Illustrations of Tina
and Mr. Bee

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I’ve been making an effort to spend less time in front of the computer and more time actually doing things outdoors. I wanted to beautify our small yard, and took it on the same way I would an illustration. I made it my outdoor art project!

This was the back yard before we did anything to it. Lame and ugly. I started a few months ago by weeding and preparing the area for future planting. Then I sat and compiled a quick mock up idea of what I wanted it to become.

David’s parents had already given us a patio set similar to the one in the image with a large umbrella, so the costs would be minimal to completely redo the yard. I purchased solar lights that I was thinking of putting in the front walkway and a few in the back yard, but it didn’t end up looking that nice in the back yard. I placed all of them in the front lining the driveway and walkway. The first plants to go in were asian jasmine, a ground cover that is basically maintenance free and very drought tolerant. I wanted to stick to easy plants that would require little water.

I planted 8 small asian jasmine in the area to the right that was covered with mulch. I also planted them in the walkway to our front door. It has been a few weeks, and they have not grown much, I’m not sure how long it will take for them to cover the entire area.

David resodded most of the yard with new grass, and I decided to add an area of crushed marble rocks to limit the amount of water we would have to use. Since the previous owners had left us several planters and pots I wanted to create a container garden area but didn’t like the terra cotta color of the pots. I found a wonderful aqua color spray paint and recolored all of the planters and pots, problem solved! The container garden went into the middle of the rocks to make it easily accessible and leave extra room on the small patio. (The previous owners had also left us a small bird bath in the front yard, which we moved next to the container garden)

I planted purple basil seeds into the large pot (1.), a grape tomato plant (2.), and a fragrant Jasminum sambac (3.) which is a real jasmine plant, unlike the asian jasmine (4.). The rest of the pots are empty, but I am planning to get some rosemary, mint, cilantro, and maybe some peppers after we come back from San Francisco.

Close up of the fragrant jasmine blooms.

And the small grape tomato blooms.

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