Landscaping begins in earnest...

Though I will not say we are completely "settled", we are at the point of being weary of all the dirt around us.  We have begun landscaping, and have hired Hortus Landscape Design (https://hortuslandscapedesign.com/) to do the design and work.  We are keeping things as native as possible, while adding a bit of color at the same time.  There will be no exotics -- everything chosen does well in this part of Texas.  Out property is near the confluence of the Blackland Prairies, South and East Central Plains, and Western Gulf Coastal Plains.  As a result, we have a varied ecosystem that is quite unique.

The first thing we did for landscaping, as seen in previous posts, was to bring in  extra dirt to build-up the areas around the campus.  We did an assessment of trees which we might have lost during construction and found that a small pine, a holly tree, and a very tall pine near the house had to be removed.  A sweetgum tree and white oak tree are "on the watch" -- if they do not come back in the spring, they will need to be removed.

Here are some pictures:

First, this is the direction our lanai has taken.  And that is a rug in the middle,
not tile.

Here are the remains of the trees taken down, and the large trunks are from
the tall pine tree which was near the house.

Irrigation lines have been run, and should be operational by the end of today.

Fresh loamy dirt being brought in for the front beds.  I always enjoy its smell.

We will have two types of gravel on our site, with the one above being used
in areas where people will walk, and "bull rock", two-inch stones, being used
in water run-off areas.

The felling of the Lolblolly pine's top.