The beginning of the Arroyo (dry river bed).  The path chosen will deliver run-off rain water to the far end of my yard.  The "island" in the middle is a white Oleander.  Beneath it, I planted mimosa, and a pyramid-shaped sedum.










The far end of the yard has Chinese Loropetalum, Lily turf, Croton, Bugle weed sausages,
Sea Grapes, and a variegated Bougainvillea.

Now all.......... I have to do is dig out and level the pavers. 

Patio Phase 2
I found this GREAT DEAL on pavers at the RE-Store.....enter... the next Big Idea...
Those pavers would make a great patio!!!  I started digging....and digging...and moving the dirt in my Gorilla Cart to other ends of the yard.

Somewhere I read that you should put down landscape fabric first.  That was wrong, as hindsight is enlightened;  I know better now, but I'm NOT going to dig out the 6000lbs. of gravel I hauled in AND compacted.  If you look closely you can see that I dug too deep.  At that point I realized I needed another 3000lbs of gravel.  The thoughtof hauling and shoveling more gravel was too overwhelming. So there is sat for 6 months.

 In Florida, summer is the rainy season.  This gave me another great idea........  Lets build an outlet for all that water!









 Later I had the bright idea to put boards up to show where I wanted the top of the pavers and establish the slope.  The boards were even at the time, but winter set in and there they still are.  Since then, I have decided to hire a professional.  Doh...............

But the river is working. 




 ..

A Garden Visitor

The Florida box turtle. He is  a respected native in Indian River County.  When our hospital was trying to expand, they found a nest of these guys in the area they wanted to pave for parking.  They had to buy land for them and  move them to their new habitat.   Some laws are smart.  I am glad he visited my garden.

Water Herding

Once the retaining wall was up and performing it's function of keeping rainfall in my yard, it was time to address the pooling water after a rain.  In the first photo above, you can see the back of the house and all the junk it collects.  In addition to junk, when it rains, the paver patio by the grill would be under water.

This gave me my Second-Big-Idea.  I need a large patio that will channel the water away from the foundation.  Once I started digging, I couldn't stop.  There is something very therapeutic about digging up sod and leveling the ground.   The pavers above channel water from the down spout away from the house.

One Year Anniversary

Just about a year ago today, I embarked on a project that by now, has all the characteristics of an addiction.  What started as a landscaping project has become a patio, river/arroyo, rock garden, bridge and woodworking projects galore.
But addiction-schmadiction.....  it has been fun.


But a year ago, my yard was like all the others in the neighborhood.  We had about thirty feet of scraggledy Bahia grass that was steeply sloped to send all  run-off water to the swale.  The Bahia grass was mostly crunchy from lack of moisture but the weeds in the ditch were lush, green and five feet tall. Since our lawn is not irrigated,  any rain we got went to feed the weeds in the ditch!  That was when  I got my first big-idea.--  "A retaining wall would help me keep the rain that falls on my property."
  

One Hundred and Fifty Feet later, I had a retaining wall with plants and mulch.  When choosing plants, I explored drought tolerant and native varieties. My goal is a living fence.

 This is locally known as a coral tree.   My daughter named it the Dr. Seuss Tree. 

Toffee the cat, patrols the perimeter for lizards.