Back Yard Landscaping

To mark the 1-year anniversary of our move, we finally had our back yard landscaped! Our approximately 1/6 acre lot (which is mostly occupied by the house itself) hardly compares to the beautiful, heavily-treed 2-1/2 acres we left. But, we are quite pleased with the final results.

Here are some "Before" and "After" pictures (not all pairs were framed exactly the same, sorry). If you maximize your browser window, the pictures will enlarge along with the browswer. These are digitized from an analog camcorder, so they may not be that sharp or clear, but they are better than nothing. :-)

The side yard looking towards the back yard. The path is composed of gravel and flagstones (stepping stones).

As you walk straight up the path shown in the previous shot, this is the first view of the back yard. Notice the new steps going up to the rear gate.

At the gate, looking north, along the fence line. The house is to the left of the shots. The sloped area is covered with shredded redwood, and planted with groundcover that will eventually cover the hillside (and provide excellent hiding places for rattlers).

Still up at the rear gate, but looking down into the yard more towards the house. In the "After" shot, you can just see the steps leading from the deck in the previous "After" shot.

Near the house, looking at the north east corner of the yard. The planted areas are covered with brown lava rock, that looks quite a bit like dirt (especially when wet).

This was taken near the north side of the house, looking back towards where the previous shot was taken.