A year ago this week, we moved into our current home. The backyard was a typical Florida suburb landscaped yard filled with St Augustine grass and various bushes.
Over the year some grass has died, some bushes have been moved, and some citrus trees have been planted. In the picture below, you will notice a compost bin in the corner and some work in progress. We put the weed cloth down temporarily to stop the weeds from growing while we were waiting to replace the grass. Additionally we added stepping stones to use in the walkway between the house and the back gate.
In place of the dead grass, we have started to plant Perenial Peanut and Mimosa strigillosa. Both are spreading ground covers with eye pleasing flowers that can be walked on. They seem to be an excellent St. Augustine grass replacement because they require less water and don’t get the same diseases as the grass does.
To make room for some other changes, we moved a couple of viburnum to the wall along the house where there is bad water drip during rain storms. Eventually we will want to put in gutters but for now the bushes will make a good rain erosion stopper. The plan is to move all the viburnum against the fence to this wall. We will wait for them to be dormant in the winter for the rest of the transplanting.
Finally, in the back we have removed a dying palm and the compost bin (It is moved to another area out of direct view). A muscadine grape and an arbor is placed in the corner. The bird bath was moved behind and soon there will be a stone bench in the middle so we can enjoy the afternoon shade.
Growing With Leala 