This walkway is gorgeous!  It would be pretty enough to just make into your main leisure area of the yard!  From HomeBaseDesign,

My brother lives in an area that’s often shady, often cold. But he finds beauty everywhere in his yard and in the surrounding woods.  From Jomegat,

As I headed back to the house, I walked by the tiny flower bed we have on the north side of the house. A couple of years ago a friend of mine brought in a plant that he had found in the woods. He wanted to know what it was, and I didn’t know off the top of my head. I did some research and determined that it was Downy Rattlesnake Plantain (Goodyera pubescens).

Ironic that plantain bananas grow in tropical climates, but this downy rattlesnake plantain clearly thrives in the cool.

Photo by Dave DeHetre.

This makes me want to stick with the manual push mowers without even a small engine!

Happy weekend!

We talked yesterday about preventing backflow from contaminating your drinking water. Here is a video demonstrating how to prevent backflow in irrigation systems.

From my front yard…

One of these days I’m going to sit down with my husband and come up with a viable landscaping plan for the front of our house.  Right now we have river stone right next to the house and a couple of rose bushes.  We’ve cut down our little landscaping cedar trees because they were looking gross and dead.

I’d like to put in a some more bushes and maybe spider grass.  Definitely a Japanese Maple!  As you can see, we really do need to come up with some design ideas!  Theology & Geometry has already started her dream plan,

My idea, if the sketch is truly undecipherable, is this: Push back the perimeter of the front yard a couple of feet, placing a row or two of nice-looking pavers flush with the street so that the parking that will inevitably be done there won’t continue to rip up my grass and create muddy tire tracks. Install a retaining wall (texture, color, material, and pattern are up for debate) and build up the lawn to level off at the top of the wall. That won’t be too tough since there is already a decent slope to the yard, and I’m not necessarily talking about a very tall retaining wall.

That’s a home owner with a plan!

Photo from I Thought Turkeys Could Fly.

When deciding if a neighborhood is safe, most people judge based on how well-kept a yard is.  A study conducted by Relocation.com showed that the upkeep of a home was important, according to RIS Media,

75% of Americans believe the most important factor in determining a neighborhood’s safety is the up-keep of surrounding homes, especially the conditions of the front lawns, which trumps even Googling neighborhood statistics to get a feel for a community.

Other deciding factors are word-of-mouth, local crime reports, and whether a community is gated.

If you are selling your home, then the condition of your neighbor’s yard can have either a positive or negative impact on your ability to get top dollars.  Don’t hesitate to talk (kindly) to them if they need to be better about mowing.  You could even offer to mow a neighbor’s yard yourself if it means presenting your own home in a better light.

Photo from Texifornia.

Photo by electrasteph via flickr creative commons.