my home continued...

Hello Blog Friends
Sorry I have been away for so long.  Weddings are keeping me pretty busy, almost one every weekend!
A couple of you have asked for more pictures of my home so I thought I would show you my yard today.  I am astonished at how much it has grown since I took these shots about a month ago.  We have had sunny hot days and that combined with regular watering and fertilizing has made a jungle out there!
This is the view out my back door to the deck.

Going outside onto the deck.  Sometimes when I look out my window at the Sycamore trees that surround me I feel like I live in a tree house.  This old tree is right next to the railing with it's canopy of leaves creating a beautiful green ceiling over the deck.  It is lovely to gaze up through the leaves

 at the blue sky.

Some of my plants on the deck.

A wonderful old chicken coop.

Looking over the railing at the year round stream that flows past my house.  I can hear it gurgling while I lay in my bed at night.

Looking through the tree you can see the hill right next to me.  There is a herd of cows that graze there. I think they come right up to the other side of the stream as I hear them often mooing to each other.  Almost everyday I will see or hear from the wildlife around me.  There are cows, coyotes, owls, hawks. woodpeckers, crows, mountain lions, bob cats, snakes, lizards, horses, and LOTS of squirrels!  It is just wonderful living amongst nature!  This is also the view from my bedroom window...  

I am very blessed!

This is the bay window of my bedroom.  The deck is on my right and the stream and hill 

are behind me.

I will use live plants in many of my weddings.  After they have done their job I get to plant them in my garden, a lovely bonus!  This is a most beautiful large leaf Begonia.  All these plants are about 2 feet taller now!

There was a fountain in my yard which I incorporated into the plantings. I can't figure out how to get it to work so it is really more of a bird bath at the moment.   Everything has grown such that you can't see the bottom of the windows now.  There is a lovely Lemon Verbena that has the most gorgeous scent!  I planted all sorts of beautifully smelling goodies.  I have Jasmine, Roses, Sage, tons of Herbs. and lots of Lavender.

I didn't get the vegetable garden planted in time (you can tell my priorities... flowers before veggies) so I just mixed in a few with the flowers.  Here is my yellow squash plant which has given me way more 

than I can eat!

I set up many of my wedding props in the yard and house as I don't have much storage.  Here is one of my arbors for ceremonies and a beautiful day bed I use in outdoor lounges.

I bought myself an old fashioned porch swing like my Grandma used to have.  It took me forever to put it together.  The directions were hilarious, obviously translated (very badly!) from another language.  I pretty much had to figure it out on my own.  I only had a few parts left over : )  So far it has held up pretty well...

Some of my Herbs already getting big.  That's basil and mint growing on the bird house (or actually more of a squirrel house).

This is the gorgeous Lemon Verbena I mentioned earlier.  The hose spigot is just to the left of Ms Verbena so every time I turn the water off and on I brush against it and come away smelling wonderful! It's funny but it kind of reminds me of Lemon Pledge, a spray furniture wax that my mom would use.  I know that kind of sounds gross but it has such beautiful memories for me.

Another view of the back of my house.  This is the living room wall with the fireplace.  I also bought a  hammock chair that I hung from the huge old Avocado tree.  I sit in that as often as I can... 

it is just dreamy! 

Here's my mini orchard.  I planted peaches, plums, apples, plucots, and apricots.  I will also plant a fig tree so I will have all my favorite fruits.

The view looking back towards my deck.  You can also see the hammock...  are you sensing a theme yet?  Definitely need to relax more!

My girls... enjoying the new digs.  This is Munchkin.

And this is Cleo.

Hope you enjoyed the tour of my garden.  I will come back in a week or so after my last wedding of the season.  I have lots of pictures to show you of weddings!  One is getting published in Bride magazine...  Yippee!

Blessings to everyone!

Tricia