One Room Challenge spring 2020!. My back yard transformation is in progress! Read more about the One Room Challenge and follow the blogs of other participants here.
Firstly I would like to thank my sponsors Beyond Floors.Net, Starfine Furniture, Seasonal Living and of course Savour Partnership for all their publicity
Today I am sitting outside looking at my yard and enjoying the vision of what is to come. It rained last night so the temperature is a cool 72°F/22°C. I know that for some that is summer but for us here in Southeast Texas it is a cooler day.
Hard night’s day or something like that
Whew! Lots of hard work this week! Not so much by me but yes it was hard work!
This week I laid out the walkway and had the flowerbeds dug. We had to remove the lawn, roots and all, to make way for the beautiful flowerbeds to come.
Flagstone anyone?
Figuring out the flagstone was a hit and a miss. They sell flagstone at the local garden supply store for 19c a pound. Sounds cheap but if you think that I had to buy 400 lbs of flagstone for that small walkway it sounds ridiculous! I had to load it in my car too because the gardening center only delivers if you buy by the pallet. Thank goodness I got the Hubs and the Mushroom to help me. (If you don’t already know, the Mushroom is my teenage son who now keeps himself in the dark most of the day and is very rarely sighted during daylight hours unless he needs to dash to the fridge). I have breathed deeply through all of that and have accepted it. Om.
What plants to buy?
The harder part was to decide what plants to order from my local native grower. I find it difficult to make decisions when it is my own budget I am dealing with. As I have said in my previous post, which you can read here, my new flowerbeds would be between 2 of the trees in the back yard. That area gets a lot of shade in the morning and some parts get afternoon sun. Here in Texas that means it gets very hot in the summer and I have to choose versatile, adaptable plants.
Here are a few shade loving plants that I looked at. The garden that I laid out for a client years ago made me love uncommon shade plants. I also wanted plants loved by butterflies, bees and birds. I wrote about it in a previous blog.
Here is a reminder of what I started with:
Here’s what I am thinking
I laid out my plants so as to let my workers know which part of the lawn I wanted them to remove. Yes that big black thing on the left is my dog who loves gardening! She is also my rather lazy office assistant except for the days we throw a football!
Work in progress
They dug up the walkway and now reduced size flowerbed. We laid down landscape fabric for the walkway to prevents weeds from grown through. Then we put down course sand and of course next will be the actual walkway
Here is a glimpse of the walkway after we laid it down with sand. We have done some planting but I am not ready to reveal that until next week when I will give full details of the plants. We planted early so as to the give the plants and opportunity to grow and flourish before the final reveal!
Task for the week
I have a sponsor, Beyondfloors.net for the tile for my porch. The hardest thing for me is to find the tile that I want. Availability and shipping is a problem too.
Next week I will also reveal what I did with my beautiful Seasonal Living helter skelter vase!
Participating as a guest in this One Room Challenge Spring 2020 has made me focus on my own project rather than start and never finish!
#beyondfloornet #seasonalliving #ORC #bhgorc @betterhomesandgardens @lauraflora
Hi Ilse! It’s looking good…but wow, what a lot of work!
I am so excited, though, that Laura Flora of Beyond Floors Net, here in League City where we both live, is sponsoring your tile. I hope you can find one that you love, and that is in stock and avail. to ship now!
I look forward to watching your plants grow..and seeing how you use Seasonal Living’s HELTER SKELTER large ceramic vase in your final reveal!
Thank you Leslie. I am so excited about the tile from Beyond Floor net. I think we found one!
Landscaping is so. much. work. It’s looking great, Ilse! I can’t wait to see more!
That’s a lot of work! It’s why I keep procrastinating on my front porch redo. Plus, it’s hot here in south Texas! We got some of that rain you did the next day. It was nice.
Christina, yard work is not for sissies, but for me the alternative is too boring. Let me know if you need help with suggested plants that you will not see everywhere and that are native.
Love how your flagstone path turned out, Ilse. Hauling 400lbs in your car sounds like a real bear though!
So cool! What a difference this will make to your back yard experience. Looking forward to seeing the next update!
Thank you!
I love Flagstone, it’s going to look gorgeous! And I can relate to “the mushroom” haha! I have two teens that do the same, but we call them the vampires lol.
Haha you know what they do with mushrooms!
Nice transformation!
Send your workers my way! I could use some help digging.
It’s looking great. Can’t wait to see all the plants.
Haha I would live in a desert without workers!
Fantastic, Ilse! This will be a delightful change! Love how you’re bring the patio out in your garden. You’ll live it!
Thanks Carla, I am already loving it and it is not even finished!
I can’t think of a better “room” to work on! Looking good…and I’m looking forward to the progress.
This is going to look so great Ilse! I look forward to reading about the plants you chose!
Love the extension of your outdoor room Ilse, I also need one now!😀
Can’t wait to see what you do with it, and I am sure all the birds, bees and butterflies will love it too since you try to take care of them as well as make it beautiful!
I am so impressed that you did this yourself!
Thank you Jillian!