Gardening, anyone?

Ananda, it looks lovely now! It's amazing what good landscaping can to to lift the curb appeal of a home. Love your house,the siding color is so pretty with the white accents.

Do any of you plant according to the moon? I never have, but I want to transplant a clematis and want it to take root well in its new surroundings, so I looked up some info on when to do that according to the moon phases and will try it and see if it works

Very nice start to your landscaping ananda. I am currently paying for using my hedge cutters last Saturday. Apparently I was not ready for that. Guess I will just supervise the spring planting/landscaping from here on.

Scottie

I miss lilacs. We always had them in NJ growing up but the ones in TX are not the same. My sweet husband posted some photos on FB this weekend while I was in FL visiting my mom about the pops of color coming up in our yard thanks to his wife. Very sweet of him.

ariom- beautiful pic of the birds. I live in Vancouver, BC, and am looking forward to starting a small container garden. That is all I have room for, but am looking forward to starting this hobby

Thanks all!

We are supposed to get some nice rainfall tonight into tomorrow, so I am in the yard today fertilizing my roses with Jobe's plant spikes. I don't often use fertilizer, too costly, too much work, but last summer one Rose had more green than blooms, so I thought I'd try the spikes on it and figured the grandiflora could benefit from fertilizer, too. So I just decided to give all the roses at least one round of food to get things started off right. I have a climbing red Rose that never flourishes, so I'll see if this helps that, too.

I'm also putting down Preen weed preventer so the rain waters it in.

Beautiful - it's like I can smell them from the photo.

I noticed buds on my lilacs just yesterday and today we are covered with ice and snow. So much so that all the schools have closed.

Ug. Good thing they are toughies.

Edited to add photo.

I've noticed any time things are blooming simultaneously, it works! I'm so excited, things are really starting to happen now. Planting my sweet peas out this week. Yay!

Thanks Lucy.Probably not - they are hardy.

Can't believe I just found this thread!

I've gone through four landscapers since we built this house ten years ago. Today I have only a handful of the plants they put in.

Last year, the drought in California was so bad, and our watering restrictions were so strict, I actually hired a landscape designer to educate us on heat- and drought tolerant plants. We pulled out all the thirsty plants, and installed high efficiency sprinklers for the small lawn, and a drip system in the garden. Unfortunately, we have a large lot.

In our back yard, though, the neighbors behind us had a row of 20 year old redwoods that turned the back into a beautiful shade garden with ferns and azaleas.

This past weekend we woke up to the sound of chain saws. Yep - the house was sold, and the new owners cut down and ripped out every single tree and shrub. Now I get to start all over again.

Looking forward to seeing everyone's pics!

Blessings, wow, cutting all those trees seems so drastic! Not to mention costly!

Blessings, Sorry about losing the trees. It's not like you can grow your own overnight. SIL lives in So Cal and says she's losing trees due to lack of water. She's doing the same thing about replacing thirsty with sturdy.

Thanks, Lucy55, DivineMrsM, Jackbirdie, and Wren44….

I admit – I was almost hysterical when I saw the wasteland that was left after ALL the plants were removed. But I met with the new owner, and found out that he is really nice.

His rationale for removing the huge redwoods were that they were planted wrong in the first place – in small, raised beds, leaving no room for deep root expansion. He was afraid that in a big rainstorm, a tree could fall on his house, or ours. And he’s right…. We are stuck with hardpan here, and trees really need deep, amended holes before they are placed. And you don’t plant giant redwoods three feet apart, no matter how nice it makes your yard look.

His plan is to replace all the trees with more sustainable ones. Yes, it will take a while for them to grow, but at least we’ll have something green to look at, as opposed to what looks like a dry Las Vegas suburb with no plants at all.

When he gets done planting, then I’ll fill in my side with new trees. Right now I’m thinking of some cedars we brought down from our mountain house years ago (in pots) along with a few Podocarpus trimmed up as trees. They won’t grow as high as the redwoods, but they’ll be evergreen.

Here is a pic from last year:

Our Japanese Maple is back!

Wishing all a wonderful weekend.

Blessings- it's so great you met your neighbor and had the opportunity to understand, and not steam. Well done!

Here's one of my little potted Japanese Maples. Just leafed out this week. I'm so excited! Spring us happening!!!!

Here is a more traditional one, a little further behind. I gave it two serious haircuts this year, trying to upgrade it from the Prince Valiant/lollipop lookto ..... I don't know... Obi Wan Kenobe?