Uhhh...it's snowing here in Houston. Again...

I can see that no one has really posted here in awhile, but as I have been reading through everyone's comments I am becoming inspired! We are in the process of "converting" our yard. We moved to Houston last summer just in time for Hurricane Ike. Our backyard is almost fully recovered with 12 new beds built and half planted. The front yard is our project this fall/winter. We want to start training grapevines over our entryway and porch. We are also planning on replacing the generic bushes that were planted by the builder with blueberry bushes which change to red in the fall, green with white blossoms in the spring, and of course full of beautiful blueberries in the summer. The 3 small oak trees in our front yard were pretty thashed after the storm, so we are planning on replacing them with fruit trees. Maybe an orange and a peach? We will plant "fillers" with herbs like many of you have as well as beneficial flowers to attract predatory bugs (we hope). Our HOA tends to be a little stubborn but we are slowly taking out a few square feet of lawn every month until we have about a little tiny patch as mandated in our rule book. I wonder if they will notice...

 We are having the same problem. I just read today providing an area you don't mind cats doing their business in (like a flower bed) and planting catnip there will create a place that is more appealing to the cat. The idea is that they will use the "designated" area instead of your vegetable beds. So gross and really annoying.