Tralfaz

Tag: yard

  • Roses in our Yard

    Roses in our Yard

    Upon moving into our new house last year, we knew there was work to do to the back yard. As I mentioned in earlier blogs, the yard was a mess when we bought it. It was clear that the owners spent nothing to maintain, let alone spruce up the house, and the yard was a dump. We quickly engaged the neighbor who runs a landscape business to clean it up, but it took almost a year to get to a good state.

    ground eye view of our rosesWe did replace the two fences that were about to fall down, and fixed the part of the yard that never dried up, but we needed a little color.

    There were several rose bushes along the back fence, and we added a few to fill in the gaps. One thing about roses, and one of the key appeals to them, is that they are almost impossible to screw up. Water them semi regularly, trim them (WAY) back every winter, spray for aphids, and they just grow.

    loyaltyEasy peasy.

    And then they bloom.

    We also found this wicked cool garden statue (or gnome). It is a meditating dog, and it’s title is “Loyalty”. It is already in our yard, watching over our plants.

    It is a fitting addition to our back yard.

  • House Journal – the Fence

    House Journal – the Fence

    As we settle into our house, I will be writing about some of the work we have done. I have already commented on the plumbing work that escalated, now I will talk about the fences.

    fence-2One of the first observations we made when we initially looked at the house was that the fences sucked. Actually two of the three sides of our yard were in pretty bad shape (the back fence is actually OK and serviceable.) We knew we needed to have them replaced.

    Of course, there were complications. There always are. Both sides had/have large trees impinging upon the fence. One side, had a smaller tree, but a limb that was hitting the fence, the other has a giant tree (at least 60′ tall) with roots that are lifting the fence.

    The cool thing is that both neighbors are ecstatic to split the costs. The bad thing is that the larger tree is big enough that the city needs to issue a permit to have it removed.

    The west side is done. The slightly impinging tree has been removed, and on March 25th, the fence was replaced. The speed with which they tore it out, and replaced it was mighty impressive. It is solid, well built with new lumber, and I am sure it will be fully serviceable for a long time.

    The East side is still waiting for the permit to remove the tree, but it will be done soon.