The Back Yard, when we moved in





Across the back yard, looking towards the shed. Behind the shed is an old veggie garden which has a couple of grapevines. The Russian Olive that leans behind the shed is actually in our neighbors' yard. The vine on the fence in front is a Western creeper that the city made us take out since it blocked visibility at the corner.




Looking towards the back of the house, towards the deck with the fenced-up roses. The bushes at the left are forsythia, which later got crushed by a truck that went through our fence.




The former owners had dogs, but instead of creating dog runs, they fenced up all the flower beds. This made the beds impossible to weed, so they were filled with grass and invasives of all sorts. Looking towards the back fence you can see two old plum trees that were dying, and the creeper on the fence. You can also see the horrible juniper that runs outside the fence on the west.




Another batch of fenced roses bushes; these are along the deck, and turned out to be some kind of old rambler. Unfortunately they were full of bugs and disease, so I've been slowly digging them out.




Sumac had invaded the side, where old trumpetvine had also run wild. We found some lavendar and daisies in here after cleaning up, along with more trumpetvine.




Close-up of the Sumac Forest. This is the corner next to the fenced-up rose bed. In the war between the sumac and the trumpetvine, the sumac was definitely winning.