Not exactly Wordless Wednesday: Landscaping before and after

Well our front yard planting project is finally complete...with only a few minor delays. For some reason, I do not have pictures of the house from when we first moved in a year ago. The previous homeowners made some very strange landscaping decisions.

Let me show you what we had done:

I've already given you a preview of our mailbox area. When we first moved in, there was no landscaping by the mailbox...just some strange vine on a trellis. Last fall, we actually made a bed there and planted pansys and whatever that white/greenish plant is around the border. We left the vine. My mother actually wanted to pull it out for our Spring landscaping project. But thank goodness it bloomed just before we started. We (meaning the landscapers. Not me. No, not me) pulled out the pansys, added some sort of yellow and orange flowers (marigolds and zinnias maybe?), trimmed the other thing (what are they?!), and moved the Clematis vine (thanks Aunt Elizabeth!) more around the mail box. Now, it's just gorgeous.

Next area to tackle is the small bed on the otherside of the driveway. Honestly, I don't recall what was there before. It wasn't memorable. I know that when we had work done in the fall, we moved a bunch of things around. In the fall, we put our lone rose bush as the focus of the bed and surrounded it with some other grassy things (don't you love my knowledge of all things plant? You should have pity on our landscaper when she tried to ask me questions about what we wanted planted!):Well...we moved the rose bush, added some day lilies, maiden grass, and some purple flower (petunias?):And those Daylilies? We tried to get some orange ones to go with the yellow ones that were already there...but our landscaper found this variety instead (hey...I remember what this one is called: moonlight masquerade!):
The next area we (don't you love my usage of the royal "we?") tackled was our side yard. Which was completely empty. Except for the weeds:My first thought was that I wanted sunflowers. Lots of sunflowers. But it doesn't get enough full sun. So...then I had a wild hair...and thought "what about a rose garden?" We moved that rose bush from the front to the side yard and added some more. We got knock-out roses - they bloom continuously from spring to fall:

Moving right along...we have a bed in the middle of the yard. Last fall, we moved some plants around in here...and actually made it smaller. Before, there was no grass between this bed and the street. When we moved in, the only thing in the bed was some weeds and some hostas. We moved the hostas around, moved some plants (my landscaper calls them seedums - but I have no idea if that is what they really are) from the front to the shade...and then this time we added 6 azeala bushes - and they are the encore azealas - and should bloom 9 months out of the year. So far, nothing - I'm sure it's the trauma of leaving their friends at the nursery.And the last bed we tackled was the one right up front and under the dining room window. This one was the strangest when we moved in. There was 2 hedge type bushes right up in the front. And then, nothing in the back. Nothing. It's like the hedges his the nothing. Well...the weeds. They hid the explosion of weeds. That I tried to weed once...and after hours in the sun informed everyone who would listen that we needed a landscaper. There were some other random things in this hedge purgatory - a few day lilies, a jasmine vine, a strange looking hedge that thought it might be a tree, and some terra cotta pots....filled with dirt. Nothing else. Also, shortly after my weeding attempts, these HUGE weeds appeared. They grew to about 4 feet or so. And every time I looked at them, I thought about pulling them out. And then went quickly back inside to enjoy the air conditioning. Or unpack another box. Or read a book. Anything but deal with the weeds taking over. And then one day, my weeds had blooms. HUGE blooms. And then...they bloomed...and those were not weeds at all. They were stargazer lilies. Gorgeous stargazer lilies. One of my very favorite flowers. Who knew they look like weeds?! I cut all the blooms and brought them inside. Not so smart. Stargazer lilies stink. The stench was unbearable...and I had to move them to the dining room so we could all breathe. We'll just enjoy them outside this year.

Okay...moving on. Last fall, when the landscaper came, they put down a pretty red mulch...moved those tacky hedges, moved the day lilies so that they would sort of make a border...and added pansys.
The plan this time around was to put in a crepe myrtle tree...put new flowers into the pansy beds, and add some more color. (see that tree/hedge type thing over on the far right? - the plan was to get rid of that too) Mom wanted the jasmine gone too. Cause of her vine issue. Lucky for her, it, too bloomed right when the landscapers came. And it, unlike stargazer lilies, has a wonderful scent. I decided that it should just be transplanted and trained to grow around our deck in the back. And this is what it looks like now:We moved those terra cotta pots to the front door(and transplanted those stinky stargazers into the pots...plus we added some other pretties)...added 2 crepe myrtle trees...added a rose tree in the place of the jasmine...solar lights...and a bunch of other plants I don't recall the names of. And now, we are brimming with curb appeal.

Theme song: Elton John, Empty Garden