East Yard

The east yard is the area between the east side of my house and my neighbor's house. It is bordered on the front by the wall protruding from the east end of the house and the eastern end of the hedge. It is shaded most of the time. 

When I moved in, the ground was mostly bare dirt, apart from the nandina planted along the side of the house. My neighbor told me he spread too much fertilizer there, and that killed the St. Augustine grass that had been there. This photo was taken on May 14, 2013, eleven days before I moved in.

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Right by the backyard fence, a small Persian silk tree was growing. I took this photo on September 5, 2013. In the background you can see some nandina and a small goldenrain tree sapling.

On the same day, a small pecan tree sapling had taken root nearby among the nandina.

Around that time, I began pulling up baby trees as I saw them in that part of the yard.

On May 2, 2014, the east yard still had large areas of bare dirt even with my neighbor sowing winter grass there.

On November 1, 2014, the neighbor must have spread some new winter grass seeds in the area, because it was pretty well covered with the thin grass. Still, the area by their driveway was still mostly bare dirt.

The east yard in 2017.

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A Persian silk tree lives by the fence at the back of the east lawn. I sometimes wonder if I should remove it to protect my foundation.

I have allowed leaves to accumulate by the house, at the base of the nandina. The rotting leaves do not seem to affect the bushes.

Here is the view from the fence, looking south towards the street.

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On May 25, 2017, I cut the Persian silk tree back to about a foot above the ground, mostly just on impulse. It is considered an invasive species, and it was starting to go to seed, thus potentially propagating itself. Also, it was very close to my foundation, and I was a little concerned that the roots might eventually damage it.