Attack of the Frozen Javelinas

Yep, you read that right. In the final segment of my “How I Got Here” series, things get shaken up a bit. I had left off talking about the bounty of roots and bulbs I ordered for fall planting in the yard at the old house. As you can probably surmise by my calling it the “old house,” Andrew and I moved. All garden and landscaping plans I previously made were now on the cutting room floor. I held off on planting everything for a few weeks so I could bury them at the new house.

A New Chapter

On the day we received keys to our house, our To-Do list had just two items on it: change the locks, and plant my bulbs & ranunculus corms (crash course on pre-sprouting them available here).

I’ll never forget how magical it felt driving up to the house that day, with a big box of bulbs in my lap, knowing that I would soon be able to call it home. Leaves on the trees in the neighborhood were just starting to turn colors, and the drive up to the house had me feeling like I was in a movie where I was embarking on a new adventure.

We had spent much of the closing process blinded by excitement (and not considering that most of these trees have leaves that FALL!!), that we thought not even once about how much work the yard would require. My only concern was getting the bulbs and ranunculus in the ground, as they had been sitting in my laundry room for about a month.

A Master Gardener’s Creation

The original owners of our house have proven to be an interesting, industrious pair who took a lot of pride in their front and back yards. Neighbors have told us stories of how they could always be found working in the yard, and it shows, especially in the backyard.

The backyard is a horticulturalist’s dream, with huge elephant ears, hostas, and many more that I just am not familiar enough with to identify. There’s a water feature, too. When it’s turned on, the soothing sounds make you feel like you’re relaxing at a day spa.

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In the time between the master gardeners’ ownership and ours, the yard maintenance slipped, and it went from verdant abundance to completely overgrown.

There were plants that were probably 4 times their intended size, rose bushes completely engulfed by a plant that we were 90% sure was a weed, and there was a tree by our front porch that stunk to high heaven. We had our work cut out for us.

Are You Freezing Kidding Me?

One fateful night, the temperature was predicted to drop below 30, so I went out and covered my tiny ranunculus plants in the front yard. We hadn’t moved in to the house yet, so we packed up our car and left for the night.

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Imagine our horror to arrive at the house the next morning (we’re early risers and would often go over before starting work) to find effectively every part of our front and back yards coated with a fresh layer of ice. No, there was no snow or freezing rain; we forgot to turn off the sprinklers.

To say I was devastated would be dramatic, but boy, did looking at our yard make me sad. It was a great method of sabotage to get certain shrubbery that I wanted to remove out of our yard – my husband wanted to wait and get settled, whereas I wanted to plant more of *my* favorite things. But it also completely decimated plants I was really excited about, like the elephant ears.

We were so distracted by the ice that we didn’t notice that the yard had been ravaged by wild hogs.

The Three Little Javelinas

Remember that story from when you little? A spicier, Southwestern version of the Three Little Pigs? Anyone?

Well, some javelinas paid a visit to my front yard, and the grubs they found buried in the mulch were *chef’s kiss* delicious. Some neighbors had seen them in the area, and supposedly at least one of them looks to be about 300 pounds… like… what?!?! How could anything get that big by eating grubs??

Here’s some of the damage they did. I had recently mulched the whole front landscaped area, and the easiest way to see that they were there is how they pushed the mulch over the border.

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As you can see, quite a large fraction of the yard is now dead, and there was a two month period where all we did for yardwork was cleaning up weeds and dead plants. This front landscape area was where I had planted all my tulip and daffodil bulbs, and I had no idea whether or not the hogs got to them. I was frustrated and didn’t care much to look for what had survived. Instead, I chose to just wait until spring to see what popped up.

And that’s how we got here! Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Check back in soon for a flower update. They’re starting to pop up in the garden, and I will finally be able to post about flowers that I actually planted myself!

-bbb