The Patio Life

This is my patio. I'm particularly pleased with it because my landscaper, Tim, created it from an offhand comment I made. It went something like: I want a livable back yard with heirloom or native plants but I want to make it from mostly found or repurposed things and plants because eventually I will enlarge the house and I don't want to have to tear out a lot of stuff. And the yard is soooo deep, that it'll have to be done in stages.

A couple of years ago, Tim took the concrete pieces you saw from the driveway and made the patio. We put in two tea olives (I just know heaven smells like tea olives), sweet shrub over on the left, saw the yucca in the space beyond the fence (still my yard, was not stealing I promise) added pachysandra and moved some ferns from the front to the back and some Lenten rose from the back to the front...

Tim's a genius...he created all this inside the existing row of azaleas which are beautiful each year. They look a little spindly right now because a pine limb fell and tore out a section (they're just out of sight of the photo-which is a merge of 3 to show the whole patio, sorry it's not more elegant). Stones that edged the back of the lot have been brought up to make the pebble walkway on the left. And the sod roller left behind by the original owner is in the top right corner, sort of like a bench.

The yard has just been refreshed with pine straw, the beds top dressed and maybe most exciting, I signed up for mosquito control. Now I can enjoy my yard without being a walking buffet.

I think I'll add some creeping herbs between the concrete pavers and some white impatiens, and my budget for this year will be maxed out. But it's fun to make little changes along the way, and see how they add up, isn't it?