Throwback Thursday- A Day Late! Our Front Yard National Wildlife Federation Habitat

Throwback Thursday- A Day Late, Our Front Yard National Wildlife Federation Habitat-
Happily my daughter and I had an impromptu dinner last night, which sadly made for a late Throw Back Thursday. It was worth it :) After doing a lot of searching Dave and I realized we didn't have a photo of the lot, front and back, when we bought the house. I'm a Master Gardener, so I looked at it as a blank canvas. Here's a description for you to visualize...

The front was turf, no trees, only 2 shrubs over by the fence to the right. NOTHING ELSE. Empty beds, just dirt. The fencing was also falling over, so we replaced that front and back. Dave and I build it together:) We have planted everything else in 7 years. Most if the first 2. Now there are....

Three fruit trees, shrubs, perennial flowers, herbs, ground covers, grasses, berries, cherries, and medicinal plants. We also planted a Sumac tree, a memorial for Dave's Mom. I learned later that I can make wonderful lemonade from the berries. You can also dry them for lemony seasoning for fish, etc. Who knew?

I intentionally planted lots of pollinators. We qualified here, as did our last house, as a National Wildlife Federation Backyard Habitat. Info here if you're interested Garden For Wildlife We received a nice plaque :) We do this not for the plaque but for the way we like to live- support nature when we can, and produce some of our own food.

This was a barren, gravel, RV parking spot, on the other side of the drive way. It now has flowers, grasses, Service Berries, Choke Cherries, a lilac, and more. Dave built the nice cedar mail box post, as it was rotting-

Here's some color from our front yard-

Can you see the bees???