Jeremy and I spend probably too much time discussing some of the "joys" of home rentership. We really enjoy our house and feel very grateful to live in a beautiful neighborhood and to have such a breathtaking view of the mountains. Nevertheless, one of the (often literal) thorns in our side is the yard. When we rented this house, we inherited the (perhaps unecessarily) complex landscaping of the owners. And since we're getting such a smoking deal on the rent, we feel extremely motivated to keep the house and yard in tip-top shape.
Unfortunately, most of our yard work so far has become little more than a string of revelations about Things We Would Not Do in a yard. The yard is SO high maintenance and has so many different kinds of unusual flowers that have hundreds of bees and wasps in ecstasy from sunup to sundown that we feel like we can't even enjoy the benefits of having a yard.
Other than a lawn that is sprouting its share of troublesome weeds, the most irksome patch of yard is the backyard planter, which can best be described as a hodgepodge of perennials with a healthy undergrowth of weeds. Actually, after three (wo)man-hours last night, I think the planter can better be described now as just a hodgepodge of perennials. Because we rocked those weeds last night. They are now dying a slow death in our trash can, good riddance.
You can probably guess from the picture which weed was our favorite. I've been watching it grow for some time now, but I honestly assumed it was just a tall, kind of ugly flower (not a strange assumption since I can identify very few of the flowers in our yard) until I saw some growing in a field the other day and decreed that It Must Go. I know that weeds are just a social construction, but as contributing members of polite society we just couldn't let the beast keep growing. Jeremy pulled it. Jeremy is 6'2". We estimate the weed at about eight feet. I challenge any of you to find something more alarming growing in your yard (photographic evidence preferred).
10 comments:
That is one BIG weed!
I am jealous looking at your green plush grass!! We don't have green plush grass in Arizona, at least where I live, it is hard, short and brown!
On my walk this morning I saw some of these lovelies. Frankly, they sort of add something to a field full of dead weeds, but I imagine not so much in your flower bed. Good choice to yank the thing out!
Your yard looks so nice - I thought Idaho was kind of desertish?!
Either way, I leave that stuff to Lou, thank goodness - he's mister green thumb of our family.
By the way, how did you like As I Lay Dying? Wow, what an awful book...
"My brother is a fish"
I have to admit that our yard suffers from the same problem. Weeds are seriously everywhere. We broke down and bought Preen, which has actually helped a bunch. But we have to cut (not pull, because they actually have deep, woody roots) down weed trees every spring. But it does feel good after it's all done! Congrats!
Oh Rachel, you are way too generous with you're assesmsment of me as a mom! Truth be told, I was probably trying to make up for the fact that I let them watch TV for an over an hour that morning while I checked my email! (usually I check it at night...) Most rainy days we do stay indoors, I guess I was feeling particularly adventurous that day!
Anyhow, I've been trying to do that lately - do more fun stuff with the girls and make some memories - the summer is almost over and it's making me sad!
My in laws are in love with gardening..... some families boat in the summer, some do other things, but these guys just do their garden.... It's been enough for me to know that a big front yard of rock and cactus should be fine for me!
I share your complaint of weeds. I hate the terrible things!!! You are a very cute pregnant person by the way and little Clara is so fun to watch grow. What a sweet face. Tell Jeremy "hello" and we still miss that we didn't have more time with the two of you in Montana. Someday we'll have to have a reunion. Miss you guys!
It's kind of like our yard, ALL pernnials, which sometimes all look like a mass of weeds themselves since they do not bloom through the season. I feel your pain. That monster weed is awesome!
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