Butterfly Bushes and Crepe Myrtles

Post # 168    I have the most pitiful yard.  The heat and drought this summer did quite a number on it and everything I had planted since I moved here two years ago for the most part has died.  What I WANT my yard to look like is this:



THIS!





or this



or this

but what I have is........



my garden





front yard



 

my back yard

A little more monochromatic brown than I was going for.   Fescue sod? dead  2 dozen rose bushes? dead  multiple crepe myrtles? dead  2 Cleveland Pear trees? iffy  Redbud tree? Wonderful! Lilac bushes? dead Trumpet vine? dead 100's of Heavenly Blue Morning Glories? dead  Boxwood's? dead  Mandivilla? Great! Moss Rose? hanging on!  Verbenas? One of two still with me  4 O'Clocks? What did not die are hanging on  butterfly bushes? gone Other misc bedding plants? No way, Jose.  I talked to a landscape business owner a couple of weeks ago and he told me I would have had to spend at least several hundred dollars a month on water to keep my grass alive with the temperatures we had this summer. Impossible. It wasn't just me, the man who writes a gardening column in the paper said he didn't know anyone that didn't lose plants this summer,,,.but either I am an optimist or a glutton for punishment because I was at a home improvement store trying to find something to make my chain link fence more private....trying to solve the barking dog problem plus add height since I saw the pit bull and one of the doberman's next door get over their front fence with no trouble at all, not that it matters since the back isn't fenced at all....but back to the subject, while I was at the store I cruised through the lawn and garden plant section just because I am like a moth to light when I see a plant..... and they had a clearance rack!  Be still my heart!!!!I got these little babies for 99 cents each!  Butterfly bushes!

a couple of way marked down Knock Out Roses...$3 









and yes, I am trying a couple of crepe myrtles again....I swear I am going to baby these and make sure they get the water they need...they were rock bottom cheap too,,,

Luckily, my grandsons were here this weekend and i was able to get them to plant some of the things for me.  They way my feet are right now I don't know how long it will be before I could stand to push my foot against a shovel so what they did not get planted will have to wait until they are here again  in 2 weeks.