More backyard update

Okay... this has been quite a long project but Bobby says he needs to keep up with my progress on my blog.  Ha ha!  So here goes, honey! ;-P

Lately, there has been so many butterflies!  Driving home one day via the coast and hundreds and hundreds of Painted Lady Butterflies were flying north. Supposedly this really wet winter has boosted their population.  They migrate from the deserts of western Mexico to their breeding grounds in the Pacific Northwest.  Which reminds me, I need to get some milkweed for the Monarch butterflies for our garden!

Here is the latest update on the foliage around the patio area.  I thought I would try and save the Poinsettia but it is still looking rather sad! I think it definitely has to go (or at least go to a different part of the yard).  There are so many of these tree like plants - I have no idea what they are called but collectively, I think they all look quite cool :-) 

And I moved some other plants next to the bench and under the bench.  I don't think these need a lot of water so should be good!  Or... I guess I shall find out later this summer:

Having these lights on at night makes the patio look quite nice actually!  They were lights from our Christmas decoration/stash.  If only these mosquitoes are not so aggressive though.  I bought some citronella plants but there are bugs on it now so I didn't want to move them to the patio area.  Boooo.... :-(

Looks like someone is enjoying his papers in the backyard on the patio.  At least he is using the umbrella too!

So glad the patio is done!  Now I have moved on to the trench again on the side of the house.  I had to re-do it since water was still getting to the neighbors during the rain.  I had to mix some cement and repair the step-down.  Hopefully that will help the flow of the water.  I dug the trench deeper too so the pavers wouldn't fall over to the neighbor's fence.  Phew!!!

I am hoping this will be it with this trench!

As you can see, pavers are lined up nice and straight now.  Let's see what happens after this next rainfall.  It is suppose to rain again on Wednesday!  The plants are already needing it.  The soil is already drying up and cracking. 

That's all the backyard update for now! :-)  Oh, the city wants photos of the rain barrel installation.  One barrel is still sitting at the side of the house although the other is collecting rain water, but not as efficient as it should be.  I have a few more weeks to get this act together.  Aaahhhh...!!!