I finally got the first album together on the transformation of our yard from a boring city lot into a California native plant wildlife habitat. If for some reason the pictures don’t load, you can go here to see the whole album. I tried to get after shots from the same angle as the before ones.

Most of this was installed in the fall of 2008. We already have tons of bugs, bees, native wasps, butterflies, worms, lizards and birds. I can’t wait to see what we have after it fills in.

All the hills and berms were created with the dirt they excavated for the new driveway. Weeds have been very few and easy to manage. Before we planted we put down newspaper or cardboard and then after planting we added 4" of mulch.

What we started with. the fence was falling apart. The Mayten tree lost branches in every storm and offered nothing for wildlife. The lawn sucked up water like crazy.

From Before/After

After, new fence. New paver driveway, unsealed, to allow water to seep in. Downspouts run from the roof, under the courtyard and out to the dry creek. New roof which meant new gutters which are larger than the old ones and will collect even more water. No lawn but we got a rebate from the water district for taking it out.

From Before/After

Backyard corner before. Old fence. Diseased citrus trees. Rest of the plants offered nothing for wildlife. More thirsty lawn,

From Before/After

Same corner, after. I still have to dig out the dirt under the glider to level it. A clemetis will climb the arbor as will a pipevine. There’s a new hedgerow planted at the back fence.

From Before/After

Backyard before, facing my office. The Japanese Maple tree is the only thing we kept. the path went nowhere.

From Before/After

Backyard facing my office now.

From Before/After

Standing on the back stoop before.

From Before/After

Standing on the back stoop after. That’s Cassie’s hill where she likes to rest and survey her kingdom.

From Before/After

Another view from before.

From Before/After

Same view after. The wax myrtles against the fence will be a continual feast for the birds and a great screen from the blecky neighbor.

From Before/After

Sideyard before.

From Before/After

Sideyard after. Filled with dogwoods.

From Before/After

Front before. so much cemener and no way to hide the ugly motorhome that never moves.

From Before/After

Same view after. We can’t take down the fence because it is in their driveway but the lattice will soon be covered with native grapes and the Ceanothus Ray Hartmans and Toyons will get tall enough to block the view.

From Before/After

More before and afters here .

The writing will come later tonight, when the house is quiet. 

Earlier today I did some repotting of plants in the front courtyard. When we moved out of our rental house a year ago, it was hard to leave a first native garden. It wasn’t very big but it was our first. So in a fit of attachment disorder anxiety I potted up whatever I could to take with me. The intention isn’t to have a courtyard full of native plants (and actually it will be the one place that I plant the exotics) but for now it has become the nursery because it is easier to take care of them all together in one place. 

It’s a mess because I just tossed things in the few pots we had on hand together so there are tons of things that really need their own pot. There are several pots of hummingbird sage with multiple plants to be divided. Some buckwheat. blue-eyed grass, a bit of black sage and a few more plants that I can’t remember and have to look up.

Today I tackled just one plant Dichondra (the type of which is in question.) A few years ago Erin at Native Revival gave me a little 4″ pot of this when I asked her for something to grow between stepping stones that could take light foot traffic. It was the most forgiving of plants at the old house. I planted it between stepping stones in full sun, gave it water and it took off. When there was a plumbing problem and the drain guy dug up a bunch of it and just dumped it in a pile and basically buried it, it found its way to the top of the pile.

It was the last plant I went back to grab before we moved. There was just this one clay pot and I dug up a chunk and left it alone. It filled the pot in no time. This morning I divided it into 15 small pots. This is what is left but I ran out of pots for the rest of it. I know it doesn’t look like much now, but you have to imagine a blanket of it on the ground – lushness all around. Trust me. It will be good.

I would rather be doing the actual planting in the ground but at least this helped me feel a bit more connected to the garden. And perhaps, a little bit more like the main character in my WIP.