LANDSCAPING, PHASE 2: IN WHICH RETAINING WALLS ARE BUILT 30 OCTOBER 2025

Once LANDSCAPING, PHASE 1 was completed, I began to think how to improve the back yard. Adan stopped by for a consult; I won't bore you with the landscaping maintenance we wanted done (trimming large palms and podocarpus hedges, courtyard and other areas cleared out), but my main objective was to have two retaining walls built. One is to go around the viburnum bushes that were originally planted in a raised bed made of landscaping timbers . . . . . . that had rotted and were pulled out during the removal of the fence destroyed by Hurricane Milton a year ago. During the summer, we noticed the bushes were wilting, even soon after the twice-weekly watering. I soon realized that the dirt and roots that had been protected by the landscaping timbers were now exposed to the aire. So Neal put these blocks up to temporarily protect the roots until we had a more permanent solution. The second project was to make this small raised area into a butterfly garden . . . . . . which I had tried to establish previously, but bushes along the outside of the fence made the area too shady. With those bushes gone, and a white reflective fence, I think conditions are more conducive, so I wanted to try again. There is also an empty planter built next to the garage; I decided to have variegated scheffleras planted in it, as they are purported to grow in full shade. Sooooooo . . . After SweeTea & I finished with having my hair done, we shopped for the scheffleras . . . I told the cashier the dog had been paid for . . . Of course, a Christmas Cactus with a color I didn't yet have jumped into my cart (or maybe SweeTea had put it there) . . . Meanwhile, Gipsy lay on the back of the couch, waiting for us to come home . . .

CONTINUE WITH LANDSCAPING, PHASE 2:
IN WHICH RETAINING WALLS ARE BUILT HERE