Final Shot

The elevated area behind the wall has become something of a devastated zone.  For one reason or other most of the things planted there, including the three palm trees have been removed, giving us a clear view from the bedroom window of the devastation...stumps, loose rocks and bare soil where once there was a row of spindly, spiky plants  and some huge uprooted flagstones which formed a path from the front porch to the side gate. Tomorrow the giant blue agave is coming down completing the deconstruction. As a final salute to this amazing plant, I have put a couple of pictures of the flowering spike in extras.

The house is going to be painted later in the month and in the meantime, Dana is working on a plan for a "rock river", more flagstones and more colorful, less spiky plants. It's a good thing that the area directly in front of the house is almost invisible from the driveway as I think this project may take awhile.

Last winter's rainstorms have affected us in more ways than we could possibly have predicted. The house wasn't very well painted and the trim began peeling, revealing the black paint underneath. I can't imagine how it was possible to cover the black paint with white, or for that matter, what the house looked like painted black, but the current paint job looked fine to us until after the rains. Trees fell down or grew too tall, plants planted close together so they would look well established when we bought the house, have grown together into an impenetrable jungle in a couple of places and the blue agave has reached the end of its life cycle. 

We thought we could move in and wouldn't have to do a thing to the house or the garden. Silly us. Does anybody ever get to do that?