When we decided to buy a house in this area 4 summers ago we saw this one. I liked the house, but what sold me was the trees on the west side of the house. Our dining area has double windows on the south and on the west so the trees were a welcome addition for keeping the blistering sun from glaring in.

Just before we closed on the house some straight line winds came through and completely toppled two of the trees. The builders removed them from the yard. We had a fence put up before we moved in because we had two dogs. It turns out the fence line was several inches closer to the trees than we thought they were going to be. Oh well.

Here's a picture of our back yard taken from the front yard.

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Anyway, everytime we had any wind stronger than a gentle breeze or a rainfall, big branches were falling out of the remaining trees. One hit the roof, but fortunately did no damage. We decided to have the rest of the trees taken down after we found out they were sassafras trees and were a very soft wood.

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When we moved in I thought we were going to have several azaleas beneath the trees, but that's out of the question for now.

I started making a flowerbed with some sun loving plants and a few others that were close to the fence to keep from getting so much of the sun from the west.

I planted a forcythia and a crape myrtle tree in the back corner. The bush has already flowered for this year and the tree is yet to bloom. I'll show pictures of it in about another month.

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After getting Luther, the Great Dane last year he was a huge, but playful pup. He trampled through the flower beds so much I was afraid nothing was going to come back this year. In December when I retired I bought fence sections at Lowe's or Home Depot and put them up to keep him out. It worked, but I had to move the bird feeder and the bluebird house.

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The coneflowers and the blackeyed susans came back as well as the hardy hibiscus plants. To my surprise, so did the green elephant ears. I've been looking and looking for signs of the black elephant ears. I was about to give up when two days ago there they were!!! I am so happy. A friend gave those to me.

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Leslie gave me a beautiful iris. I waited too late to plant it because I wanted to put it behind the fenced area to keep the dog's big feet off of it. After I got the fence put up the weather wasn't right. I did get it planted and the stems emerged, but there was no bloom. Now that I have it in a safe place I hope it will bloom for me next year. It's one of my favorite colors.

I have to take Bob to the doctor tomorrow. If it's not an all day thing I will post some before and after photos of the other side of the yard and will try to take some pictures that are clearer of the flowerbed I showed today. Everything is pretty and green there now, but in another month there should be lots of color to show you.