Planting

I've just about had it with the lack of landscaping we've done with the house.  Last year we made a conscious decision to ignore it in favor of getting the interior of the house in the shape we wanted.  This year was supposed to be all about the outside.  Well, it's the middle of July and we've done next to nothing.  For this I blame Ken and his lack of motivation.  He's the one with the green thumb.  He enjoys plants and gardening and all that jazz.  I could, for the most part, care less.  I'm not all that interested in gardening.  I don't know much about flowers and plants other than what I like.  The amount of interest I have in gardening is minimal.  At the last house, I was given a small patch in the garden to do whatever I wanted with.  As the spring disappeared and summer started dawning on us, I asked for a small area in which I could plant stuff.  Ken, at least in his head, has plans for just about every decent spot on the property, so I was given a slightly less favorable area.  I don't really care, I just wanted to throw something in the ground that I would enjoy.  The spot he let me have was on the side of the house where the gas meter is and near where we keep the trash cans.  But I took it.  It was small and just big enough to hold my interest.  Over the July 4th weekend, I went out and loaded up on some plants and started my garden.

I'm particularly drawn to succulents.  I don't know what it is about them.  It could be because they are low maintenance and that really appeals to me.  I just love the way they look, too.  I don't know much about them, but I do know I like them.  I picked up a couple hens & chicks, some sedem and got to planting.

I loved the idea of laying stone instead of mulch.  I really like the way it looks, especially with the succulents.

On the other side of the gas meter, I planted a euonymous (I'm not quite sure of the spelling), another plant I love.  I had one at the last house and that thing just grew like gangbusters.  My goal is to have it grow enough to camouflage the gas meter somewhat.  I don't really care that the meter is there, but I know it would drive Ken crazy if he was to plant near it. 

One bit of landscaping we did do together was to plant a few trees.  We had a tree in the front yard that died shortly after we moved in.  We bought a red maple to replace it and planted it the weekend before last.  I forgot to snap a picture of it.  We also planted three river birch trees along the edge of our property.  These should be fairly fast growers and I hope they really take off.  We put them along the edge of the usable property and the forever wild area.  The main goal we have for these trees is to block some of the view of the park next door to us.

These trees should thrive along side the forever wild area.  They love the moisture that tends to collect there.  I'm hoping for the best for them.

I wasn't all gung ho to be moving into a house next door to a playground, but it really hasn't turned out to be anything like I'd imagined.  The kids playing there can be noisy, but we had more noise coming from the Taco Bell parking lot we lived next to in the last house.  My only real issue with it is the God awful colors the playground equipment is painted.  I know it's supposed to look fun, but it looks more like an eyesore to me than anything.  But we have the forever wild area between us and as you can see, it's really rather beautiful to look at.  Next year, I want to find some plants to put in there to enhance it's beauty and to bring some extra color to it.  I have no idea what, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.