The journey from nothing to something is often filled with many trials and many errors.

February 2019, we purchased the home next to my mom. What was thought to be minor repairs soon became a gut and rehab. We finally moved into the house March 2020. While it still has much to be done, it is now liveable.

Now, onto the yard…I had decided in the beginning, after seeing the very empty backyard that I was going to start propagating plants by seed or cuttings. I wanted real ownership of the plants. I literally covered mom's backyard with small pots, which soon became a bit larger and needed to be repotted. By the time we moved, the plants were thriving and into their third repotting.

My goal was to plant my version of a pollinator garden. Salvias (rare, unusual, common, short and very tall), Buddleia (from the same plant with one being dark purple and the other a pretty raspberry), a few veggies, Echinacea, Rose of Sharon (one plant yielded a dark dusty rose, one pale pink and one almost white with pink edges), plus many others. I brought the plants to our home on April 4th. My husband and I prepared the beds of mostly virgin soil. Initially in the yard were 2 extremely diseased fruit trees and one plant of Iberis (Candytuft). We had the trees removed and about a week later I set out planting approx. 50+ plants that I had lovingly grown. The pictures show part of the plants which were propagated prior to planting as well as where we currently are. Most of the plants have survived wonderfully, a few have not.

Along the way, I've also purchased a few to add to the backyard and eventually the front. As of now, we are back to pots in the flowerbed and behind the house. The difference is this time they are growing in our yard.

The hummingbirds, bees, butterflies, and rest of the visiting pollinators seem to be very happy and content. As far as me, I'm very pleased. Propagating your own plants is very rewarding and money-saving. During this crazy time reward yourself with plants that are meaningful to you. I still have a door to nowhere or everywhere depending on your perspective, to install in the backyard garden. That will come in time.