Some Say I Have A Green Thumb...

We had to come to a halt in the bamboo battle. BUT I am actually VERY excited about my newest project...and I'm sure Cliff appreciates the time away from allergy attacks and hive-covered arms (thank you bamboo). Cliff's house sits in one of the prettiest areasof town, the Country Club. Everyone is constantly changing out their seasonal flowers, remodeling landscapes, and keeping their yards in perfect condition. So...mynext project? FLOWER BEDS! When I lived in Dallas, I enjoyed going on walks/driving in neighborhoods around SMU and Dallas Country Club, just to see the wide variety of flowers, shrubs, and plant placement. Like HGTV says..."its all about curb appeal!"

So with that said, I am pleased to announce that Cliff (although he is a male and doesn't care about flowers) now has a lovely array of perennials and annuals, as well as groomed shrubs. The second we (my mom helped me) finished, Wichita Falls received a massive rainstorm. The flowers held up, and I am just hoping that the roots start getting strong and taking to their new home soil!

Thanks to my mom and Smith's Gardentown, the flower beds now consist of; maroon day lilies, mixed gazania, vodka begonias, white daisies red dianthus, monkey grass, youpons, holly bushes, and nandinas.

http://www.smithsgardentown.com/

I Hate Bamboo

I have spent DAYS helping Cliff in his backyard. Why? One word...bamboo. I can not begin to explain how much I HATE bamboo right now. It's one thing to buy one of the little potted sprouts at the mall kiosk for "good luck", but it's a whole different ball game when you are spending hours upon hours using tree limb clippers and a machete to take down the 100 sq ft area of bamboo in the 1/2 acre backyard. We have already hauled off two landscaping trailers and filled the alley dumpster three times... and still have about 50 sq ft to go. We started the project when Cliff bought Jake (puppy), assuming that there would be ticks, rodents, etc. in the "backyard jungle". After cutting down a small area, we soon discovered an old dog run behind the garage...fortunately it is not infested with bamboo, BUT it does a have it's share of ivy and over-grown bushes., which I will use Round-Up on later. We came to a halt this week after realizing that a neighbor's tree has fallen on top of the bamboo, so the job is postponed until we get a chainsaw. But hey, at least we've dominated half of the problem. I plan on posting photos of the finished product, but it might be a few weeks before we resume the job. (side note: besides the bamboo, we have also groomed every tree and bush in the backyard...it's looking SO much better!)

Oh, and in case anyone was interested, we had a few contractors check out the mess and give us estimates from $450 to $700. Highway robbery? I think so.

For tips on how to successfully remove bamboo, check out these sites...

• http://www.completebamboo.com/bamboo_removal.html


• http://bamboooasis.com/


• http://www.hgtv.com/videos/bamboo-removal/2525.html