Why?
Because I worry that it's not going to look natural or that it's going to look like those yards where people thow random plants in and/or yard ornaments and it looks stupid.
I spend a lot of time running in our neighborhood and it always pains me when I see the yards that it's obvious that the owners spent a lot of time and money on it...but it looks awful. As an example - the yard that did alternting red and white stone edging. Good in theory - apauling in practice. And having priced out the stone edging, not an inexpensive endeavor.
We're currently dreaming about how to redesign our backyard. It's new to PC's thought process to even garden - nevermind working on the backyard where only we will see. But, although I like to keep up appearances, I think the backyard where we cook out or read or hangout, is equally if not more important.
Here's out recent front yard endever - it was night and my photography skills leave something to be desired...
Course, I could be being influenced by all the home design shows that argue a nice backyard is a selling point. (Though my coworker just bought a home and commented quite a bit on the nice gardening in the backyard too...so who knows).
We've started putting in some backyard hedges to create 'walls' between us and the neighbors. But now we're talking about putting down pavers, staining the cement slab that already exists. Primarily as a way to put the grill somewhere a little more out of the way. We're also toying with the idea of where to put a hammock (which PC already owns but that lives in the garage).
Last night I came up with the brilliant idea to do some terracing since there's an extreme slope and a good deal of errosion going on. The cost and work related to actually building a retaining wall may be prohibative. We'd also love some sort of shade - perhaps an awning or large umbrellas or a pergola like this (note: not our house)
But alas, perfectionist that I am...we continue to dream...and I find our new little hobby gratifying, but somewhat stressful. In the meantime, I signed up for a 5k for the primary reason that you get a free tree for finishing it. PC is considering it. I've convinced a coworker to run it as well and donate her tree to us. :)
The things we do for our home.
*Ps., using the new blogger interface seems to have no spell check. Why?
I use other people's gardens as inspiration. There are certain houses in the neighborhood that I design my walks around to see what they've done. In the end though I tend to just go to the store, buy what I think is pretty and go from there. So you'd probably hate my garden because it's eclectic.
ReplyDeleteDoing a garden out back is totally worth it. We did one for the last two years--last year being the best--and it's nice to sit out back grilling, eating, etc and see all the pretty landscaping you created.
I can't see your pictures for some reason... oh well!
ReplyDeleteI was going to comment about the spell-check issues... that bugs me too.
Hmmm, maybe we should contact google. It's irritating.