Home Yard Improvements

Oh the things I will do to get my brother Jordan to stop by when he's in town. The promise of a paying job is sufficient and it gets me something I've been wanting for a while too, a planter around my poor little tree. The rain kept eroding the soil away at the bottom assisted by the critters who would scratch it up a bit to make a cool spot to lay.Start by estimating the circle that you want to make.

Then dig down to level the ground and start putting in the stones.

Be sure to take a break once in a while. All work and no play ya know?

Once all the stones are in place fill with good soil.

Then add the plants of your - or my, choice.


I opted for hot pink Petunias for the center and white Alyssum on the outside. I placed the stepping stone we made from shells from the beach where we spread my Grandmother's ashes on one side and put in Pansy seeds on either side. The Pansy seeds were from my Mom's memorial, they were her favorite flower. Now if I can keep the dog from stepping on what he thinks is a bare spot they might actually come up.

I'm so excited for the flowers to fill in the space. Alyssum is one of the best smelling flowers in my opinion. We had some in our window boxes on our house in Rhode Island and they literally made our summer evenings so sweet.

I placed a suet holder and a bird house in the tree and have a seed feeder that I need to find a spot for. A little bird haven. A few weeks ago I got scolded by a little bird that may have been a finch. I was standing about where the stepping stone is, this was before we made the planter, and this bird lit on a branch in the tree and twittered away at me over and over until I stepped away. Then it took my spot which was where the suet holder was and preceded to enjoy its dinner. How cute is that?! Almost like I was Snow White or something. Little birdies coming down and having a little conversation with me. Sweet!