We always keep an eye on the snow levels and how much water has fallen through the winter. This winter may not be as dry as it feels, especially with minimal snow in the past month, but someone sure has been looking for a few snowbanks to play in. We decided to take President's Day and see about finding him some snow. He may not have gotten any fishing in like many others were doing, but he sure did enjoy the snow. My plants may not be getting water this week, but it was good to see lots of snow and ice.

I get a lot of people who wonder what my yard looks like. It wont be on a garden tour anytime soon. We spent a lovely afternoon here in our picnic spot. I'm sure a few neighbors thought we were a little weird as we roasted hot dogs among the weeds. I frequently don't see my yard as it is, but as it someday will be. So this week we are daring to dream and looking at how a yard can develop into something wonderful even when the yearly budget is low. So welcome to the visual journey of our plan for the back lot.

Our first goal is to create some year round privacy and color. This will be a xeric, native garden area (our not so mountainous retreat). So we will plant some juniper trees in the corners to provide the initial structure. They will also help to provide some shade on the house and main yard in the evening.

To continue the screen we will plant some Scrub Oaks along the fence lines and in other key areas throughout the lot. These will help to shade the "Picnic Shelter" and make the space more comfortable in the summer.

Sebastian is looking forward to the day that we get the yard fully fenced and securely fenced. So early on in the construction we will extend the fence out so that he can safely run and run and run. It will also help to save the young plants from getting eaten by the deer.

We really like multi-purpose plants, so a fair amount of space will be taken up by berry bushes like Serviceberries and Elderberries. They will provide screening, shading, and food for us and any critters that make it into the yard.

The hope is to put in a garage before we get to far along, but it may have to wait until the end. Large items always take more time to save up for than a shrub here and there. It would also be nice to rock in the shelter some for added protection from the elements and possibly extra seating. It also helps to get rid of our excess rock pile.

Then we'll start filling in with other large shrubs, like Mountain Mahogany. This will be when we start to define walking paths, screening areas, additional seating areas, and so on.

Once the spaces are defined we can start filling in with smaller shrubs. We may even move the garden and plant in front of the garage, then we wont have to look at it.

That's when it gets really fun and we can start adding in grasses and perennials to cover the ground plane and add pops of color. Its also great for attracting bees, butterflies, and dragonflies so we have more reason to sit back here on a lazy Saturday afternoon.

We will finish off with walking paths and some furniture. It is going to take a while to put all the plants in and have them grow enough to accomplish our goals. But in the end it will provide us a comfortable place to enjoy the outdoors, a sense of being in the mountains (right out our back door), fruit for yummy treats, and an easy to maintain, low-water landscape (which will help keep those annoying weeds away). And it can all be done over time, as the budget allows.

It is our new fall tradition to drive up and see the fall colors at Fish Lake. Last year the fall leaves and fish were just beautiful. We were a little early for the leaves this year, though the "Heart" is nice and red, but the Salmon weren't stream spawning this year (the boys were very sad about that). Sebastian still had fun romping around and sniffing everything he could get his nose on. He definitely enjoyed the new boardwalk, which will be great when any of the fish are spawning. I'm sure there will be many little hands reaching over the edge to dip their fingers in the water and try to pet the fish.  It made for a lovely afternoon and we had lots of fun looking at and identifying various native plants on the way home. We look forward to the day that we will have our own little native forest in our backyard.

There is nothing like a wet spring to bring water levels up and make the natives grasses green. Usually things are so dry that that we don't see true green colors very far into summer. This year we were surprised to see Leprechaun green grasses on the hillside. We may have had a rainy trip, and the fish didn't like our offerings, but the scenery was great. Can't complain when this is your view from the side of the highway. We took a little ride in the mountains, the wildflowers are always so beautiful. It always amazes me how tough the plants are, they grow and bloom in some dry and rocky areas. There is no such thing as too much time in the mountains.