North side yard

On the north side of our house, we had previously cut down an ugly interior oak that was spreading crap all over our yard and the neighbor's driveway.  The stump was still there, but this week we decided to work on getting that out, and remove the cypress that is along the house.  Both of these were problems that contributed to our plumbing problems early on - roots growing into the system.  Besides, there are also problems in the sprinkler system on this side of the house, and it's a struggle keeping any grass growing.  So I want to rework the plantings to remove the ugly cypress and put in some low-water alternative plants, and some mulch or gravel.

Here's how it looked when we closed on the house:

We've taken out the tree at left, and the cypress are NOT look as green as they look here - rather, they are kind of rangy and dead looking, especially near the base.  So - Dale fired up the chain saw and cut them all down.  Now it looks like this:

He's in the middle of diggin up the oak stump, and I've got the 6 hedge stumps going.  It's hard, sweaty work and my hands are so tired!  I've got one left to go but he's got a ways to go on that tree stump still.  We should finish this evening

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Because we don't really get to see this side of the house often, I'm not going to put a ton of money and work into it, but I would like it to look nice.  The neighbors will likely be walking a bit on it as they get in and out of their car, since it runs alongside their driveway, so a gravel base or path of some kind is a smart idea.

I like the concrete stepping stones here:

I also like the taro plants and the large, tall wall of green, but that's probably not going to happen.

The tall cactus here is kind of fun.

 

I like the decomposed granite with the stepping stones and the tall blue grasses.  

 I also like the concrete pavers with the large black stones in between.  I also like the big pot, but again, that's probably not going to happen!

So - back to work getting the last of the stumps out, then I have to dig the grass up and create a base for my gravel, mounding the dirt against the house.  Since we've been getting so many free plants, I'll probably just get this ready and see what comes up!