New landscaping next steps

Yesterday while I was sitting in my office a butterfly came and basked on my window. Basking is when a butterfly perches on something in the sunlight and opens its wings to get warmth from the sun. It was a cheering sight. It helped spur me on to keep going with my landscaping plans. I took this picture. I was a little too far away to get a good shot. But here it is. See if you can spot it. 

I hope to get a big rock or two as part of our new landscape for them to bask and “puddle” on. “Puddling" is when butterflies congregate on mud or damp sand to extract minerals and drink the water. There might almost be enough dirt on my window for puddling but of course being vertical there’s no water! 

I’m glad that even before I finish my landscaping they are willing to bask on my window anyway.

Speaking of landscaping, you may be wondering how my landscaping is going. 

Slow - is the word.

So far, it’s mostly in the mental stage. I think the mental work is the hardest. My husband might disagree. But that would be because he doesn’t know how hard the mental work is. I don't know about most people but I find that mental work includes, in addition to research and making decisions, a lot of lifting and digging up things like fear, worry, perfectionism, and “what will the neighbors think.” It feels much harder to me than lifting rocks and digging planting beds.

But I have done other things too, besides ponder, worry and procrastinate.

Yesterday I wrote to a designer, Val Nolen, that my friend Susan recommended. A few minutes ago, she rang back and we made an appointment to meet next week.

Last week I took a series of photos of the house to see how much sun and shade our yard gets throughout the day. Here is a compilation. The top left photo was at 7:30 a.m. The last photo at the bottom was at 5:55 p.m.

According to my calculations:

The part of yard along the foundation gets about 4 hours full sun (some parts more or less). The front half of the yard (closer to the side walk) gets about 7 hours full sun. The "nature strip" between the side walk and street on the side closest to the mailbox gets 7 hours full sun. The "nature strip" between the side walk and street on the side closest to the fire plug gets 6 hours full sun.   

I have also been reading books, watching videos and sketching out rough ideas.

We recently also took a walk around our neighborhood to see what other people are growing and how they have arranged their front yard (for my Aussie friends “yard” means garden.) It was nice to see that even simple designs and plants can look appealing. I was also intrigued by how many people have added patios in the front of their homes. I've always thought it a shame that most houses in our area were not built with porches. It's nice to see that so many people seem to agree and have decided to create their own. 

Other things I want in our landscape in addition to a sitting area and butterfly and other wildlife friendly plants, is that it will look nice, be low maintenance, drought tolerant, cold and heat tolerant, with a mix of perennials and evergreens that will provide year round interest. If you're not familiar with the concept of year round interest, it basically means that it won't all just die back to bare dirt or dead twigs during the winter. I also want a walkway that will go across the front of the house that will connect with the walk ways we already have along the side and in the back. We also hope to plant another shade tree or two but of course it will be a while before they will provide shade.

It sounds like a lot, but I know it is possible and I am looking forward to meeting with the designer next week. I'll keep you posted as to how it all goes.

Thanks for coming along on this adventure with me.

Feel free to share your landscaping experiences or suggestions in the comments.