What a view!
On Saturday I took advantage of the warm weather to hang some Christmas lights on the house and to clean the gutters. This requires that I get up on the roof, and when I was finished I sat down and surveyed the yard. Then I realized that I should take some photos, as this is the perfect opportunity to give you a nice bird's-eye view of the entire back garden.
I'm still planning on creating a detailed map of my yard, but for now this is the best look at where everything is -- if you don't already have a good view of it in your mind that is.
You can see the fenced veggie garden with the newest bamboo planter box just to the left of it. Well, you can't see that in the photo above... how about from this slightly different angle?
You can clearly see the pond, the dark green for-the-deer Euonymous just behind it, and my compost pile behind those. It just looks like a pile of leaves right now. To the right of the big foreground bamboo is the grey pergola that is over the patio. The smaller grey pergola at the bottom of the photo is over the triangular box with its ugly makeshift greenhouse:
Moving to the right here's the stream, the main stairs down to the patio, and the now-empty bamboo box:
You can also see the white boxspring trellis in that photo, and how far I let the vinca spread this year. Oh, I'm going to be paying for that next year.
That's a view of the other half of the backyard. If it's green (or yellow) it's probably bamboo, but there are a few Euonymous back there too. See the mulched-with-leaves banana?
(The back edge of my yard is leaf dumping ground for me and at least one of my neighbors, which makes it easy to see where it ends in these photos.)
Turning a bit more to the right, you're now looking at the rightmost (southern) edge of my yard:
That light green fence is my neighbor's -- my yard ends about six feet in front of that.
Okay, enough of these bits and pieces. I wanted to give you the best idea possible of where everything is, and the way to do that is with panoramas! Click image to enlarge.
This is the big one: the entire back garden. |
As always, click these to get the extra-large versions. You may want to r-click and "open in new window" so you can zoom all the way in.
Although the garden is not looking its best at this time of year, it's really the only time of the year when you can see where everything is. It's also the only time of year that you can see the neighboring houses back there. You can also see just how many* bamboo plants I have. Love all of that green during winter!
So that's a look at my entire backyard. Hope you enjoyed it! (I'll probably use these images in a post this winter where I label as many plants as I can. I did this last year by popular demand.)
I almost forgot: I did take one photo of the front yard from up here:
Still loving the walkway!
Have any questions about specific plants in any of these photos? Just ask in the comments!
*Relatively speaking of course.
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Seeing the full view of your backyard, it's not as small as I first thought it was. It's just that you happen to have more plants than grass which makes it look like there is not much space.
You might be able to still squeeze in a few more bamboos without making them shade each other out. Given that the basketball rim is 10ft, it looks like some of your groves are currently in the 15-20ft range which is about 1/2 the height that the biggest ones can probably get in your climate.
I love this! I'm always trying to picture your whole yard in my mind and now I don't have to. Very cool! I have to settle for pictures from our second floor windows - our roof is too steep to be climbing on!
That's so funny...I have the opposite reaction from Steve...I think your yard is ENORMOUS...even after these images!
Yep...that's a huge yard! Great idea for photos from the roof. We've got to be cleaning our gutters next weekend I wonder if the husband would consider snapping a few photos while he's up there. Couldn't hurt to try. Love all the beautiful bamboo!
Love the view! I think you should climb on the roof in mid summer and take photos of your garden in all its glory :-).
What a fun back yard to play in.
Wow, thanks for the wide angle shots, you have a wide area to refix. I bet that entails a lot of man-hours after winter. But i love the garden when it is not totally flat, you have a beautiful landscape to work on and put your best designs. The bamboos are looking great and lush, Merry Christmas!
Steve: I mayget one or two more in there, but I don't want an all-bamboo garden, although that sounds kinda cool.
Lisa: glad to oblige!
Scott: it only seems big when there's a lot to do. Sometimes I wish for a smaller garden... okay, not really.
Loree: "couldn't hurt to try" indeed. It's what, maybe a 12' fall from your roof? Piece of cake! ;-)
Gerhard: that would mean an extra gutter cleaning, and I'm not sure if I'm up for that. ;-)
Sylvanna and Andrea: thanks!
oh and greedy me, I want more. When I started reading this entry, I was looking forward to the tour guide spiel . . . "and on the left is the _ _ _ _ bamboo, in the center is the fish pond and on the right are . . ." well, you know what I mean. Anyway, I love the photos too and it helps me visualize. Guess I'd better way for that map : )
Thanks for these views from the roof, they really help my feeble brain to put the pieces of your garden. What a fun and big space you have!
What a great view!! Love the panorama - now I can really get a feel of your garden. Ahhh - so that's where the veggie patch is! :-)
Nothing like an aerial view to put things into perspective. It must help you, too, in thinking about future projects.