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| Front Yard |
Thank you, everyone, for your very kind comments on yesterday's post about the back yard and the paintings. I signed up for next Monday's painting class, today; we will be painting purple wisteria flowers!
Today's photo is of the front yard. Curb appeal is seriously lacking, but, that doesn't seem to matter because I receive unsolicited inquiries from real estate agents, asking if I am thinking of selling my house, almost every week! There seems to be a huge demand for houses, in my area, and the prices are crazy!
I let the grass die during the most recent drought and have not attempted to have it grow back. The big tree trunk in the middle is the eucalyptus tree. I am not growing many edible plants here, but, there is a pomegranate bush that is just out of the photo at the left (you can see a branch from it, though), a feijoa (pineapple guava) tree on the far side of the house, and a small rosemary plant in the planting bed along the drive way. There is a row of lantana bushes growing along the sidewalk on the right of the photo and some yellow flowered euryops plants around the base of the eucalyptus tree. Otherwise, the front yard is devoted to succulents and osteospermum which happily self-seed and grow wherever they please!
Among the succulents, the aloe plants that were grown from cuttings from M's garden are flowering:
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| Aloe Flower Stalk (mostly buds) |
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Aloe Flower Stalk (flowers opening)
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The hummingbirds love to sip the nectar from these flowers.
I spent a relaxed day, today. I walked in the garden and up and down the drive way for 15 minutes and took these photos, washed the other two wool sweaters that I had knitted for myself a couple of years ago and lay them out flat to dry and did two loads of regular laundry. I also ironed a few items that needed ironing and started mending a table cloth that had a small hole in it (didn't finish mending it). Daughter had meetings all day (or so it seemed; there were at least three online meetings) so I tried not to make a lot of noise. That's my excuse for not doing any housework, other than the laundry and putting away the dried clothes, etc. Later, I ran the dish washer, washed a few other items by hand, and scrubbed the sink.
Neighbor S had texted daughter with the recipe for making the grain filled dolma and saying she was making the cheese filled puff pastries and would we like some, but, we declined. Lunch was the last piece of cottage pie which daughter and I shared. Dinner was the last of the salmon I had cooked earlier in the week. I sauteed carrots and kale to go with the salmon and daughter had rice with it, as well. Tomorrow, I want to try making a fish pie for dinner (we have some bechamel sauce to finish up!).
Today, I am grateful for:
- Neighbor S sharing the recipe for the grain filled dolma and offering us some of her cheese pastries
- Working appliances
- Having a garden
- Being able to walk without pain
- Relaxed days
Today's joyful activity was spending time in the garden.
Plans for tomorrow include taking some of the purple mustard greens to friend N, along with the containers she sent the meringues and other treats during Christmas, and taking some lemons to friend R. (Friend N didn't want any lemons as her daughter has a lemon tree in her garden.) Later, M will be here to tend to the garden.
How was your Thursday? What are your plans for Friday?
I am so glad you have good neighbors! Wonderful plants in your front yard. Do you think you will replant grass at some point? Or is it not worth it?
ReplyDeleteReal estate is crazy here, too. xo Diana
Thank you, Diana; I have some very good neighbors! I don't think I will replant the grass in the front; it takes too much water! I would like to put some stepping stones and bark mulch or something, eventually to make it look a little more "bare by design"! :D
DeleteLoved seeing your front yard. You may not have grass but you have definitely found what is appropriate for that spot in your climate. When you fight mother nature you rarely win - your front yard looks lovely.
ReplyDeleteYou've been getting some rain, I hope things continue to stay nice and green for you.
The succulents and osteospermum certainly do love your front yard.
Thank you for showing us your front garden.
A lady who's blog I read (set in Devon England) often makes fish pie. I've never made it. She buys a pre packaged mix from her fish supplier so I'm not sure exactly what's in it or if it's pre spiced but it looks good when she makes it! lol
Thank you, Debra. :) I have mostly drought tolerant plants in the front garden. I do want to do a little bit of xeriscaping and put some pebbles or bark mulch to cover up the bare earth; something to discuss with M.
DeleteI've seen several different recipes for fish pie. My mother used to make one with a mashed potato top. My daughter wants one with a pastry crust (like a pot pie), so that's what we are going to try making. I'm going to use some of the frozen pollock that I have on hand. We'll see how it turns out!
Do you have any plans to cover where the grass has died away, either extra planting of ground cover plants or maybe gravel? Your front garden is bigger than I thought, even though I've seen a photo of it before ... I only have a narrow strip to separate my house from the pavement and tend to think it's the same for everybody!
ReplyDeleteProviding a quiet environment for your daughter to work from home and 'attend' her meetings is the perfect excuse for not doing any housework. Make the most of that while you can!
I haven't really been able to get going today (Friday) so haven't done much at all so far. I did an online nutrition class this morning and that's about it so, after lunch, I think I need to make a bit more effort to avoid a completely wasted day.
