Hi all! Glad to have found this forum!

We are in the process of painting the exterior of the house and my goal is to then 'refresh' the outside areas of the house. We have a back side yard that is very neglected and sparse. I am having a friend build us a beautiful gate that will take you from the front to this side yard then on to the rest of the back yard. I want to put in a nice garden along this path.

Here is a pic, please excuse the mess, this is after we moved everything off the patio for the painters.

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The planter was put in a few years ago with hummingbird plants, but we never got around to tearing up the grass. Now I will have to redo the planter thinking to use some of the blocks to the side next to the house to put a rain barrel. Then have plantings on either side of the path way. I was thinking only taking the path/garden to the end of the house, then we are thinking about putting in DG or something of that nature. for the rest of the area.

Here is a pic of the side yard showing the corner of the house.

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and the rest of the side yard to the corner.

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I would like to incorporate maybe a fruit tree or 2 in there as well.

The low wall by the patio post, is going to get another level of cement block that we are then going to face with stacked stone and cap with slate.

Ok I am rambling ") I am in So Cal so it does get hot here. I have been trying to plant with natives and hummingbird plants.

Any suggestions? Please remember the mess is there cause we are painting.

Thanks,

Laura