Our yard is pretty happy this year. This New Zealand Tea Tree (leptospermum scoparium) looks really good - I've only witnessed more bloom once and that was about 5 years ago.
A close-up. The red is gorgeous.
Just down the street, a neighbor has this bush...it is very happy this year.
Just awesome.
And though my phone can never capture the color quite right, our bougainvillea is having it's best year ever! The red is even more impressive in person.
Our front, the colors and textures make it a pleasant event to take out the trash.
By the front door we grow strawberries - looks like we are about to have a bunch!! It is a lot of fun to reach down, grab a few, and pop them in our mouths as we walk to the car.
Star jasmine is about to flower!
This part of the yard is still developing. I've nicknamed it the Enchanted Garden.
The orb on the left we picked up while wine tasting outside of Santa Barbara. Every few months I buy and throw down some marbles to liven up the gravel a bit. And the reclining fairy is a new edition from a few months ago.
It is fun to watch kids run up to take a closer look after they notice the marbles from the sidewalk.
Not sure what we'll add to this area next, but we'll stick with the theme we have going.
My Oklahoma redbud is doing okay this year, but I've definitely had more blooms in prior year. I discovered the roots had broken through the bottom of the container and were growing under the shed, so I cut them off at the base of the container. The tree is not happy about that.
We've had a drainage problem at this corner of the yard for awhile. So we decided to dig it out and add in a few drains. We discovered that at the far end of this photo it was mostly clay and large rocks - not good for water drainage or growing grass.
So we hauled 2,200 pounds of clay to the dump and are replacing it with much better topsoil.
In the process we also discovered a leaking irrigation line which was contributing greatly to the moistness in that corner. We should be good to go now~
