Building a Cedar Post Arbor

The addition of a circle garden has made a huge difference in my back yard.  It has been the crowning achievement of my gardening activities since we retired and moved back into the house five years ago.  But as any good gardener, I am never satisfied, so I needed something to enhance my circle garden.  A cedar arbor was just the ticket to add a backdrop to the circle garden by providing context and vertical interest blah, blah blah...

The Fence Post

Check another project off the list.  We installed a fence across the north side yard over the weekend.  This sets up a space to build new planting beds along the fence in the front and back yards, which is why the fence panels are raised off the ground about 10 inches.

The "new" steel fence was purchased off Craigslist in excellent condition because the family installed a pool and needed a privacy fence.  We have found so many good deals on Craigslist.

Groundhog Day Projects

Up in Pennsylvania the big news is all about Punxsutawney Phil and his Groundhog Day prediction of an early spring.  When I was growing up in sub-tropical Houston I thought it was an odd story and wondered why anyone would want winter to end early since our February weather was pretty nice.  The rare snowfalls and icy days we experienced seemed like fun to me and a nice break from our typical heat and humidity.  I married a Pennsylvanian, learned to drive in bad weather and spent the next 30 years in very cold places like the upper midwest and New England before returning to Texas for good a few years ago.

Groundhog Day in San Antonio means I'd better get busy and finish my big garden projects because it will soon be too hot to build new border beds or a fence.  Our record high for February is 100F/38C and the low is 4F/-15.5C, not in the same year but it could have been.  In the summer the trend reverses because by July gardeners up north will be out enjoying their gardens and we will be focused on indoor projects to beat the heat.

We have two large projects on the spring agenda this year.

First up is replacing the fence on the north side of the house and extending the perennial border around the buffalo grass lawn in the back yard.  The old fence was removed earlier in the week and we'll be out there soon putting in the new one.  We'll enjoy this view through to the front yard with the open fence while the trees make it quite private on this side.

Winter Garden Projects: Removing Texas Sage in the front yard

Winter is a great time for major garden projects in south Texas.  The mild weather allows us to enjoy working outside longer and most plants are dormant making them easier to move.  Back in November we removed a Texas sage from the mailbox bed near the street and this weekend we pulled out two more sages in the driveway island bed.  They had outlasted their value in the front garden and even with frequent trimmings they just didn't look right with the new landscaping.  The sages are the tall gray shrubs in the center of the bed.

Before