Scolded by the Birds

Since we've moved here, I've been disappointed in our landlady's feeble attempt to provide a 'landscaper'. Two weeks ago Brian and I approached her about some serious overgrowth in our yard and jumped on board when she showed signs of being 'overwhelmed' with the amount of work this place needs. Once we got her consent to 'do a little bit here and there' I buzzed across the street to our neighbors and borrowed some hedgers, clippers, hand trimmers, a hand shovel, rack, and weed pick. Needless to say, we've been chopping out hedges and invasive vines, trimming the ferns, and raking up leaves ever since. Our city allows 10 30-gal garbage cans/week for green waste pickup. We 'borrowed' four from the vacant house next door to help us get the maximum done during the week. One poor orange tree has so many vines wrapped around its branches, I think it affected the production of fruit this year. We've cut many of the vines 'lifelines' but I'm not sure how I'm going to unravel them all.

The birds have been scolding us ever since.

A pleasant surprise came during our wet January weather: our cute little tree in the front has bloomed. It's flowers are about as big as my palm. And instead of shedding petals, the whole flower falls off and lands...without the stem. I took a picture today, there are a handful of blooms, but if you look closely, you can see just how many buds there are. Every day I look out there to see if there are any more. I can't wait until it's in full bloom.

We also learned that our outrageously overgrown bush (which I admit I hated because it looked so ugly) in the front is actually rosemary. Now it's in bloom too and bees are buzzing and I am, in fact, more tolerant of it's overgrowth. Funny how knowledge changes your perspective. However..rosemary or not, chop chop! into something a little more 'groomed'. Rosemary can be cut back (thank goodness) without damaging it...and into topiaries even! That would be fun! It smells really good though when you're standing out there!