One of the guys two doors down walked over one time as I was mowing. His lawn is a putting green, but he has just some simple shrubs in front of his house. His wife hates doing any yard work, and he just does grass. He said he uses our house a benchmark for how the yard should look. I don't fertilize the yard as much as the Bermuda grass would like. I try to keep mowing to once per week. I dug the trenches and personally installed a sprinkler system 20 years ago. It is supplied by a water well I had dug. We are on city water for the house.
We do see people out for a walk stop and look and take pictures.
The back yard koi pond is surrounded by plants as well.
The entire front of the house is lined with flower beds, and one more on the other side from the flowerbed in the pictures above.
The kio pond is a major draw for the toads in the area. It is a toad orgy every year. The koi have lots of toad eggs and tadpoles to eat. Many toads make it to adulthood.
We have a lot of skinks, that when young have a neon bright blue tail.
I do have this photos of the place about a year after we first moved in. The only plants that were here when we moved in are the elephant ears. Every single other plant has been replaced, and lots of flowerbeds dug.
I still have the same 911 and the El Camino. My wife has gone through several cars. The great part is the house is paid off now!