I Love Tea Cups

I Love Tea Cups

Sunday, January 29, 2012

My Back Yard Before and After~2011


Hi Everyone, 
I hope you had a great weekend.  I did. I had a spa day on Thursday.  You know the Hair, Nails, Feet and some new makeup thing. I've been planning this post  for a long time but I had to go back into the old photos and find some photos of our house when we first bought it in 1969.  I didn't take as many photos then.  And, Yes! in was 43 years ago.
Our house was a Cal Vet Repo... and yes they even did repo's in the 60's. Our house was 800 sq feet.  No water or Sewer and black linoleum on the kitchen counters.  I know it's the stuff that is suppose to be on the floors. We got a deal.  I loved the property and it was in the country then but now we are right in the middle of the city.  Go Figure.
There was a water well and thank GOD for that.  Because we are still using the well to water our entire yard.  We did hook up to the city water and sewer before we moved into the house. The rest of the story about our house remodel is HERE

Before 
How it was then


Cute kids and our dog Lady
Our son Tom is 12 and our son Pat is 9. They were wonderful  young children.  Helping with the yard work and building a fort in the back yard for their entertainment.  We also had a chicken coop with 23 hens and the smaller white building is the FORT. We had a very old oak tree right outside our house.  Someone thought it might have been a 100 years old.  It sure had a lot of leaves. In 1990 the tree came down with some disease and we had to remove it from the center of our planter box.  It was so beautiful.


The digger pines are dangerous and our property wasn't usable with so many trees.  My sweetheart removed all of them.  He sold the lumber to the lumber mill for railroad ties.  The tin building is where the garage is now and the pressure tank is inside the garage behind the outside kitchen in the following photos.


My children read my posts and I thought they would love to see their young dad playing on the mini-bike.
I think he is around 28 years old. 

After
and how it is now


I'm standing on our patio to photograph the back yard.  Our yard is 120' wide by 260' long.
When the pergola area is landscaped this spring our entire yard will be finished.  We have an automatic water system for all the flower beds.  The vegetable garden is still watered by hand, but that's not my JOB!


We have an outdoor kitchen and the Wolf range is covered for protection against the winter weather.  The well pressure tank is just behind the stove.  Remember the tin building?


When our children were small the entire yard was in vegetable garden.  As the children grew up and left home and I went to work we didn't need a large vegetable garden and sweetheart and I started to develop the flower borders and planted the rest in lawn.  My sweetheart mows the lawn every Thursday all summer long on his riding lawn mower.  Flowers have always been my passion.  Being 1/2 English it feels very natural to play in a garden.  I love Roses and Perennials and after visiting England and Scotland where the lush flowers
grow I'm so inspired to have my own English garden at My Cozy Corner.


This is May and the Roses are blooming.


This is in July and the Black-Eyed Susan or Rudbeckia  are  in bloom.  They give a great show for months.  And during the hot summer when every other plant is gasping for life the Black-Eyed Susans just bloom and bloom.    






This is part of the inside area near the patio and kitchen.  I have to protect the tender plants in the patio each winter.


So as I sit here on this cold January evening remembering the wonderful years I've had developing this great space.  I know one thing for sure.  There is peace and joy as I study the flower beds and plan what I will change in the summer of 2012.
Thanks for visiting My Cozy Corner.
I will be joining:
Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday
The House in the Roses for Show off Your Cottage Monday
Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesday
A Delightsome Life for Home and Garden Thursday
and 
My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday
xo
Betty
P.S. Thanks for your wonderful comments


18 comments:

  1. Such a pretty yard now! I wish I was a gardener, but I was not gifted with that gene. When we had the backyard landscaped back in the fall, I told the architect to give me plants that didn't require much attention, if any! LOL But after having seen this and another garden I visited today, I am re-thinking colors and more plants. We'll see..... You can see my yard here. Visiting from Susan's blog. :-)

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  2. How lovely! I have gardened for for 20 years on everything from half an acre plot with great river loam to a sandy Florida lot to my current clay postage stamp lot on a steep hill. If you really love to garden you learn to adapt and change over time which you have done beautifully.

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  3. This project is awesome! I love a comfortable outdoor space! It would be super cool if would come by today to enter my giveaway for a $50 Lowe's gift card and to link up to my very first party! http://thespacebetweenblog.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/imagine-the-impossibilities-link-party-1/
    Karah @ thespacebetweenblog

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  4. My mind has been spinning lately with how to do our front yard makeover. I hope you will check in on me in a few weeks as I start the process and give me some ideas!

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  5. Wow! Your garden is gorgeous. You and your hubby did a great job. The flowers are just beautifil an I love the different colors....Christine

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  6. You have done a beautiful job on your garden.I am anxiously awaiting spring-I am ready to plant!

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  7. Amazing job! love the large trees that you have too! I host a garden paty (starts up again in May) hope to see you share this post! love the garden beds...sigh, if only spring would arrive here soon! xoox, tracie

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  8. What a beautiful yard and property! I loved the look back and how far you've come!

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  9. What a wonderful story because it has its own history. It's beautiful and I can see your English touch.

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  10. Beautiful yard. I love a manicured green lawn and you certainly have a nice one. Weeds are quickly taking over here. We must do some major work this year and replace the sod out front if we can. Thanks for sharing at Wow.

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  11. Your yard is beautiful!! And I love all the history you have there!

    I am slowly adding in flower beds each year and trying to recover a lawn that was basically non-existent when I purchased my home. I hope someday to be able to look back at all the work I put into my home like you have. :)

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  12. What an inspiration! Can't wait for spring! Your hard work has paid off beautifully! Well done!

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  13. lovely! and a lot of work. I did take some pictures of our before. Our home is 50 yrs. old large lot and with the garage 1300 sq. feet. We put in a small pond and waterfall . We used a whiskey barrel made for ponds with the preformed spout for water to cascade out. I really like the sound of water so my husband had a friend weld copper waterfountains and we put them in faux large pots and drilled small holes at the top rim and put copper wire through and it holds the neck of the copper fountain. I am not sure if you have any birdbaths or hummingbird feeders but that is a must for any size garden! I have upgraded our one and only bathrm. to look 21 century. I was necessary over remodeling the kitchen. I would like to redo the kitchen but the cost is unreal! We did have skylights put in yrs. ago. Enjoy your garden!

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  14. Hi-
    I'm so impressed! I love the before and afters! You've done wonders with the yard. I love your English styled gardens. I also have a garden blog called Sit With Me In My Garden I have a link on my page at the top for it. www.sitwithmeinmygarden.com Anyway, my husband and I have done all our own work too so I appreciate what goes into it! Your outdoor grilling area looks like great! Liz

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  15. What a beautiful yard! Exactly the look I hope to achieve someday. I wish I could just live in an English cottage with a 100 year old garden, but sadly, I can't!
    ~April

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  16. BETTY, what a great place, lots of work but i know you love it, hope to come and see it in person someday. your mom's neigbor bill eserini

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  17. What is the red/purple leaf tree?

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  18. First thing that caught my attention was that outdoor kitchen! I imagine how amazing, not to mention convenient, it is to do the meals and dine outside. And you even have a vegetable garden! Your yard is absolutely a haven to retreat to at the end of the day. Cheers!

    Mitchell Knapp @ Scenic Landscaping

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I'm so delighted that you have visited my blog...
Thanks for your comments as I enjoy reading them.
Betty

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