May 2003

May 2003 and things are really filling in now.

The view from my living room.

One thing I have learned about my back yard is
it has 3 different micro climates.
Next to the garage is my shade area.
In the Summer it gets morning sun
from 8:00 to 11:30. In the Winter no sun
what so ever. Great place for the hosta's.

Straight back to the fence is what I call my desert.
Full sun from 11:30 to 5:00 in the Summer.
Gets very hot up against that 9ft fence.
But get this, in late Fall through to early Spring no sun at all!

The flower bed right up against the windows get the best of all,
morning sun from about 8:00 and starts to shade about 2:00 in
the Summer and in the Winter shades about noon.
My fuchsia's love it there.

Lets move on to some more photo's...

May 2003

May 2003

In the summer of 2003 I planted an Angels Trumpet.
The fence is now covered with the vines... I think it was Sweet Potato vine.

This photo was taken in Oct 2003.

I love Angels Trumpet. If I had more room I would grow

a small orchard of all different colors. You can't smell them all

day long... but once the sun starts to go down and the air cools a bit...
the fragrance fills the air... I leave my back doors open
so you can smell them in the house.

Moving on....

Lets call 2004 through 2005 my experimental phase.

I made a few changes in 04'... But I didn't take any photos...
well just a few of a blue jay in the bird bath.


What changes did I make?

1. Removed the grass.
2. Removed the sweet potato vine.
3. Removed heavenly bamboo. These were already in before we moved in.
4. Put in two small sheds.

Things are not looking so great from the living room window now....



At least the window beds are doing OK



We took some time to work on the side yard in front
of the garage and put in two small sheds.

What have I learn so far?

Grass won't grow where the dog pees.
Neglected clay soil is next to impossible to grow in.
If you don't pick your strawberries the squirrels will.
Some plants can get out of control very fast.
You can take cuttings from an Angels Trumpet and grow more trees.
Angels Trumpets can freeze and die back in the Winter.
I don't like heavenly bamboo

Next post... Moving on to 2006 and 2007