As you turn the corner at the back of the house, you get your first view of our courtyard. Here's the view into the house. That row of windows opens into the kitchen and casual dining area. The window on the far side of that room overlooks the secret garden. When everything is in bloom, it's a beautiful place to be! In this photo, it's a great view of all the frost bags covering most of the tender plants. The Birds of Paradise are in three large pots that sit in front of the main air conditioning units (to the right in the photo).
On the back of this short brick wall is a waterfall and fish pond, with a deck going over part of the pond leading toward the 2nd back door.
Looking back at this photo, I realize how brown everything looks now compared to even last fall. We've had several weeks of extreme freezing weather (in the teens) and many of our plants just aren't built for that type of weather! I fear we have lost most of the tropicals and I'm certain that the Birds of Paradise are now gone. =*(
