our new property has a very heavy dose of silk trees, they are fluffling up pink everywhere~
pink is not my favorite color, but with so many silk trees by the guest rooms I planted pink in the area to compliment the trees. a dozen hydrangeas struggle under the weight of their heavy blooms, eager for me to get to them quickly with gallons of water daily!
bits of the old house are trickling in, I used to have what I called frog hill at the old house, the benches have been hopping over the hill to their new home here, now appropriately named frog holler, since they sit next to the canal. when we first moved in I was in the orchard and heard the oddest noise, I thought a cow was drowning in the water, turns out it was bull frogs, now I get the name, they do sound like bulls!
our benches are twenty plus years old, I gave them a new coat of fresh paint to spruce them up for their new home, but they still look very forlorn with no vegetation surrounding them, everything takes time when starting fresh again! I did get a kick out of the cement paint I used, I picked out green, but when I painted them they were bright blue, I was horrified, only to discover they do dry green :-)
I do look at these so fondly, I have sat on these 3 benches 1000s of times, our old house was nothing but steep hills, these benches were my lifeline, a place to rest every hundred feet as I plodded up and down those dastardly hills! its so nice we all can retire on level land~
we nestled this little brown bear bench between 3 old oaks
I am always smitten to see buffy as I circle the property watering, watering, watering...
the orchard is doing great, I planted about 40 different varieties of fruit trees, the deer poached all my fruit before I was able to get them all caged and safe, but I was able to pick a beautiful crop of apricots from an old tree on sight. everyday I take a handful of blueberries as I water, I can't understand why the deer are being so kind to me and ignoring them! our property is surrounded by an irrigation canal, there are several old grapes that surely must have there toes dipping deep beneath the canal to keep them cool and prospering.
living in California fire danger is in the forefront of anyone living rurally, I have spent countless hours on our tractor mowing the acreage, I love it actually, I put on headsets and listen to 2 audio books a day. one of the disadvantages to mowing is that I am killing so many wildflowers, I have seen countless varieties that break my heart as I chomp over them, all with the knowledge that I am trying to keep our property safe in case of fire. with temps over 100 degrees mowing should cease, but the wildflowers keep coming...
looks like a land shark to me...
the courtyard is coloring up nicely, Katie always enjoys stopping in a refreshing drink...
