Not all dirt's the same.
Not all dirt's the same.
The natural soil is very sandy and pretty sterile. We wanted to replace all the flat yards of pea gravel with rolling mounds and contour the open spaces. All this takes a lot of dirt.
Two dumptruck loads made for a good start. I think we'll need another .
We were able to re-use our fountain.
Luann picked up a nice fountain back in San Jose and insisted we bring it to the new house. Good thing, it's the centerpiece of the front patio area and the running water echos off of the wall to fill the front part of the house with a relaxing sound. It's hooked up to a switch inside the house, as easy to turn on as the porch light.
Marcos mounded the dirts and worked with Lynn on placement of
the rocks and flowers. Nice job.
We saved some of the old.
At the corner was some cactus with lots of character so we
decided to leave it. Marcos trimmed and shaped it up and it
looks happy and healthy again. With fresh mounds of dirt and
more boulders between it and the fountain, the plants make
a nice transition from the street to the front patio.
First plantings.
Foxglove is colorful, pretty and the deer won't eat it. The right side of the driveway is planted with foxglove, garlic and other plants that do well with the shade of the redwood tree.
This is an area Easter Lillies always bloomed in the spring
and we're looking forward to a nice mix of colors
View across the front yard.
There were some hedges planted next to the pine on the corner
and it made pulling away from the stop sign dangerous. We got
rid of the hedges and now there's flowers and low plants so you
can see oncoming traffic. It also gives a nice view across the
yard and up the second fairway.
The Old Porch.
(A new porch, I thought I was getting a new Porche!).
The Front door is set back in a corner and when we had junipers
along the side, the porch was burried into the house. We took
the junipers and the old planter box out to open it up. The
steps will be extended out and covered with Lompoc stone. We
wanted a look that was more inviting without doing any construction
to the house itself.
The Front Path.
Connecting the front porch and patio will be a path of Lompoc
stone. This is were the junipers and red brick were. Luann's
layed out a nice meandering path and there will be rolling
mounds of flowers on both sides.
The two pictures of the side give a little closer view of the driveway and the start of the planting. The cement mixer is for the stucco on the walls. It squeaks all day long
