It's been ages, probably years since my last post. Last spring here I finally got around to painting the house in blackboard charcoal, almost black. The results frankly were all I had envisioned and more. Since we now have some greenery to frame the house, the popping effect works all the better.
We feel we have come so far in terms of progress with the yard that we're now even worrying about flowers! And we had quite a lot of blooming this summer. The gauras, both massive patches, have been a 6-month source of happiness. We had them chopped recently and they are still blooming.
The tulbaghias, both a purple patch and a white patch, are still in bloom and developed quite some volume after their spring planting.
The yellow broom retamas that we have planted outside our fence in large numbers, probably over a hundred, have grown large on the portion along the road, and to my surprise have been blooming since the spring. I guess it's the sprinklers... In the picture on the top of this post, behind the pool solar panels, there's a massive mound of retamas in bloom... Those were there before us...
The oleanders, also more than a hundred, are in different stages of growth, but the ones around the house are quite bushy and healthy, about 4 to 5 feet high and 3 to 4 feet across, and also had a very happy summer, thanks to the drought.
We have amassed quite a collection of ornamental grasses whose names I don't remember. Some varieties have thrived and grown massive, to 6 feet in height and produced a dense wall. One that stands out is the leymus blue dune, which is low in height but has an amazing spiky look and a fantastic blue-grey color.
Lastly, we have become obsessed with growing vegetables, especially tomatoes. We had quite the variety this summer, and particularly loved our green, black and yellow tomatoes, and all the delicious squash and zucchini (many varieties) that we ate all summer. The peppers we're finally getting to understand.
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| Barbi hard at work on our tomatoes |
