The Abutilon are blooming
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And the Japanese Wisteria finally popped...just in time for a late hard frost last night. Didn't appear to hurt anything in the yard, but I wasn't expecting it.
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= new reply since forum marked as read
It looks like we have the same bird house, nice colorful backyard you have too. 
That's actually the front yard. My backyard is "as dry as the hills of Gilboa" as the old saying goes. 
I actually had it nicely landscaped about twenty years ago, but my health went south on me for a couple of years and it suffered as a result. I'm doing better now and as soon as my leg heals up a bit more I'm going to go out and start putting in some raised box beds for veggies and cutting flowers. I'll run brick in between, and xeriscape the rest.
Hope you enjoyed your birthday.
That is actually the front yard. The back is...eh, less lovely.
This year is the year for the backyard. I've built a couple of nice sheds out there for gardening stuff and storage. As soon as my leg heals up a bit more I am going to build raised boxes/beds for veggies and cut flowers, with brick paths in between. Then I'll xeriscape the rest.
This is Hildegard, who has helped me through most of my recent round of projects:
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And this is how the front looked before this recent incarnation:
The original front I put in, 25 years later...
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Tore almost everything out and started over:
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Replaced the old brick with concrete:
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Then did a bunch of planting. The back will be harder because I'm older now, and suffered some health setbacks over the last couple of years.
I esp. like the macro shots. But all are wonderful! I'll bet the wisteria smells divine...
The wisteria smells lovely, and a tree rose which is hiding behind it is starting to bloom. It had over thirty buds on it last I looked, so it should be adding to the display within the next week.
Not enough to have any effect on our drought, but enough to remind us that "rain" is really a thing.
Should freshen up the yards a bit.
Hang in there Curmudgeoness, Spring/Summer are coming!
and on down into the southeast. The hills around here have that same vibrant green during our rainy season, but everything grass-like turns brown afterwards.
Then we get big fires.
Stay sane through all the rain!