Photos of our yard in early winter 2020

This time last year our yard was one giant pile of wood chips. Since then we have put in six fruit trees, 13+ fruiting shrubs, 7 vegetable beds and many perennial flowers. And there is way more to go--our yard isn't nearly at capacity.

But you can't really see any of the plants here because they're all dormant. The horticultural equivalent of a Rick Roll?
Here are some close-ups of the beautiful colors of fall and then some yard photos at the end.

The blackberry bush turns burgundy and a goldenrod that no bugs really liked turns a nice complimentary yellow.

This beautiful oak tree won’t be able to stay long term because its roots will interfere with our leaching field. But it can certainly live here for a few years and feed some caterpillars.

A baby Aronia melanocarpa shows a preview of her glory in seasons to come. This is the only survivor of several I grew from seed and transplanted; I am extremely bad at watering plants so I plant in the fall whenever possible

The snowball poofs of aster seeds

This Yarrow is still blooming after multiple frosts. The weird thing is that I rarely see any bugs on it, even before everything froze.

And of course there’s green and brown. This radish cover crop isn’t getting as big as I expected. Do you have to fertilize cover crop??

If you are considering planting your yard, I say go for it. Just do a little dreaming over the winter, plant a few things, and see what happens. Nothing has to be perfect. The earth doesn't care. It just wants you to add some plants that will bring the tickly feet of insects and reawaken your sense of wonder.