Spring bloom

I have a couple of pictures of the sideyard to share as it is beginning to bloom nicely now.  The sages are all in bloom, the lavender has started as well as the orange bulbine in the foreground, however the germander, may night sage and penstemon are still working on it. 

Here's a crop of the same photo with more detail. 

I finished this project October 22nd of 2010, so it took a year to establish and at the ripe old age of 1.5 years it is finally beginning to fill in the space.  I can't wait for the front yard Hanna and I planted late last year to do the same.

Unfortunately the weeping willow tree on the corner had to come out.  It looked nice and provided excellent shade, but it was a very poor choice on behalf of whomever planted it--weeping willow trees grow in riparian stream corridors, usually with their roots submerged in a stream or lake.  When you plant them in an arid climate with only lawn irrigation water, the roots go crazy and surface all over the place.  Not only that, the tree was growing too big for where it was placed, it was a gutter-cleaning nightmare and I constantly had to trim it to keep it out of the street sign/light.  So my dad graciously volunteered to strap on his climbing equipment from his PG&E days and cut it down.

And off it goes to the Placer County greenwaste facility:

I will be planting at least two new trees in the sideyard.  This side is west-facing, so any trees planted here will shade the house in the summer.  I want deciduous trees so the house also receives sun in the winter.  They must not have invasive roots, must not grow too full in diameter and also not too excessively tall.  The trees I am targeting are the male ginko biloba near the corner of the lot:

and possibly an eastern or western redbud between it and the existing liquid amber trees.

Any other suggestions are gladly taken.

A few things we have done in the past month:
- Hanna bought Maria's full suspension mountain bike, so we're both riding a little now and plan to ride a bunch when it isn't raining every day.
- Hiking at New Bullard's Bar
- Got to see some of the best driver's from all over the world test their new Indy cars at Infineon Raceway.
- Spent a day in Petaluma.
- Visits with friends and family.

We have some fun stuff coming up soon, so stay tuned.