I do want to put some stepping stones and put some sort of ground cover (maybe bark mulch), eventually. Need to talk to M about that.
DeleteI am taking full advantage of daughter needing a quiet work environment for as long as I can! :D Because, once she's back in Berkeley, I won't have an excuse, will I?
You are not wasting your day; you are resting your knee! :)
I think your yard looks quite inviting with the green popping up out of the brown. Do you water you flowers or are these varieties that are well adapted to your climate?
ReplyDeleteThank you, June. The succulents will do well without much watering, but, the osteospermum do need some watering - once a week or so right now and at least twice a week in the summer. They are at their best in the spring.
DeleteWhen I saw the photo of your front yard, I could imagine balmy air and the scent of flowers! Not that our yard isn't beautiful with sunshine and so much snow on the trees, it is just rather cold. I love the Aloe flower photos. They remind me of the Canna Lilly that we had on our deck in summer. The hummingbirds liked that, too.
ReplyDeleteI braved the cold (-25C or -13°F) and went for groceries. There were plenty of people out, I guess we are tough up here!
Well, it is rather balmy today, sunny with a high of 76F! We are expecting the hot Santa Ana winds, today, with a high wind advisory in effect. I planted some cannas in the back garden, one year, but, they didn't do too well.
DeleteOh, well done on braving the cold (and that is really cold, too!) and the snow to go for groceries. Yes, you definitely have to be tough to live in that climate! I probably would not survive! :D
You have such a beautiful garden. The flowers on the aloe look glorious.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lyssa. Those aloe flowers are quite eye-catching, aren't they? :)
DeleteI like your front yard as well. I think xeriscaping is a great idea. You don't have to do much, just as you suggest in a reply. I love wisteria. I built an arbor on my garage and planted a hardy blue wisteria, but it died after a year. It turns out acid had leached from the old concrete into the soil there, and nothing grows there. Now I just put out pots in that area. I used to do ribbon embroidery, and made my mother a small bag with wisteria on it. That was long ago, and I don't know what happened to it. I hope you have good weather this weekend to enjoy your lovely gardens, Celie
ReplyDeleteThank you, Celie. I spoke with my gardener, M, today, about the front yard and getting some stepping stones and bark mulch. It'll be a project to work on, this year. Oh, an arbor of wisteria would have been so pretty! If you still have the arbor, maybe you can plant the wisteria in a big pot instead of in the ground? I'm sure that embroidered bag would have been lovely, too. I have admired ribbon embroidery, but, haven't tried it! We're having some really strong winds blowing, right now, but, the forecast says that the weekend will be sunny and warmer. Looking forward to that! Hope you have a lovely weekend, Celie, and stay warm!
DeleteLove the flowers! They are so beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sharon. They bloom for quite some time, too, with a few individual flowers opening up, each day, until all the flowers on the stalk have opened up.
DeleteYour house is very nice and I like the front yard. I don't think it's lacking curb appeal at all. I don't blame you for not wanting grass, especially during a drought. I would put down some crushed rock where all those bare spots are, grass is too much trouble. Do you ever entertain the idea of selling your house? Especially with so many inquiries from real estate agents? Or is that your forever home? We go back and forth whether to sell or stay put. Denise
ReplyDeleteThank you, Denise. I want to put some bark mulch down, but, crushed rocks will work, too. No plans to sell this house; not yet, anyway! Maybe, one day, if my daughter decides to settle down in the Bay Area, permanently, then, I might want to move to be closer to her. But, houses in the Bay Area are even more expensive than houses here! We'll see how it goes. :)
DeleteThat's really nice to see your home and front yard, it looks lovely. It'd be good for us to move house and buy one with no stairs to tackle but I wouldn't have the energy to do the move so we will have to stay put now.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Eileen. Stairs can be a problem as one ages; one of my aunts had a chair lift fixed when she couldn't manage the stairs, but, another aunt had to turn her dining room into a downstairs bedroom. My house is a single story house and I am glad!
DeleteYour front garden looks so peaceful and lovely! I love aloes and would love to grow them okay for our summers but our winters have a little too much rain.Bark sounds a good option as grass under eucalyptus never is entirely successful, suck any moisture out even in our climate.
ReplyDeletebeing quiet for your daughter is a good excuse for leaving some of the housework, when she leaves you could say you didn't want to wake up Dancer, lol!
Bye the way, your photos are lovely.
Thank you, Sharon; yes, the eucalyptus tree was almost as bad for the grass as the drought was! Oh, I am already using the excuse of Dancer sleeping when I want to vacuum! He is terrified of the noise of the vacuum cleaner and I never vacuum when he's sleeping! Nor do I change bedsheets if he's sleeping on my bed! LOL! He has me well trained!
DeleteIt looks like your efforts in both the front and back are paying off nicely. I certainly envy your weather, as we were kept inside most of the past week.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Susanne; the garden is coming along. I think this might be the year to do up the front a bit more! The weather is nice; I really can't complain. :)
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