When Jeff and I bought our first house in October 1993, we knew that the house would need some 'sweat equity', like getting rid of the dull dark brown color, getting rid of the 10+ boxes of garbage (including dirty diapers) they left in the garage, removing a jacuzzi frame left when someone took the jacuzzi, etc. We've also repainted the inside, replaced the carpets, retiled and wallpapered the front entry, added French doors to the formal living room area, put down wood flooring in the kitchen and breakfast nook area, wallpapered the second bathroom (it still had the wallpaper from when the house was built!) and updated the master bathroom with a new countertop, wallpaper and floor tiling.
The previous owner's taste in landscaping was awful...we've left very little of the original plants! In the front yard, we've added an automatic sprinkler system and decorative lighting, as well as boxwood, daylilies, dwarf periwinkle, caladiums, gardenias and azaleas (around the side of the house on the left side of the photo) and mums in the 'island' under the tree. As you can see in the photo from Oct 1997, it's a start.
We do have some problems in keeping plants alive through the burning Houston summers as the front of the house faces west. The squirrels have eaten the caladium bulbs, the gardenia and azaleas just didn't like it's location after the first year, it's still struggling. The dwarf periwinkle gets burnt every summer. We've divided the daylilies, and replaced the perimwinkle with Mexican heather. My parents were getting rid of a couple of trees from their yard, so I added one by the mailbox, our mailbox is now almost hidden. The other one I've planted in the back yard. Here's how the yard looks today (June 2002)
The back yard was a different story, it had a large pine tree, two oak trees, three crepe myrtles, a holly bush and two very large pampas grass plants. Well, the pine tree, holly and pampas are history. We also removed one of the three crepe myrtles, if I could easily get to the others, they would be gone too. I know many people like the crepe myrtles, I'm just not one of them.
Here is after we've removed a lot of the mess (you can see one of the remaining crepe myrtles in the left corner and if you follow the branch to the right then look in the grass area, you can see what is left of the pine tree stump):
We decided to make about 2/3 of the back for the kids, with green grass, a swing set, etc. The other 1/3 of the yard would be for entertaining and my 'oasis'. We've added a small fence planted with climbing roses to divide the area. Work started on the 'oasis' last summer (Summer 1997). Summer is not the best time to do this type of work in the Houston area, but we did it anyway. The results were a pond half in and half out of the ground and a biofilter that would eventually have a waterfall hiding it.
As with all ideas, the plans changed and we decided to add a lower pond and a stream. It didn't work as easy as it sounds. The pre-form pond was a pain to level and back fill and with the first heavy rain the pond started floating. So right at Christmas time we ordered a permalon liner from Reef Industries and expanded the hole making the lower pond larger than it was originally. The lower pond has several shelves in it for plants. In this picture the algae has started to bloom, the water lily isn't up yet, but the yellow snowflake is floating, new leaves came up within about two weeks of the photo. We added about a dozen feeder goldfish (12 for $1) to the lower pond and kept our fingers crossed.
We've cut up yard timbers for the outside edge of the planters. So far we've brought in 2 cubic yards of planting soil mix, but we still need about 2-3 more yards. There are four potato vines growing across the back fence. An apple tree and a patio peach tree were added off-season but I'm not sure that they survived the winter, neither of them are showing any signs of life.
In the photo below, the apple tree is very difficult to see, it's by the upper pond and to the left of the filters. The shaded area next to the upper pond, is planted with two varieties of hostas. In the shaded area next to the lower pond, I've added some daylilies that were divided from the front yard.
I will definitely be adding Wild Sagittaria, and Louisiana Iris. Other plants I haven't decided on yet. The areas on the left side towards the back of the picture of the picture to the right will be built up with more soil and then planted.
It's been a couple of years, a lot more soil and heavy labor, but the pond area has greatly changed. For the most part I'd say for the better! The apple tree died. But the second tree from my parents was planted in the back of the blue filter in the previous photo. My son and I planted some bulbs in the daylily bed and a tree came up instead. We hadn't planned on a tree in that spot, but it has worked out wonderfully. I'd planted a couple of varieties of mint (chocolate mint and pineapple mint). I had to transplant the hostas to a shadier corner and added a spider plant or two and a couple of ferns. We've added rocks to make the waterfall and planted a heavenly bamboo to to right of the waterfall, a spider plant and a shrimp plant to the left of the waterfall. More Mexican Heather has been planted in the planter that connects to the right side of the waterfall as well as a 'butterfly' bush. In the planter where the apple tree had been planted there has been 'Katie Ruellia' growing. These seem to spreading to other planters either by wind or by birds. We've added a trellis entranceway which during summer is crowned with Cypress vine.
Here is a picture of the finished waterfall:
Here is where the stream feeds into the bog and lower pond:
Here is the bog and beyond:
