My Plans Are Cast Iron

Woo hoo!! It's warm! Okay, I'll probably be despising heat in a few months, but for now... I'm outside.

And you know me. Back to gardening.

I can't help myself. There's something so alluring about digging and turning up dirt....so fascinating about working--physically working--on creating living beauty. It's like art, only constantly changing and subject to a multitude of forces.

In the few years that we've lived in this house, most of the attention has been given to the front yard. It had nothing but weeds when we bought it. Lets just say, the curb appeal was slightly lacking. Therefore, the front was a natural place to start. Then there were the sides of the house. Erosion was becoming an issue, since the lot is quite sloped and there were no gutters or bushes to protect the soil there. We've made great progress with this, too.

But, the backyard... Ah the backyard... It needs some help.

The good news is, I know it is possible for something to grow there because vines love my backyard. They creep out of the woods and twist themselves around anything standing still. (Watch out, you might become part of the scenery.) And also, all around my yard are trees, trees, trees....not to mention more vines and things that attack your ankles if you try to get adventurous.

We also have some grass. The rest of the yard is hard, crusty dirt covered in leaves or playground equipment covered in hard, crusty kid residue.

So yesterday, I decided to recover some of the wasteland that is my backyard and plant something. I called my trusty friend over at Jeremy's Life and asked if her mother was still interested in getting rid of the cast iron plants in her yard. The answer was Yes! Please come take as many as you want!

I love free plants!

Okay, so here are the results. This shady corner of my yard was full of leaves, vines and unattractiveness. (So boring, a before photo was hardly necessary.) I planted the cast iron plants in a semi-circle around the oak tree, and then planted liriope in a semi-circle around that. Both plants grow well in shade and are easy to reproduce. The liriope came from several vigorous plants in my front yard that needed to be divided up anyway. Basically, you just dig up the roots and cut off the section that you want.

Hopefully, I'll have more to report soon. At Noodle's suggestion, I may go back for some more cast iron to plant in a similar fashion in another corner of the yard.