We submitted our landscaping plans for our front yard to our community in early January. It took a few weeks for them to approve them. But in the meantime, we started working on the backyard, specifically a hillside. Our backyard is mostly a concrete patio with a long, but short, hillside just behind it. At the top of the hillside is a cement culvert and then state property up the mountain. With all the rain we’ve been getting, the dirt from the hill has been running down the street.
*On a side note, I’m really glad I live in a region where I can garden in the winter!
We decided to weed, rake, and plant some groundcover with the hopes of it holding the dirt in place throughout the rainy season. We picked Red Apple Aptenia, a hardy and drought tolerant ground cover. A neighbor gave us some of her groundcover clippings (I’m not really sure what they are) to mix in with our groundcover. This saved us a few bucks since it covered the majority of the hillside. We also planted a few succulents and zebra cactus and made a rock support to divert the water runoff. Here’s our progress so far:

After we received approval for our frontyard, we got serious about prepping it. That meant spending four hours weeding, raking, and laying two, nearly straight borders. We are ready to plant our two rosemary plants, rosette succulents, and possibly the fescue grass seed this week when the rain clears up. I’m having trouble finding a couple of the plants in our plan because of the winter season, but I do hope to have them by next weekend (namely the purple fountain grass and silver mound). We also have to add $300 to our budget for a concrete walkway in the front. But again, the rain is holding us up.

I’ll have more updates and photos very soon. The yard should begin looking like our initial mock up!
Do you live in an area where you can landscape in the winter?