Fall is Here

Though it's still warm and doesn't feel much like fall yet, we're in the middle of our fall project of landscaping our backyard.

When we moved in, there were two trees in the backyard, one of which was a dead dogwood tree. The other is a silver maple. All that we managed to get done last year was to make the bed around that tree. We put in edging, killed the grass, and covered the area in pinestraw.

Here are some pictures I took last September:



So this fall we have finally managed to put in 8 plants in that bed. We decided to add a second bed along the fence on the other side of the gate to match the first one. We put in 9 plants into that bed so far and just need to find a tree that we like for the center of it. I've also bought lots of bulbs that I need to plant and then we'll be done!

Here are some pictures I took today:



Our maple tree has gotten at least 10 feet taller this year. It's trunk has also gotten A LOT thicker. Look at it's "stretch marks" ...


We also planted a camilla bush in one of the small empty beds along the back of the house. We have one other bed along the back of the house we'd like to add a few plants to if we have time. There are some yews in that bed right now but it needs something else in front of the yews.

Carter's been a trooper as we've often had him sitting in his stroller screaming at us to hurry up as we plant. He's not a big fan of being forced to stay in one place, but we all made it through. This past weekend we kept having to dodge rain showers. I got soaked twice when it started raining when we had dug a hole but not put the plant in yet. I made Brian take Carter in and I stayed out to play in the mud (it was actually fun) and finish up the plant we were working on.