Front side yard

Santa skeleton hanging out in the mulch pile

The front side yard is my second outdoor project for the year that is progressing well. This area is a 13 foot strip on the south side of the driveway and running along the side of the house/garage to a fence that is above the new woodland garden. Overgrown yucca dominates this area - at least in my mind - but there is also a small pine tree, a struggling rhododendron, a few roses along the front fence, and the usual bit of scraggly lawn.

View from the street, looking east

Looking west

Looking east along the house/garage

This area is very dry in the summer and too far from either of my gardening hoses for easy watering. The light is mixed, I need to watch closer in the spring as the sun gets higher in the sky, but I think there's a fair amount of light except directly under the pine tree. Back further along the side of the house is close to the neighboring house, but there is a lot of light when the sun is higher in the sky. We have arborvitae right along the fence there too, which I'm not fond of but they're so huge, there wouldn't be any point in trying to remove them now.

Snow makes it all pretty

Poor rhododendron was really buried

My first chore was to finish trimming the yucca, which my mother started when she visited in the fall and I have to say really does make a difference. I trimmed the rhododendron to get the branches off the ground and it looks a little better; still to be determined if it will be able to stay in this location or if this is just too dry.

I had a load of wood chip mulch delivered in the fall, halfway in the driveway and halfway over the grass. I've been spreading it out (as well as hauling it down to various other places in the yard) and have started a list of plants to add when it warms up a little more. There was more moss than grass around the rhododendron and toward the street, so I'm covering that with cardboard to kill the grass. In theory, the moss will survive longer than the grass, if I remove the cardboard at the right time.

Progress

Slowly shrinking mulch pile

Trimmed yucca

I'm looking at native inside out flower to go under the pine tree, it's supposed to be able to handle dry shade and spread quickly.  Also sword fern and fringecup along the front of the yucca. I uncovered two existing sword ferns that I had forgotten were there while trimming the yucca. I've been browsing lists of California natives looking for plants that like dry but can handle clay, and may even plant a small manzanita next to the house where the stack of bricks is now.

Next step is to call for a utility locating service because our gas, power and cable lines all run right through here. They were marked last summer when the gas lines in our street were replaced so I know roughly where they are, but need to see exactly before I do any planting!