Yards of Distinction

I decided to roam my street and actually start talking to my neighbors, instead of just waving as I speed past in the car. One thing I've been wanting to do for awhile is a post about some of the cool yards we have on our street. Then I realized we have two types of cool yards on our street; yards that are different from your normal grass and shrubbery, and ones with front yard gardens. This post will be about the former, and I've dubbed these, "Yards of Distinction."

The first photo is of our friends Jackie and Adam's house. In reducing the amount of lawn they have by using mulch, and landscaping with native plants, they reduce the need to water it every five seconds. The palm in the foreground is one they planted with the placenta from the home birth of their first child.

The next Yard of Distinction is my neighbor Dawn's house -- she inherited this yard from the previous owner who was a landscaper, but here again is a perfect example of reducing the amount of water you use when replacing the lawn with pebbles, and thirsty shrubbery with hearty, tropical plants like bamboo. She also added the cool low stone wall. Note: Dawn wasn't home when I took the photo, but I had mentioned about a year ago that I was going to photograph her yard for my blog, so I think that counts, doesn't it?

The next post will be about the cool neighbors on our street who have front yard gardens. There were a lot of them!