All things Green and Growing
(in my yard)

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	My yard is...cute and quirky. It still takes my breath away when I walk through the gate at dusk and smell all the green growing life around me. They are my charges, my children, and they live and grow because I care for them.
	The "front" garden, before you come through the gate, is something I am not responsible for. Nevertheless, it is lovely, with huge lavender plants, blue forget me nots, small dark purple flowers and tiny periwinkle flowers that open during the day, all set off by gobs of golden-orange California poppies. The trellis fence is covered on either side by massive honeysuckle plants that I've been training up the archway and over the gate itself. The plants are starting to bloom, but most of it is still a promise of bulging pale yellow buds. When it finally bursts into bloom you'll have to walk through an enchanting, heady archway of sweet yellow and white honeysuckle. Have you ever suckled on honeysuckle? I spent awhile last night hovering at the blooms, plucking out the little stamen and suckling on the sweet drop of nectar on the bottom of each. It's only a taste, but I swear it's the sweetest morsel known to woman. Honeysuckle is my favorite scent.
	Once inside our yard, the first thing you notice is the green smell. My house is near downtown Oakland, on a residential street, but still near enough that you can hear the highway and the high whine of the BART trains. Still, my garden seems a bit hushed. It can't keep out all the noise, but it certainly does its best to recycle the air, and it *does* smell fresher inside..
	To your left, as you face the house, is the shade garden. There's a lovely tree overhanging most of it, with silver-green pebble-shaped leaves and small white berries. It arches towards the center of the yard in a very pleasing manner. Under the tree are more California poppies, as well as white and purple alyssum, thriving spider plants, arching branches of Mexican sage, and a bush covered in drooping bell-shaped white flowers. There's also a bush covered in small pink trumpet-shaped flowers. This was all here, and I've done nothing more than pull out a scale-infested volunteer little tree and weeding. There's a few blanks spots, which I'm looking forward to filling up soon.
	David and I bought a bird-feeder two weeks ago and hung it under this tree. The first week, I never saw a bird at it, although the seed level went slowly down. It was empty at the end of the week, so I refilled it. This time, the birds weren't as shy and came up to feast even while David and I were working on the other side of the yard. I'll have to find out what kinds of birds we get. I want to say "nuthatches"; most of the birds are the silver-grey ones with little black hoods. They fly in as soon as I fill the feeder and back away, perching in the tree or on the fence or telephone wires behind it. There's usually four or more, flitting in and taking turns balancing on the feeder to peck at the seed. They make a delightful chatter, as they negotiate who eats when, and their wings flutter through the leaves. They help buffer the noise, and it's the only time I'm glad I *don't* have a cat out here. Word must be out in birdland about our feeder - it now only takes 2 days for them to empty it. It's odd - I notice the silence when the birds aren't around, and it reminds me to look at and fill the feeder. They're getting braver and braver, and David is convinced that we'll be able to get them to eat out of our hands soon. I sat under that tree with seed in my hand for 10 minutes before I got bored and went back to work.
	The sidewalk from the gate runs in a straight line up to our porch. On either side of this path, right at the beginning, are Aron and Sharon's gardens. David and I counted, and between the three of us, we've got 10 tomato plants, 8 peppers and 10 basil plants. Aron also has broccoli, which is exciting. David and I didn't want to spare the room for broccoli. The gardens sort of branch off the path, and I think they look a bit odd. Still, it will add to the bounty later on.
	I have a flower bed behind Sharon's garden on the right. There are blue columbine and Maryland Red Snapdragons (neither blooming, though the 'dragons are budding) interspersed along the trellised fence. I'm going to plant blue Morning Glories behind them, to trail up the fence and help hide the yard from the street more. Beside that bed, in the front corner of the yard, is a huge pile of sod (with grass) from when we dug up the other garden spaces in the yard. I plan to dig and dig until it's workable, then make a little terraced rock garden of sorts there.
	Beyond (and a little in from) the 'dragon garden is the ornamental plum tree, very striking with it's dark burgundy leaves. I've planted white profusion underneath (along with some English thyme) which is just starting to fill in with 1/2 inch white daisy flowers.
	On either side of the path, closer to the porch are little flower beds. On the right I've silver thyme, bright red geraniums contrasting against purple pansies (with little yellow noses), followed by sapphire lobelia (also blooming and getting HUGE). On the other side, red-n-yellow monkey flowers, royal lobelia (from last year), red primrose, silver lamb's ear (all fuzzy - the most pettable plant I know of) and more leftover royal lobelia (also doing well). I'm trying for a red and purple contrast (with a little silver thrown in), but the reds on this side are taking their time. Ah, well.
	The garden itself is a 6x8 foot rectangle. The first row holds a variety of basil plants (including a Thai basil which I'm babying by covering every night, hoping it will pull through the cold snaps and get bigger--it seems to be helping). At the end of this row is the dill (sadly infested by aphids which we diligently pull off by hand - sigh) and the chives (which I'm itching to move, now that I realize they're perennial). The next row holds the peppers: purple, red and yellow bells as well as jalepeno and Thai hot red (we also cover the peppers every night, as they like the heat. Didja know they're perennials in central America, where it's warmer?). There's also a dark opal basil at the end of this row, showy with its dark purple oval leaves.
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