Call me a party-pooper, but I won't be decorating my yard for Halloween with spider webs, tombstones, skeletons or other such popular decor that marks this holiday.
I can appreciate the whimsy of it all and the desire people have to make things fun for the kids, trick or treeters and for themselves, but making my yard look ugly is not a priority on my to do list.
Why?
I just completed the renovation of my yard that took me four long years to finish and with the wild fires around me in Southern California wrecking havoc, it just doesn't seem right to be celebrating "dead things."
My kids are the scariest things in the yard this year.
I lost my taste for Halloween decor the first year we started the landscaping project.
The sight of construction debris, day and night, was hard to live with.
It must have been a nightmare for my neighbors.
To add to the madness, whenever I got close to finishing, I'd get a new idea and embark on construction again.
I always felt guilty when the neighbors would see me unloading more construction material.
They were so patient with me , even though my yard was the bane of the neighborhood.
I had "regulars" who would come by for project updates.
"Looking good Shirley"
"Thanks"
"Almost done?"
"Yes, in about two weeks"
Sometimes a neighbor would linger a little longer.
"By the way, I watched you on Garden Police last night!"
Shirley Bovshow and Michael Glassman are the hosts and designers of "Garden Police" on Discovery channel, making over the "worst front yard" on the block!
Self conscious of my unfinished work, I wondered if they were sending me a hidden message:
"You hypocrite Shirley!
Your yard is worse than the ones you makeover on your show!"
Shirley Bovshow as Garden Police
Three weeks ago, I top dressed my garden beds with a delicious, three-inch layer of aromatic, peach- pit mulch .
That act signaled that I was officially "done" and I could wipe off the imaginary scarlet letter that marked me as the "bad neighbor" for four-long- years!
Finally, there was beauty around me again!
Then the Santa Ana winds blew in and ruined everything!
If you've been listening to the news, you may have heard that the seasonal winds have caused a lot of damage in Southern California this week.
The violent fires and winds have done all the Halloween decorating for us!
"Skeletons" dot the landscape.
We have "skeletons "of burnt houses, "skeletons" of once majestic trees that are now reduced to charred stumps, and an eerie "ghost town" feeling looms over neighborhoods that were evacuated because of the fire.
I need to clean up my garden.
The yard is ugly again.
No need for fake decorations.
Hi Frazer, welcome to EdenMakers! Love it when “international” visitors drop by.
Shirley
Hi Kylee, Appreciate your visit. Every neighborhood has a house that is all decked out for Halloween. This is a good thing, that way we can enjoy the display and don’t have to create one ourselves! Boy, you are lucky to have rain. Still waiting in LA.
Shirley
Hi Lazy Gardens..nice to hear from you. My buffalo grass is actually at 95% knit together! I’m ready for a little color fading when the winter sets in, has your lawn lost it’s green color?
Shirley
Hi Robert,
Thanks for your visit and your compliments. It’s been great meeting and working with you on Garden World Report. Fortunately, the fires don’t threaten my area directly but they come very close. Hope it never hops over to this side. Don’t you have lots of controlled fires in Florida?
Shirley
Dear Shirley,
I understand how you feel about keeping your garden debris free and not cluttered with scary Halloween stuff. The Autumn season is also filled with beautyful additions, such as mums, in a vast array of colors, a fresh pumkin and goards, and oramental corn. These items will not catch fire easily such as corn stalks and decorative hay. The people in your state have to be more sensitive to fires, where other states are dealing with floods. Love your blog, website and TV show!
We have one of the Halloween through Christmas yard decoration maniacs a few blocks away. He’s using my quota of plastic yard crap.
How’s the buffalo grass doing? The guy who grows it is visiting me next week.
We don’t do decorating for Halloween either. My kids did the Halloween thing when they were kids and I even made elaborate costumes for them, but other than that, I’ve never been into it all that much.
A neighbor about a mile over has more than made up for everyone else’s lack of decorations in oh, about a 20-mile radius of their yard.
Sorry to hear about the drought problems you’ve had! We had a very dry summer yet again (3rd in a row), but plenty of rain this fall, which is a good thing, going into winter.
Love the photos! great to see what is being done across the big pond!
[…] that I’m an adult, it would seem silly for me to go trick or treating on Halloween. Oh, I miss the goodies! My kids better hide the candy because once I find their stash, it will be […]
Anna,
Thank God, my garden was spared major damage. I had some newly planted 15-gallon trees that were in sad shape because of lack of moisture, but in all, okay. We’ve had some rain these days in L.A. which is exactly what the doctor ordered. Looking good and can’t wait for spring.
What zone are you in Anna? Sorry to hear about your garden. Anything salvagable?
Shirley? Did you have a lot of damage? I don’t like halloween decorations either. We’ve been going through a drought and I lost about half my gardens. We had water restrictions and my plants couldn’t take the stress. I’m making sure the beds at my new house are better prepared for another drought. I’m in the Piedmont of NC. I feel badly for all the winds ya’ll have had followed by the fires and then all the pouring rains. So how is it in your garden today?