here are a few of the "new" gardens and house. We've been here almost two years now, but it still feels new to me.

I'm growing vegetables, fruit trees, herbs and flowers in the back, and native shrubs, trees, herbs and flowers in the front and on the sides.

First of all, an overview of my backyard raised veggie and herb beds, made from simple, inexpensive cedar fence pickets held up by stakes driven into the ground.



I use whatever existing structures I can to help make a side for the beds. I have them all along the garage sides, along the back fence, side fence, you name it! Here's the one along the back fence, in progress.



I also have them lined up behind the detached garage. This one has asparagus in it.



And this one at one side, underneath the birdfeeders and the windows that Husband added to get more light into the garage workshop:



After building huge, complicated, expensive cedar beds at our former house, these are simple to do, almost instant, and inexpensive.

More later!

Dig it!

bobbi c.