Pear Tree

Deb’s House Concerts

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Pond Plants

Deb’s House Concerts

Where Is The Pond?

What I should ask is, “Where should it be?” I have a few plastic ‘ponds’, but I don’t know where to put them. At this point, I’m thinking I’ll try to incorporate them into my ‘enchanted forest’ somehow. I just don’t know how or where to set it up.

Fish and Flowers

Pond plants produce some of the most beautiful flowers. And, a well-kept pond can be home to fish, too.  I want both. I just need to figure out where to place the pond, and how to pump the water. (My preference is to use a solar-powered pump.) Do you have any suggestions?

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Giant Mushrooms. UFOs?

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Did You Say Hammock?

Deb’s House Concerts

Oh, Yes! I Love A Hammock!

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Building a Living Privacy Fence

Deb’s House Concerts

Privacy Fences

I’ve lived in this house for several years now, and I’ve toyed with the idea of building a privacy fence.  I had a privacy fence around my little back yard in Tulsa, and I loved it. It kept me out of my neighbors’ business, and it kept them out of mine. I could lie in my hammock any time of the day or night. I could mow on my schedule and not on my neighbors’ schedules. My animals could be outside with me and have the run of the yard without anyone complaining.

Growing a Fence

In Tulsa, the fence already surrounded the yard when I moved in. Here, my yard was surrounded by a chain link fence. I told myself it would be rude to move in and immediately build a tall, wooden fence. So, I did nothing. But, I still love the idea of having my own private space that’s just for me and not for people in ten other houses and two or three streets. I still kind of feel like it would be unneighborly for me to put up a big wooden fence. But, for some reason, I don’t feel like there is anything wrong with growing a fence!

The Beginning of a Screen

I’ve cropped a photo of the trees, because the ones in the middle also included the house next door. Obviously, my living fence idea is in the early stages. I can still see people next door, and next to them, and the next street. But, the little trees I (so unkindly) ripped out of the ground on the fruitful side of my yard are doing a good job of at least pretending to be a living fence.

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Early Days in the Enchanted Forest

Deb’s House Concerts

This photo was from the end of July. I had already pulled these little trees out of the ground on one side of my yard, all volunteers, and transplanted them to the lower side of my yard. It did not occur to me that they might not live through days with high temperatures in the upper 90sF, but they did (7 of 9 lived).

The Metamorphosis

This little section of the yard went from being grass, to having three blueberry bushes mulched in 4′x4′ frames, to having a row of little shrub starts to grow a hedge, to having nine trees. That’s when it was dubbed “The Enchanted Forest”.  By mid-August, the grass you see in this photo was covered by wood chips as the forest grew.

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The Beginning of the Enchanted Forest

Deb’s House Concerts

Back in the spring, I planted three blueberry bushes. I placed a 4′x4′ frame around each one. Then, I mulched inside the frames and put down wood chips outside the frames. Sometime after the middle of  June, maybe closer to July, I decided to create a hedge by transplanting the little volunteer shrub trees that were growing on the other side of my yard.  Here’s how they looked, all in a row.

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Garden In Progress

Deb’s House Concerts

Blue Chair, Yellow Chair

This is a garden in progress.   The garden area did not exist in mid-July, except for the bushes in the box frames. The photo was taken in mid-August.  The chairs face a green back yard, with pear and cherry trees, and a butterfly bush, surrounded by a fence of trees. Mmmmmm.

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Chinese Flowers

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Chinese Garden At Night

I don’t know what kind of flowers these are, but the people I bought them from were from China, and they called them “Chinese flowers”.

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A Dog Loves A Hole

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Crabgrass Is Amazing

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Learning From Crabgrass

As annoying and time-consuming as it is, crabgrass still teaches by example. Think of how tenacious it is. It is determined to live, and it takes a stand wherever it goes grows.

Growing Through A Log

I’ve been trying to clear out some crabgrass recently. I didn’t think to take a photo of the crabgrass growing under the bark and pushing the bark off of this log. But, look at this! This grass has grown through a hole in one end of the log, and it’s growing out of a hole in the other end. Now, that’s resourceful! Wow!

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Clothes Line Yellow Jackets

Deb’s House Concerts

Fresh air vs. Painful Stings? Hmmmm.

I don’t use that clothes line anyway, but I probably should. I don’t think I’ve felt or smelled sheets dried in the sun and fresh air in decades!

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Catnip Onions Pear Cherry Butterfly

Deb’s House Concerts

It’s like a class portrait in my back yard. The catnip is in the foreground, too close to the camera and blurry. The onions are right behind to the right and left. On the back row, you can see the pear tree, cherry tree, and butterfly bush.

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Catnip Bee

Deb’s House Concerts

Cats aren’t the only ones who like catnip. I was delighted to discover that honeybees and bumble bees all like it as well.

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Three Birds in the Catnip

Deb’s House Concerts

My tiny catnip plant, planted last spring, has gone wild. It is now taller than I am, and much wider, too. The bees love it. Sometimes there are 20 bees buzzing around, moving from flower to flower. On this particular morning, the birds enjoyed it, too.

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