This week's bargain

This week I picked up beautiful impatiens for only $1.95 a container at one of the dollar stores in uptown New Westminster. I bought two plants the first time, then went back the following day to buy four more.



This is how they look in the side yard. (To truly appreciate how far we've come, check out this blog's first entry.)

Lawn-free in New West, BC

This is it. We no longer have a front lawn. No more mowing! Of course, what we have now is a bunch of dirt, but we're working on that.

This evening, the plan is to cover the front boulevard with seeds for Easy Care Groundcover from West Coast Seeds. According to their catalogue, it's a "perennial mix of slow-growing grasses and drought-tolerant flowers." That means no watering either! The mix contains fescues, ryegrass, clover, English daisies, white yarrow, baby blue eyes, and white alyssum.

I'm a bit nervous about it all. I don't do well with seeds, but I suppose that's just the way it is for people with brown thumbs.

Long-overdue update

Well, it turns out that I have been too busy writing and gardening to be writing about gardening. Here are some photos show how far we've come (and to remind us how far we still have to go!).

First, some "before" shots, taken last summer. Pretty ugly, eh?




And now a couple of more recent pictures:




Our plan is to have creeping thyme fill in much of that empty space, but the thyme is creeping along ever so slowly.

Random flower

From the front garden. More photos and a bit of commentary coming soon.