Category: Landscaping

I’m sorry, I just couldn’t help that title.  “Y’all” is one thing that I have adopted here in the South.

Growing up in the desert of Arizona, seasons didn’t truly exist.  Technically they did but you never witnessed it visually.  I always wished we could see tree lined streets turn yellow with leaves.  Actually, there was one street in Phoenix, Central Avenue, that had trees lining it for about a mile.  I loved that street in the fall, but it wasn’t enough for me.  I love green and I love yellows and reds and Arizona was just 95% brown!

Now, I get absolutely giddy when September comes.  When the trees start slowly turning yellow, I immediately decide it’s time to decorate and burn the Bath & Body Works Leaves candle that is my absolute FAVORITE.  It’s the perfect combination of apples and spices.  I just ordered 4 and they probably won’t last the whole season.  Anyway, I’m getting slight off subject here.  As you know, landscaping is one of my loves and this is my favorite time of year.  The heat dies down and the air gets a bit more crisp, the bugs go away and the trees display their beautiful colors for a few short weeks.  Pumpkins and mums start to litter the landscape.  It’s just the most magical time of year to me.

I love pulling up all the scraggly summer flowers and starting anew with mums and pansies in fresh soil.  Pansies are awesome when it comes to cold temperatures.  It’s almost like they hope for the snow.  Snapdragons are also a great fall plant. It surprises me though, because my mother always planted them in Arizona.  It’s very possible that she planted them in the winter though.  Winter looked just like summer there.

For your convenience, I’m linking you up with a site that offers some great winter planting suggestions.  Happy planting this fall!

Ty

So I love green.  If you’ve been following me, you know this by now.  What I’ve come to hate lately is black – more specifically blacktop.  Out here on the east coast, asphalt is everywhere. Not sure why it was never big in AZ.  It was only on the major streets and highways out there.  Here it’s in my yard, well takes up a bit of space in my yard anyway.  I have a huge asphalt driveway and it’s pretty old.  It’s black, uneven, and cracked in many places which then pools up water when it rains and makes bigger cracks.  When it freezes it breaks apart.  It’s been bad lately but seeing as I’ll be selling my current home soon, I felt like I needed to make my beautiful yard the best it could be with a better driveway.  I didn’t actually get a before picture because I wasn’t planning on blogging about my driveway, but it was something like the picture below. Those are what you call spiderweb or alligator cracks.  They were hideous.  This was something beyond my green thumb’s capabilities.  A friend recommended Paving Columbia SC and I trust her completely so I went with them.  This last weekend they came out and can I just say – WOW.  My house looks amazing now.   Continue reading Green + Black

So lately the hot weather has reared it’s ugly head and with that brings the storms, which in turn brings the BUGS.  I hate bugs.  The gnats and mosquitos out here are out of control.  Remember, I’m from out west.  Very few flying-biting insects out in the desert.  Anyway, I recently heard about mosquito repelling plants.  Who knew?!  I’ll try anything at this point and I love gardening so this is right up my alley.

I’m moving into a new home at the end of the year…a home all my own.  This is my plan – hoard mosquito repelling plants and put them everywhere.  I found many articles on these types of plants but lets just reference my favorite selections from this one.

Citronella Grass – Not sure I ever heard of it but apparently it’s scented like lemons. And growing up in AZ with lemon trees all around, this will remind me of home. This scent naturally repels mosquitos or keeps them at bay.  Low maintenance is another one of it’s great qualities! This plant is gorgeous too! I love ornamental grasses. You’ll definitely see these in my yard.  I’ll be putting these them in containers all over my patios most likely.

Continue reading Green Means Bugs

I really am so amazed that you’re still following me. Thank you, thank you! Did you find my post on typography informative? I hope so. You’re so welcome.

In this post I will explain my last obsession.  I love green – like really can’t live without it type of love.  I live in South Carolina, but I was raised in the desert.  It was brown with rocks everywhere. I’ll talk more about that later.  But that’s why green is so gorgeous to me – I lived without it almost my whole life.

Is that picture above gorgeous or what???!!!  South Carolina is abundant in greenery. My neighborhood is still gorgeous to me years after moving here. However, the newer neighborhoods have been clearing all the land and leaving no trees!  It infuriates me!  Why would they take all those beautiful trees down? They obviously don’t know how lucky they are.  I’ve had to take a tree down myself, I’ll admit, but it wasn’t just for no reason.  My yard was beautiful but had too many trees crammed into a small space and one tree in particular had roots all over the yard.  The culprit was a River Birch tree (see below). It pretty much looked like the picture with it’s 3 separate trunks. Apparently they’re not great for yards and should stay close to larger water sources because they drink up water like crazy, killing your lawn.  Anyway, I told my landlord that the tree had to go so that the lawn could survive (also green!). He agreed. I had never seen a tree that large come down before. It was something I watched from my window for a good hour (just like squirrels when I first moved here).  I never really saw cactus removal in the desert. Tree removal is no joke though. Heights aren’t my cup of tea but somebody has got to do it so I called a pro.  Lexington’s Best Tree Service came out and they were awesome and very informative. The guy removing my tree had to climb pretty high and cut huge chunks down hoping not to hit anything below.  It was quite enthralling.  Now that the tree is gone, I still have 4 remaining and my yard just brings a smile each time I come home.  I love to garden and plant flowers.  When I have my own place, I will go crazy with local nursery finds and you can be sure to find them on this blog. Continue reading Green…anything green