They promised us RAIN.

[jedishampoo]

It hasn't rained here in over a month! We are starting to hit drought mode here in Indianapolis, even though it's usually thunderstorming every day this time of year. Well, every week we get promised thunderstorms, possibly severe, and every time they just go on past us. Sigh. Every day I go out and spend 45 minutes watering everything I've planted but I don't bother with the grass, because everyone's is dead, not just mine.

Anyway, here are the pics of what I've been doing in the back yard!



I made a post a few weeks ago about the front of the house, which is colorful and green, with geraniums, pansies, petunias, lantana, fuschia, and so on; one of my neighbors told me my yard looked like "Shangri-La." Awww! Here's a quick pic of my entryway, with my pride and joy (that giant geranium in the geranium red my grandmother used to love in her yard):


Anyway, the back yard needed serious help because of that awful, weed-covered hill and the horrible patio with half-dead birds-nest bushes around it.

I dug up the birds-nest bushes -- sorry, no pics -- and discovered yucky, half-rotted landscaping timbers underneath them. No wonder I had termites! My yard is termite heaven! Anyway, I dug those up (ewww) and we cut up the roots and had a stump removed and then we (mom and I , that is) started with the landscaping blocks. Here are a couple views of the patio progress:





Whee, I love it! It's only been done a couple of days and already I have nature visiting my new little garden -- birds, chipmunks, and squirrels. And hornets, but those die as soon as they come within three feet of my house. I'm sorry, and I'm sure they serve a purpose in nature, but I do not like them and they scare everything else away.

Now the hill. Mom and I put black landscaping fabric down last fall and it's done well at keeping the weeds down. But ... it's black fabric, eww? So I've started putting some pretty little multicolored juniper bushes into it:



Both sides, now:



Now ... the bigger part of the hill problem. POISON IVY! I have a dead tree on my side of the property line with poison ivy growing all up it:



Look at the root -- the hairy roots are terribly poisonous, just like the leaves, and it's at least an inch and a half thick!



Even if I cut off the root (very carefully) and kill it with Roundup, the leaves up top will die and fall and put poison ivy all over my yard. What the heck do I do with this thing? Move the fence so it looks like it's not on my property? ;)

Anyway, that's about it. Thank you for looking!! Here are a couple more hydrangeas, just for the heck of it:





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Comments

[whymzycal]

Your yard does look like Shangri-La! I want to come have a tea party on your patio, dammit, and revel in the gorgeousness of it all! You and your mom are doing such amazing work in your yard. LOVE IT.

I'm with ya on the hornets and poison ivy. EEW. VILE. I have no idea how to get rid of poison ivy safely. I just know you can't burn it.

[jedishampoo]

Wheee, tea party! I just bought the ingredients for bubble tea (the black milk kind), and made some for me and Mom. It was NOMLICIOUS, just like the Chinatown stuff in Las Vegas. Mom's eyes lit up when she tasted it. You like that stuff?

Please come get rid of my poison ivy for me, Whymz! You're right about the burning -- apparently it can infect the inner lining of your lungs if you breathe in the smoke. EWWWW.

[whymzycal]

I don't think I've ever had bubble tea, actually. o.o

I wish I had a magic wand I could use on your poison ivy, darnit! Alas, I don't. I haven't the slightest idea what to do with it. Maybe wait until fall when all the leaves are off it and then kill the root and pay someone to come in and haul the nassssty itchy branches away for you? Unless it's a freakish evergreen. We have poison oak out here, which is deciduous.

[rroselavy]

Oh, I love potted geraniums, they are just so beautiful. I love the smell of them, too! Urk! poison ivy?!? For that, I would probably bite the bullet hire someone professional to eradicate it. I've suffered from poison ivy. DO. NOT. WANT.

I think the hill will be lovely when the juniper starts to spread.

Thanks for sharing the pictures. The front yard is gorgeous and the back yard is coming along nicely!

[jedishampoo]

I know -- geranium leaves have the most wonderful smell!

i've thought about hiring someone, but the cost will probably be a lot. It's on the top of a steep little slope. Next to a fence. Covered in poison ivy. Eeeeek!

And thank you, lady! ♥

[rachel_riecheru]

Wow what great photos! You're garden is beautiful and I am sure as you spend more time there it will become even nicer!

I'm sorry to see/read about the ivy.... oh dear... are there people that remove it as a paid service? they might have special tools to kill it at the root and then snatch it from the top before it falls? maybe have the entire tree taken away if its tainted... *hugs* good luck with it!

[jedishampoo]

There are people who will remove it, probably for a few hundred bucks (if I include having the tree taken out). It's just that I need to find the money! :)

Thank you so much -- I do spend a lot of time on it, heh.

[despina_moon]

Oh -- that's awesome! Well, except for the poison ivy and hornets.

Your yard is huge (and your house is soooo cute!!)

A good freeze will take care of the hornets (if they aren't too deep in the ground) but I got nothing on the poison ivy. :( It's not an invasive species, is it? Maybe you should check with the Dept of Agriculture because that thing is HUGE!! No, really. They might have ideas.

[jedishampoo]

Whoops, I missed replying to you!! Well, seems a poison ivy that huge is normal. As in, I gotta take care of it somehow. I'm thinking professional, though -- once I get the money. :)

And thank you!! :)