I was wandering about the house on a rainy Saturday morning. When I looked out the back window, I thought, "Why not?"
Consequently I photographed four yards although the first is a soccer field, or I guess football pitch would be more proper. Kids play soccer over there four nights a week in summer in any and every kind of weather. The neighbouring school kids also make some use of it during recess.
Every now and then , however, and only they can explain why but won't, the seagulls gather for a morning breakfast. I removed the screening (it is easy to do) and grabbed the photo.
That is a fun sight, but the neighbour's yard to the north is quite another sight to behold. We had high hopes for a for a more kempt view this summer when she trimmed and mowed in May, but now the yard is reverting to nature. This contravenes town bylaws, and we could report her, but we won't. It is fenced off, and we can only see it from that one window.
The other adjacent neighbour — to the south — has her own issues. She diligently weeded her little flower garden but didn't plant flowers, and then she left the pail of weeds as an accent point. Maybe it is meant to be an art installation? At least the grass is mowed. Her front yard is mowed too, but it is because her good neighbour takes care of that — the old fella next door, whom you all know and love.
Our backyard is a little better. We and JJ replenished the mulch this year. Sue keeps it pretty well weeded, and she tops up the birdbath regularly. Meanwhile, the treebush on the left and the lilac bush in the centre are nice enough to look at. Every year, the Joe Pye plant, on the right between the yellow and blue lawn chairs, grows from nothing to almost fence height. It will bloom soon enough, and eventually, the bees will descend in droves to feast on its sweet nectar.
The visible flower pots are all fake flowers because the backyard gets the hot sun for much i the day, and it isn't fun to spend much time labouring out there. It looks nice enough, and the real flowers are out front for the world to gaze upon. Meanwhile, we can just manage see common orange daylilies in the background by the fence and mostly hidden by the bushes. Blondi from Saskatchewan, if you're reading, that is one spot of three spots where I planted your cosmos seeds. Sadly, nothing has come up in any spot.==========================
UPDATE
Amazingly, north neighbour had a man over to tend to the back weeds, just yesterday. This is a good thing, but look.
In their great wisdom, they left patches of growth in the back corners. But what ar those patches? They are . . .
WEEDS
JUST WEEDS
They chose to leave patches of weeds as a landscaping choice. It beggars the imagination, I tells ya. Just . . .
!!WEEDS!!
🫨😬🙀
I have never lived in a place with boxed in small yards such as yours and your neighbors. It gives me a bit of claustrophobia just looking at your pictures and reading the descriptions. But if I did have too someday, I see the purpose of the fencing. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to enjoy your yard without seeing what the three neighbors on either side of you were doing.
ReplyDeleteAs for the leftover weeds, my guess with the broken paving stone leaning up against the fence, perhaps the mower was damaged before they could finish.
Good guess, but no. It was a guy with a high-powered whipper-snipper. I don't think any garden lawnmower could have handled that backyard.
DeleteWeeds as landscape. Hmmm. I dare say my neighbors probably said much the same about me before my weeders came! I love your area in back and hope that despite the sun you get to enjoy time out there.
ReplyDeleteThey must have thought they were some kind of flower only explanation I can give. Your yard looks lovely. A no mow look with all the mulch.
ReplyDeleteWhat cute pocket gardens you have. Glad you have the little trees/bushes to cool yours a bit.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad we don't have laws to regulate our gardens. I'm quite sure we would have been in contravention until we had someone in recently to 'sort it all out.'
ReplyDeleteHa ha, it always throws me that people don't enjoy gardening. But of course we're all different. I like your cheery yellow chairs out there. What in the world with the corner weeds being left as is? Is it possible there was a nest or baby bunnies?
ReplyDeleteLove your garden with the chairs. A relative with a northern Atlanta house uses bales of pine needles to cover their yard. The many massive pine trees and their needle droppings don't permit much grass so they just cover it all up on occasion. Maybe some one should throw some profitable pot seeds in that yard with the remaining weeds. Maybe it's like a hoarding house; just can't let go of all of it. Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteI can only go out on the deck after 4 pm because of the hot sun so I know what you mean. Your yard looks quite nice.
ReplyDeleteHa, one (two) of these things is (are) not like the other.
ReplyDeleteI love the coloured chairs.
ReplyDeleteYou are thankful every day for the fences. They get to look upon your lovely yard.
ReplyDeleteThank goodness for fences. I like how you have your chairs.
ReplyDeleteOne never can know all the reasons for another's choices.
ReplyDeleteOh, I would have to ask.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeletethe jerks who don't look after things are annoying.
I used to keep the better part of an acre groomed around our 'new' house that we built on a tiny clearing in the woods. I had a rock garden, a bulb garden for spring flowers, trimmed gravel around the house. I used a string trimmer on the trees and porch posts after JG mowed.
ReplyDeleteA lot of it has just gone back to weeds now; spinal stenosis and gardening do not mix well. But this spring I have found and hired an amazing young woman who has just edited what the deer have left of my rock garden. I confess to being close to weeping to be able to look at it with pride.
I'm with Ed, those tiny yards make me claustrophobic. I had to live with one for 2 years and it was no fun. Such a relief to be basically neighbor-less!
ReplyDeleteHow people and let such tiny spaces get into such a mess just blows my mind. I would plant the whole thing in veggies and flowers! Which is what i did in that apartment with the tiny yard. I left space for my umbrella clothes line, and that was about it.
So the one neighbor who doesn't care for the back yard? She may never even visit that part of her home and could care less. Or? Is she able to? Anyway, someone may have reported her and she hired someone to clean it up. The weeds could be her version of wildflowers -- :O
ReplyDeleteMaybe the inside of her place looks like that too. Who knows?
I guess I am saying that your yard looks amazing compared to the efforts of your neighbors.
She is young. Both neighbours are young.
DeleteProof that even the most ordinary backyards, seagull breakfasts, mysterious weed piles, and all, can provide endless material for a keen-eyed photographer and storyteller.
ReplyDelete