Shelter to Sanctuary: Rainy Sunday

If you've been to our house you know that our front yard is not in the best shape. Yes, I've seen much worse, but ours needs a lot of work. For those of you who haven't seen the yard at all or in the daylight here is my description: The yard is surrounded by a chainlink fence, which is, in my opinion, the most uninviting style of fence aside from razor wire. The yard is only about 40% grass, the rest being large patches of moss, weeds, and dirt. In one corner there is a large stump that needs to be gound down. Another corner is home to two sickly twisted rose bushes that have only produced curled brown leaves covered with black spots and holes.

The front porch clearly had a flower bed planted along its front at some point in the past. The remnants of the garden were long gone when we moved in. The cheat grass and dandelions had gladly moved into the untended beds and are now slowly creeping back into the rest of the yard. I've been planning for a while to get started on the yard but I haven't had the time, motivation, energy and I kept telling myself I should wait for Spring....until yesterdy. On a quick trip to the grocery store I spotted some Ornamental Kale. I decided this was the weekend that the transformation must begin.

When I woke up mid-morning on Sunday it was raining. Drat! After several cups of coffee I convinced myself to go down to the City People's store and pick out some plants to supplement the two kale plants I had selected. I purchased some grasses (a varigated green, and deep purple), two purple heathers, a trailing rosemary bush, a lavender bush, and some Cedar Grove compost. I couldn't get a picture showing the front of the house because of the rain but I'll add one when I get a chance. If you would like to know the specifics about any of the plants let me know and I can send you the details.