Our bird sanctuary is in the foreground. The feeders provide sunflower seed, and a low circular wall contains the fallen seed. A bird bath with dripper is nearby, and nesting materials are on the ground. There is a nesting box (aka birdhouse) on the right.
There are flower boxes with begonias on the deck railings (left). I need to resupply the firewood that is usually stacked under the deck. I like it when neighbor's back-yard lawns flow together (foreground and background).
There's another sunflower feeder hanging outside a second-floor window, but we leave it empty for other than winter because it drops seed on the deck stairs. A winch and pulley is used to refill it.
A view of the east side of the house. The bird feeders at the left serve niger seed, which mainly attracts goldfinches and house finches. Further along, are iris and lillies, not yet blooming. Even further, a tiny glimpse of the tall bearded iris in the front-yard Fence Garden.
On the near right, forsythis and lilac.
A view of the Fence Garden, with tall bearded iris in the foreground. These iris, in their third year, are taller and blooming more than ever. See more views of the iris.
On the left, a peony planted last fall is growing rapidly.
On the right, some dwarf iris from The Presby Memorial Iris Gardens bloomed earlier.
NEW! The peony has bloomed! We planted pinks around the peony.
In the center of the Fence Garden, lupine is in the middle of its bloom cycle. Further right, the bleeding-heart blooms are nearly gone, and blue and pink columbines are still blooming. Most of the flowers inside the fence are daylillies, which will bloom later.
The street side of the Fence Garden. The hyacinth and tulip blooms have faded, and impatiens have been planted near the sidewalk. After the hyacinth and tulip foliage dies, a row of another (taller) annual will be planted behind the impatiens.
The ornamental pear tree near the street partly shades the garden.
Just inside the fence is a dahlia, and above it, a hanging pot with viola and verbena.
Right side of the house: two shades of petunias and marigolds in front of the red azaleas.
Left side of the house: two shades of petunias and marigolds in front of the azaleas. (Poor photo exposure -- the marigolds look faded.)
An automatic watering system (soaker hoses and timer) waters the east-side garden, the front-side gardens, and the fence garden (including the hanging pot).
Here's the potted herb garden, along the back of the west side of the house, but it's mostly weeds right now. I need to start planting herbs!
Another automatic watering system (drip system with timer) waters the herb garden and the begonias on the rear deck railings, and also feeds the dripper over the bird bath. The drip system has a 3/4-inch main line, and flow-control 'buttons' couple 1/4-inch 'dripper' hoses to the main line. Each pot (or railing flower-box) gets one or more drippers, depending on its size.
NEW! Now, the herbs that survived the winter under a heap of leaves have been weeded, and new herbs planted, also a few flowers. From left to right: chives, oregano, rosemary, petunia and verbena (large pot), sage, dill (2 pots), french tarragon, peppermint, tarragon, lavender, and thyme. In front of those, wave petunis (2 pots), and in 2 long boxes: basil and parsley. In the foreground, the pot of petunia and verbena gets watered from an underground drip line.
Two of the four flower boxes on the rear deck. This year we replaced the wooden flower boxes that rotted, and planted begonias. Lsst year the birds ate the portulaca for desert.