Creative Destruction: Gardening

It's Spring and I've been out in the garden.  More specifically, I've been tearing large chunks of it out. The trash collectors have not been happy with me.



Someday, it will be nothing but flowers

That fence you see? There used to be a five foot hedge of ligustrum next to it. Gone. I've replaced it with two yellow jasmine plants, which are only about a foot high now, but they will eventually cover the fence with sweet-scented blossom.

In the front yard, I pulled out two scrubby azaleas (they went to a neighbor) and replaced them with rosemary because I love rosemary. It smells so good, and  rosemary planted by the front gate is supposed to keep harmful people away.  I don't know if it works, but it can't hurt.

Sweet broom - I've been assured it gets a lot bigger

I've planted sweet broom in an attempt to hide the air conditioner. When I was growing up, we had a holly hedge around the a/c unit, and it was literally a pain to get to and trim back. So I'm going with non-thorny plants around the a/c.

I've purchased citrus spikes for my orange tree, though "tree" is rather a grand term for a stick with leaves on it. No flowers this year, but I am getting new leaves.

My mother divided her agapanthus and gave me a bucketful so I planted a row of them across the front flower bed. They look like leeks with the tops chopped off, but given time, they should become big green plants with ball-shaped purple (or white, we're not sure which) flowers.

I've trimmed back the jasmine I planted when I first moved in, because it's huge and expanding towards the neighbor's yard. It's loaded with buds that are just beginning to open. The bees have already discovered it. By the end of the week, it should be glorious.

It doesn't look like 1600 pounds, does it?

In less glamorous news, I dumped 1600 pounds of dirt in the back corner of my yard (that's forty, 40-pound bags) because it was a gigantic mud puddle. (I've had some drainage issues.) This weekend I laid sod on top of it. At this point, all I ask of that section of the yard is that the grass grow.

I'm planning a tree to get some shade on my little patio, so my mother and I went to a tree nursery last weekend and wandered around for about an hour.  I'm currently torn between a fig and a crepe myrtle. I love the flowers and the shape of  crepe myrtles, but the fig tree would give me fruit, and would be a lot more interesting as a plant.

Any suggestions?