Bust a Move....

Or at least some concrete slab. Memorial day weekend and I decided to focus my attention to the backyard. I have spent two plus years dotting on my front yard and the front strip, the back yard was sadly neglected.

My backyard is a great place for family and friends to hang out, enjoy the sun and my husband's great bbq! After demolishing the overgrown shrubs and bug infested trees, I was left with just the concrete slab to take care of. Then onto the fun part, designing the backyard!

I was unsure of how to break up the concrete slab, the piece was not large, but it was heavy. After a few minutes, my trusty shovel and sledgehammer, the job was done.

After the concrete was out, my husband and I tackled the daunting task of weeding, shoveling, planting and hauling compost. After 4 days of hard work, we are able to enjoy our Zen Garden!!

Before and After

Before I start on about my plantings for 2009, I would like show you some before and after photos of the house and yard.

Several months after we moved in, we did a few upgrades; had the exterior of the house painted and added new windows throughout.

















































The one major remodel we did was to redo the retaining wall; we got rid of the concrete slabs and added stone pavers. We also moved the entrance to our house. See the image below. This remodel has made a major difference in the overall look of the house. We absolutely love the change!

In Bloom

Well, it's mid May and the sun is starting to shine with regularity, my flowers are finally blooming! Here are few pics of what's opening up in the garden:

I love the bright purple blooms on this flower - I am not sure what these are, one of my neighbor's gave them to me. They are gorgeous!














I have a ton of Asian poppies all over the front strip and around my coral bark maple, but this is the first bloom of the year. Isn't she a beauty - all sassy and red.



















My alliums are almost, almost there!














And of course, I cannot forget about my euphorbia - they'll have a separate post!

Parking Strip

Our house was simply referred to as the "pumpkin patch" house. I met a neighbor prior to moving in who said that people would steal the pumpkins on Halloween and throw them at cars passing by.

2 weeks before Halloween, we dismantled the pumpkin patch.

Forward to April 2007, I looked out of our living window and realized the former pumpkin patch was now a full blown weed patch. With the help of my in-laws and a rototiller, we cleared the unwanted vegetation and started on our garden journey. Since we had never planted anything before we relied on the help of my in-laws, my mother and my aunt for gardening tips and free flowers! We received a bunch of Shasta daisies, euphorbia, English lavender, butterfly lavender, Chinese lanterns, rosemary and two beautiful maple trees. We bought some coral bells and canna. Not bad for first timers!















After two years, we know what works and what works too much - Shasta daisies! We thinned a few things out, and added a bunch of other things.

Here is a picture I took today of our parking strip.