Robin's Egg Blue

Last weekend I started the reversal of my neglectful gardening strategy.  I started whacking away at fiercely overgrown shrubbery and eliminated unfortunate maple saplings. Where they have been coming from I have no idea, I don't have any maples in my yard, or even really near mine!  I know that I have many years of neglect to make up for, but I'm hoping we have a much more attractive yard this year.

During week one, I discovered an (empty) robin's nest in the the shrubs at the front of the house.  That one I pulled out, since it had one broken egg in it, and I really needed to chop where it was resting.  The good thing about finding it, was that it made me more mindful of checking for nests, so I wouldn't be an evil baby bird killer.  So when I was beating back a shrub on the side of the house, and saw another nest, I was able to see 4 brightly colored eggs!  So for that shrub I trimmed up the front and side, but stayed away from the back.  I'll have to get to it once the eggs are hatched.  The super awesome thing about this nest is it is fairly high, and right below our dining room window, so we have a, well, bird's eye view.  I do have to be really slow about the curtain otherwise I frighten off the adult bird, but I am really looking forward to watching this nest.

It reminds me of our Arcadia apt in LA, when a hummingbird nested in a massive jade tree hedge right out our back door.  It was the perfect level for me to sit on the stoop and watch the nest and the hatchling.

Yesterday, I tackled another set of maple saplings in front of our fence and tried clearing out some of the weirdness in our line of crepe myrtles, although there is still a lot of work to be done in that section.  But it was threatening rain and I really need to figure out how to identify more of the flora that is there.  I'm pretty sure there are raspberries growing, and I'd love to make sure they stay and can take over the space.

The next few weeks, my plan is to finish clearing the shrubs right on the fenceline, fixing the fence, cleaning and repainting it.  I'd like to plant sunflowers in my flowerbed and maybe some simple flowering annual in front of the fence.  Maybe some black-eyed susans, zinnias or cosmos.  And hire goats to attack the scary overgrowth that is our backyard.