Succulents and More™

Our siding project was completed 10 days ago. In spite of the hot weather, I was itching to get going to put everything back together — or maybe do a few things differently. Here’s the first renovated area I want to show you. I’ll have separate posts about the others. This it what this narrow strip looked like before the new siding: As you can see in the next photo, this area isn’t large, but it has high visibility (the second area with a yellow outline will be featured in my next post): My original idea was to plant a row of columnar cacti in the strip on the north side of the house, between the two air conditioners (on the right in the photo below). But seeing how this side yard is mostly utilitarian (greenhouse, plant racks, clothesline), I decided to set up another rack on the south side of the first AC unit and create a smaller cactus bed around the corner (bottom left in the photo below). The first step was to create a “raised” bed using Corten edging. I put “raised” in quotes be...

Our siding project wrapped up on Wednesday. To our amazement, the crew completed this massive undertaking in just eight working days. They worked long days: typically 10 hours, on Friday even 12 — in total, about 370 human-hours. They were like a well-oiled machine; everybody had their assigned duties, and it seemed that very little time was wasted on lengthy backs and forths. I’ve started putting the garden back together, but it will take some time. This is the perfect opportunity to make edits and move things around until it feels right. You’ll be the first to know when there’s anything newsworthy to report. Today, though, is the big day when I reveal the siding color we chose. I realize y’all have been waiting with bated breath, maybe even lying awake at night, tormented by not knowing. Wonder no more! But first I want to show you some of the colors we could have chosen but didn’t : Colors we didn’t choose Our color is included in these: We chose one of these colors Any guesses? S...

Before the grand reveal later this week (fingers crossed), here are a few in-progress snaps from our massive siding project . Basically, we’re having every square inch of the old T1-11 plywood siding replaced with pre-painted Hardie fiber cement lap siding, including all fascia boards and all trim. We’re hoping that we’ll never have to worry about things like dry rot — and painting the house — ever again, or at least not until we’re old and gray. As I mentioned in a previous post , a project of this magnitude is disruptive by its very nature. We had to move everything away from the house, including rocks, soil, and plants. What I hadn’t expected was that much of the available space in the front and back would be taken up by equipment. There’s so much stuff ! Right now, everything is in complete disarray. It looks worse than it is, but I won’t lie: living with this much chaos for 10 days has been a bit trying. But the end result will be beautiful, and that’s what I’m trying to focus on...

As I mentioned in my previous post , we’re having the siding replaced on the entire house. In preparation for this major project, we had to move everything away from the exterior walls — rocks, soil, plants, tables, etc. This in itself has been pretty disruptive, as you can imagine. But it’s also a good opportunity to make changes instead of simply putting everything back the way it had been. I have a few weeks to decide what to do. It’s been a while since the front porch has been this empty Last evening, before the project began, I did a quick walkabout, filming everything for a “before” snapshot: This morning, a crew of four began to tear off the trim and the sections of T1-11 siding that had obvious signs of rot or other damage. The south (weather) side in particular showed a lot of wear. Before I knew it, stuff began to pile up in the backyard: Of course my first thought was for the plants. Here’s a photo from an upstairs window. So many plants that could get knocked off or flatten...

The title of this post sounds dramatic. It’s because something major is about to happen: We’re going to have new siding installed, starting next week. What’s the big deal, you may think. Well, just like having your house painted, the project requires that you move everything, and I mean everything , away from the house. Plants, of course, but also rocks and soil. If you’re like me and you have garden beds that butt up right against the house, that does mean upheaval. The project will kick off this coming Monday. I’ve been stressing out about it — who wouldn’t! — but every time I do, I take a deep breath and look to the garden to bring my blood pressure down. Most people who visit come in the morning or early afternoon, but the front yard really is at its best in the early evening. Take a look: View from the front porch Where do your eyes go? Mine go here: Calliandra ‘Sierra Starr’, a hybrid between the Baja fairy duster ( Calliandra californica ) and the California native fairy duster...