A Better Sense of Place
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2016 May 22 (Sun)
Progress report
It's been a long time since I've shared pictures of the yard and not just close-ups of plants. For everyone who's questioned how things are actually going these days, today's the day. (Except for the back alley. I didn't actually take a picture of it this time.)
2015 September 3 (Thu)
Late summer fruits and flowers
It's looking like the hot summer drought has ended here. As the sun is moving closer to equinox, temperatures are now only going up to about 92°F. Many plants are doing better after some rain showers last week gave them water to drink. We even had a pretty good cold front come through. Fall is coming, so I figured it's a good time to focus on all the fruit and flowers around the yard to make me feel like my efforts didn't all end in failure this summer.
2015 June 29 (Mon)
Overgrown but not forgotten
It has rained pretty consistently for the past month and a half. Not non-stop. Just frequently enough that the ground hasn't dried out. So the weeds are taking over. The St. Augustine grass is growing fast and tall and sending out stolons everywhere. Camphor, Chinese tallow, chamberbitter, low hop clover, and some crap exotic grasses are sprouting faster than I can remove them. There are a lot more dormant seeds in the yard than I expected. I can't imagine ever getting the yard to a state of natives consistently crowding out exotics.
2015 May 11 (Mon)
But have you seen the alley?
I forget where I learned this, but it is said that you don't remember where you hear things as much as the thing that you hear. I think of this lesson when I try to remember where I heard that growing native flowers and grasses is harder where the soil is fertile. I think this was in reference to prairie plants. When I see how things have gone so far all over my yard, I can agree. The back alley is amazing while the rain garden, Chicken Yard, and front yard are a bit lackluster.
2015 February 8 (Sun)
Winter update
The rain garden has now been in existence for about 1.4 years. Way back in August and September 2013, I carved out a retention area and sowed the seed. The Chicken Yard was sown at the same time but without any land-sculpting. So how do they look now in their second mid-winter? (Or is it late winter?)
2014 November 28 (Fri)
Four years of stumbling
Plants grow so slowly, I have to actively remind myself of how far I've managed to restore the land and ecology. I've been planning a new blog post for a month or so, and I was initially only going to look at what I've planted and sowed in 2014. But this morning I thought it might be more interesting to compare 2014 to 2012 and 2013 to see if there's an interesting progression. (There is.) And to really make it interesting, I decided to compare now to how the land was handed to me when we bought it back in 2010. ("Bought" is the legal term that I may as well continue using for convenience.)
2014 October 22 (Wed)
Fall failure
I talk and think so much about native plants that I'm sure people assume my gardening is nothing but success upon success. Surely I've got a lush, healthy, multi-layer ecosystem flourishing around the house, right? Well, now that it's fall and plants are starting to peter out in preparation for the winter hibernation, I thought it'd be a good time to share how things did in this 2014 growing season.
2014 October 7 (Tue)
Two-month recap
As I said in yesterday's post, this post will sum up with pictures what's been going on the past two months. I'll start with the alley circa August 15, a mere twelve days after my neighbor accosted me at my front door with "But have you seen the alley?"
2014 May 16 (Fri)
Coreopsis everywhere
The rain garden is now fully covered with coreopsis. Some clasping coneflowers are coming in along with some horsemint. The tallest plants are roughly 5' tall. It's about time to finally cut the path to the back swing since it's pretty overgrown.
2014 April 26 (Sat)
Hmm... something's missing
The rain garden has filled out nicely, but I'm noticing a particular lack of something: grasses. I suppose one of my initial-phase goals was to just get some diverse species established, which is why I haven't trimmed any plants from growing between the stepping stones. (They're blocking the last few on the way to the back bench.) Now that they're established and apparently doing well — the tallest plants are 4' tall — I'm waiting for the flowers and resulting seeds. At that time, I think I'll start discouraging some growth.