The Rock Island

This is the Rock Garden I was dreaming about a while ago. We got the rocks from different places and people, Craigslist and Carly's friend, Ashley, who very generously gave us some of the most beautiful ones.
This is the only part of the backyard that I can take full credit for designing and building. I decided to put small beds for ground vegetation, ferns and succulents.

The image is also an LDR.

JK

Cozzy Corner

This small patch is getting really pretty. The sod is starting to grab onto the soil, and it's growing like mad. Unfortunately I still can't mow it (one more week). The sprinkler system is built and working as we speak, it just needs to be buried.
The images are extracted from HDR files, tone-mapped and compressed into LDR images.
I have of course taken a liberal amount of artistic deviation with this images...

I hope you like them

JK

the old corner

This makes me so happy! we have reclaimed a large part of our lot by cleaning this corner first. Previously this corner was the Bermuda Triangle of the Torres State —the "scary backwoods" if you will; weeds were tall and sinister looking, things got lost in there, toys would mysteriously disappear within the dense jungle, the lawnmower was literally scared of it (we've gone through three of them already in less than a decade, all fell to the monsters in the "corner").
Mysteriously, the only creatures that dared to tread through "those backwoods" were Molly and Mia, our two valiant Labrador Retrievers.

We actually did this backwards; we should have installed the sprinkler system first —but we didn't.
I am sure it will be a bear later on trying to install it. Oh well, live and learn!
We planted orange trees on the side of the lot. In the bed that defines our new covey, Carly chose to plant butterfly bushes and Jasmine Bushes—they're color and aroma is just magnificent.
We have Daisy's and a gorgeous Japanese Maple —it's deep red contrasts beautifully against the green surrounding it, making it an excellent accent.
We still haven't decided what to do with the corner. Rumors —of water cascades amongst a green of ferns— are flying around the Torres household. Hmmmm!
I love the lawn, the sod definitely makes it. It has literally changed this corner into something quite beautiful. We are very happy with it. Now it's time to water....


JK

Next areas to work on...

These are the areas Carly and I will work on this summer. We will have flowers, bushes and trees planted in those areas. In the middle island I will build a rock garden with some awesome looking rocks we got for free from Craigslist. Yes, the white picket fence was build my wife so we can keep our dogs away from the garden beds we will be building in that side space. The kids are sad to see the swing go, but it's time for it to go. The pool will go in it's place.

JK

Spring has definitely arrived

I took these pics during a few warm days and nights in early May 2009.
Yes... we are trying to hide our air conditioning unit. I love the colors of the flowers surrounding it. I do not know the name of the vine with the scarlet flowers, all I know is that they are absolutely beautiful. The little tree in the pot is a Fig tree that was given to us as a gift. We will try to keep it as a bush and not a tree —I've read that they can easily grow up to more than 100 feet in diameter and cause severe foundation problems. The vine growing against the wall is a cousin of the Curuba plant, the flowers are gorgeous and quite alien looking, their aroma is to die for.

JK

spring is here!

Some pics of the kids on Easter Sunday morning. The wild grasses are coming back dressed in their most beautiful green. (it wont last long). The flowers are starting to show their colors. Happy times are coming! yay!

JK

...after the storm

This is what happened to our "little prairie" after heavy rain and wind descended upon Pleasant Hill.
As you can see, the clay ground wrecks havoc —even on the hardiest of grasses— by not allowing the water to drain fast enough. These pics were taken 2 days after the storm... it would remain like this for another week or so after that.
Not the very best place to do landscaping! We will have to fix this drainage problem before anything else.

JK

These are some pics full of color. The purple flowers are a species of ground cover that Carly placed in one of the flower beds in the front. They were taken in early winter 2008.

JK

These are pictures I took of our backyard last winter. This is before Carly did any landscape work. Like I said, it's a pretty natural yard, I call it "our own piece of prairie".

JK

A New Beginning

This blog is dedicated to the amazing landscape work that my beautiful wife Carly has masterfully designed for our home's yards. As many of our friends know, our small home is in the middle of a pretty big lot. It's got a large front yard and a pretty sizable backyard. Through the years they have been a place for family gatherings, birthdays, and yes... some unbelievably crazy parties.
But just as we grow up, so have our yards. Behind are the days of the Woodstock type of parties —that left our yards scarred and muddied beyond recognition.

Our yards are naturally beautiful as the rainy season starts and the Golden State turns into a luscious Emerald green. But once the summer heat starts, our natural grasses (read: weeds) turn into dry chaff, and the yards turn into an unsightly deserted wasteland.
This has obviously bothered us for many years, but as we all know, landscaping is a pretty expensive proposition —specially in areas with clay soils like this one. With the limited resources we've had through the years, landscaping our yards has been —for lack of a better word—a "labor of love".
Slowly but steady, Carly has worked her magic onto them. Starting with the front yard, and then working in small areas of the backyard. I call them our Oasis's.
Our yards are far from perfect, we still have a lot of land to cover, but we believe that eventually they will be completely covered in beautiful colors and textures.
I will do my best to post our latest changes, so you can see the transformation from Woodstock-wasteland to magazine cover material, while still working under budget.

Cheers and happy gardening!

Juan Karlos