Things I Know About Our Landscaping

I don't know much about garden-type things, or landscaping. I grew up on a farm, in the North, on acres and acres of land. I hate to say this, because it might upset my Mother, but I don't think we landscaped our yard. Sometimes her memory of things, and my memory of things differs. Which is understandable, because I'm the kid and she's the Mom. So perhaps I'm wrong about this, and our yard was neatly landscaped. But I don't think it was.

At home in the North, there was yard, and then there was pasture, and then there was forest. I don't remember any "Bob's Landscaping" trucks pulling up in the drive ever, and I never remember my Mom out worrying about plants. She had other things to worry about... Like me getting out of bed and cavorting in the barn in the middle of the night.

Now, the people that built our current home, and kindly sold it to us, had extensive landscaping done on the property. They did it so that it would look nice to potential buyers. Well, that was us, and apparently it worked, because here we are.

Last summer, I was pregnant, and I stayed inside, because it is godforsakenly hot and humid where we live. The landscaping remained untouched. This summer, I have to go outside all of the time, to entertain the small boy, and so I have been trying to UnSecret Garden the place, pulling weeds, watering things, and unfortunately, because it's SO hot and humid here, removing mold from a variety of areas, like under the air conditioning unit...

Here is what I have discovered about the landscaping:

Around the house, in a bricked-in area, and around the little storage barn (shed!), is rock. Under the rock is actually some type of cloth/fabric/tarp. It's not just dirt under the rocks, it is this material to hinder weeds.

These are day lilies. They come up automatically. I don't touch them, and they are fine. Also, pleasantly enough, they come in many colors.

This is a hollyhock. It also comes up automatically. We only have one color of these.
That bug on it is some kind of plant and tree eating beetle, a Japanese something or other. You have to put a powder on it to kill it. Then you have to keep small boy away from it for an inordinate length of time because of great fear and paranoia of poisoning. I worked in an ER and poison control 800 folks and ER workers can only do so much for a kid. It strikes fear into my heart.

This is some kind of purple daisy-like flower. It comes up automatically too. Now, I know this is not a weed, because J's Mom is into this sort of garden/plant stuff, and she has these in her neatly tended front yard.

This, behind the house, but off our property, is corn. Lots of it. Same fear of letting small boy near it. Fear of poison, and fear of losing boy in corn. I saw the first X-Files movie. I know what can happen in corn.