New neighbor

Earlier this week (Monday?), I heard the new neighbor behind the privet mowing, so I went over to introduce myself. I hope 'Tyler' did not think I was too nosy, but I did eyeball all the work he and his partner have done so far in their backyard: new shed, dead tree removal, drainage moat, fencing, etc. We discussed the privet: Tyler has plans to cut it all down to about hip height, removing the undesirables along the way. Huzzah! He sounds plant savvy. Later in the week, when I went to "mow" no man's land with the string trimmer, I discovered he had mowed that area for me; all I had to do was trim along the fence. I may now be the crazy lady in back, but I am happy to have Tyler and his partner as my new neighbors.

One area I have focused on this week is the south side of the house. Longtime readers of this blog may recall that the latest incarnation of this bed was as a prairie sampler. That did not work out very well, but there are still a few remnants of that effort, mostly aster. The dogs dug some massive holes along the foundation, so besides weeding, I am filling in those caverns.

The plan is to transplant the Northern Sea Oats and bee balm in the bed along the house; the two of them can spread to their hearts content. Opposite the house, along the fence will go the aster and the remaining prairie plants, plus iron weed, rudbekia, and coneflower, to be transplanted from raised beds. But first, bed preparation.

More recently, readers may remember that I tried to kill off the weeds along the fence by covering the area with semi-clear plastic. That did not work, so now I am using newspaper weighted down with cedar boards that fell off the raised bed frames when I moved them. This idea should work better.

Several years ago, I impulsively purchased a pagoda dogwood with no clear idea of where it would go or what I would do with it. Only after installation did I read somewhere that to achieve the pagoda shape, the tree must be properly pruned. My usual MO is to wait-and-see, which looks like may be a good strategy in this case, as the little tree appears to be layering just fine, with no assistance from me.

(The rainbow colored shed in the background is proof that spray paint that claims to adhere to ALL surfaces is lying.)

A few more pics from around the yard:

I may have to wait to remove the morning glory trellises, but I did something else to improve the view. After finding myself slouching in order to see anything, I trimmed up the nearby redbud tree. Much better.

My daughter came by this morning to get more plants for her yard: coneflower, rudbekia, yucca, butterflyweed, silver grass, more aster. Her car looked FULL when she left. Her soil is sandier than mine, her yard smaller and more shaded. She has a good eye for design and color, so I expect the results to look spectacular.