A Year in the Making, day 232

Today, I explored the front and back yards. We have a variety of growths that we can take absolutely no credit for except that we planted them, sometimes years ago. The fact that they are still growing and thriving is entirely due to Mother Nature's benevolence and their hardiness.

First, the berry tree:


Red Berries 2 by *dbvictoria on deviantART

Next, several shots of some tulips I planted probably 5-6 years ago. They still keep coming up every spring:


Lavender Tulips by *dbvictoria on deviantART


Red Tulip 1 by *dbvictoria on deviantART


Red Tulip 2 by *dbvictoria on deviantART

Here's a lavender plant from the front yard, just coming into bloom:


Lavender 1 by *dbvictoria on deviantART


Lavender 2 by *dbvictoria on deviantART

And this plant has taken over most of our back yard. I have no clue what it is - any of you know?


Backyard Mystery by *dbvictoria on deviantART

And lastly, the jasmine bush by our front stoop:


Jasmine by *dbvictoria on deviantART

In between uploading these, I was packing up a few sales from MissVictoriasVintage, and thought share an un-pretty but eco friendly packaging tip. We buy our wine by the case, Charles Shaw from Trader Joe's, and the boxes get put to a bunch of interesting uses around the house. The cases store my vintage stock, for one thing. And the dividers get cut up and used to card trim to keep it from getting tangled, or cut into smaller strips like this, to prevent delicate jewelry bits from getting crushed in the mail:



This adds a lot less weight to the envelope than a gift box would, and it doesn't add to the expense of shipping either! Win!

As I'm typing this, I see a patch of flowers growing out of the rock wall of our neighbor's house across the street through the open front door. More flower pictures! Ack!