Front Yard Amazing Flower Update

Two years ago, we took the plunge and ripped out all our grass! Living in Southern California, trying to keep our front yard grass green was not only costing us a small fortune, but just not smart for our living area. We have drought conditions and we just can't use all our water to keep our yard pretty - and it was city mandated! We are only allowed to water our yard one time per week on a specific day, from October through April. We are only allowed to water two times per week on specified days from April to October. So, keeping grass green when it's up in the high 90's, low 100's, wasn't working! That's why we ripped out our grass. And it turned out AMAZING! Today I wanted to share an update on what our yard is looking like two years later. 

The Fountain of Succulents!!

If you've been an OMF follower for even a short amount of time, you may have noticed that I kinda like succulents! It happened just a few years ago...out of necessity. It's HOT on our deck and growing pretty flowers was just difficult. I want to show you another succulent project I did recently. The Nester is having a party - plant party - and this is my favorite kind of plant!

It's an old fountain - not even a very good one. It's plastick-y. Not sure what it's made from, but it's not cement. My hubby bought it for my birthday several years ago.

The problem came up that the water here isn't so great...you know, very hard water. So, it would splash on the side of the house and it ruined the old sliding glass door and the walls around it {this was the only picture I could find of the damage}.

Since we JUST put all new doors and windows in last December and then had the house painted, we didn't want to leave the fountain in that spot. Although, it is beautiful to listen to the water from all over the house when the windows are open. We couldn't come up with any other place that would be any better. And, to top it off, when we moved stuff around to paint and have windows put in, it sort of broke a bit!

My sweet Hubby took it apart and disconnected the motor. Then, he took some rubbery/elastic caulking in a gray color {it didn't really matter since it would be covered up by dirt anyway} and caulked the pieces back together and the back cover {in the middle picture}. 

Once that was dried, I gathered my necessary supplies to complete my task! Cactus soil, a big pot of planted succulents and my handy dandy tool {pictured on the right}. The succulents were a good price for a pot full potted together - so I took my tool and split them apart a whole bunch. I also bought about 8 or 9 other tiny pots of succulents.

I took medium sized rocks and put around the middle of the fountain, then used the cactus dirt, and last I set the plants around it to see how they would look. I was trying to get different contrasting colors and textures. My advice is to buy plants small - really small - cause they are going to grow, at least here in Southern California they grow a lot!

Once I planted them, I dressed the soil with tiny pebble rocks. They keep the dirt from coming out and really make it look finished. It's worth that little bit extra time and money to put those on top, don't you think?

And now, here come the succulent shots. I just love them and they just look so beautiful.

Every one of them is so unique and amazing. Happy planting!

 

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California living....my garden in bloom!

Yes, I must admit that living in California has it's perks! It also has it costs, though {smog, traffic, and high cost of living}.  One of my joys is working in the garden, which is what I have been doing the last couple of weeks, when I've had the chance.  The first daffodils have sprung up in my front yard...

Pretty daffodil!

Weekend inspiration: Flowers and pretty things

Just wanted to show some pretty things in my garden that have been blooming.  I love living in Southern California, as we have flowers blooming much of the year.  It is also quite hot here and our deck is VERY hot in the summer.  I had to finally give up on putting pretty flowers on the deck because I was watering twice a day in the heat.  No fun!  So, I started growing succulents.  I water them once a week!  Oh, is that ever so nice!  I also have a beautiful bougenvilla tree that is pretty heat tolerant and has beautiful blooms.  So, enjoy!

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Weekend inspiration in the garden

Well, here is some more from my parents' house.  My mom's garden is beautiful!  I grew up in San Jose, CA but my parents moved down to Santa Maria in 2000 and have created an equally beautiful garden there!  I grew up with a good sized yard - for California - where my mom had a beautiful rose garden, a shed covered in a climbing rose, a gazebo that my dad built just before my sister had her wedding reception, and a gorgeous wood deck off the back patio with a roof covered in wisteria!  So, when they moved to Santa Maria, they basically had to start all over again.  Well, they've done it!  Here are some pictures to prove it!

Here is the view out their back window onto their u-shaped patio - in Santa Maria they get winds every afternoon, cold winds.  So the u-shaped patio helps to buffer that cold each day.