Weekend Warrior!

I finally have the front yard landscaping done... for now...

Or at least done until I think of something else I want to do with it. 

Front Yard

I honestly think that I have become obsessed with this yard! 

I worked Thursday night and came home from work on Friday morning and drug my husband out of bed so we could go to Lowe's and see if there was anything I liked on sale. I also realized that we spend entirely too much time at Lowe's because the people there know us by name! Anyways, there wasn't a lot of work I could get done on Friday due to being beyond tired but I was able to get a little bit done. 

I was unable to do anything on Saturday cause I had to be out of town all day but was really excited because my awesome husband went to one of those pop up nursery's in the parking lot at the mall close to our house and got some great flowers and other various plants.  So come Sunday I was all business and got some serious work done!

Sunday brings big changes around the yard! 

On a side note... This flower bed gets full sun all day long so I had to pick plants that could stand the heat! 

There is lavender, cone flower, sedum, geraniums, columbine and a butterfly bush that will be the focal point of this bed when it matures. There are also some other plants that I can't think of the names of right now but they look great!
I'm all about planting different types of perennials so that each year it comes back even better than the year before! I also think it's important to pick a mixture of plants with different bloom times so that you have color from spring through fall. 

Flower Bed in Front of Garage

So, I got up early on Sunday and went to church then stopped at Kroger on the way home to get some stuff to make breakfast and was sidetracked with the plants they had for sale out side. I was amazed at what all they had and the prices were great! Of course I couldn't pass up the great deal. 

The rest of the day was spent in the yard planting the flowers, and spreading mulch!

It's so much fun to see it all coming together! I still can't believe how much difference the red mulch makes in tying everything together, and I love the color! We have looked all through our neighborhood and were kind of surprised to find that no one else has used red mulch.  

Don't be afraid to do something different and be yourself! 

Rhododendron

Quince

Another Tip is to buy plants on clearance at your local home improvement store or nursery. You can get some really great deals on plants that are in great condition, and even ones that look a little ragged in the store will perk up and do just fine once you get it in the ground. 

The rhododendron and the flowering quince were clearance plants at Lowe's and were under $10 each! 

Off To The Back Yard...

Various Kinds of Hosta

Now that the front yard is done, for now, I'm focusing on the back yard and my shade garden that will transition the yard into the woods behind our house. 

I really want my back yard to be a place where you can loose yourself and truly relax and enjoy nature! My inspiration for our yard comes partially from my Dad and Step Mom's yard. One think I have always loved about their back yard is that you feel like you are in you're own little world and there are tons different kinds of flowers and shrubs and it is always changing with the seasons. 

 

 My plan is for this shade garden to meander across the back of the yard and it will have the rock border and mulch to tie in with the front yard.

Hydrangea

Like I said earlier I found some great plants at Kroger, they included 4 big hosta, 2 lilac bushes and a gorgeous hydrangea!

Lilac

These lilacs smells so good and will be amazing when they mature and are covered in the fragrant flowers!

Variegated Weigela Starts

Why Must You Cut Through Our Yard? 

We have had a lot of problems with the neighborhood kids cutting through our yard to get home from school or walking their dogs back along the woods.

I had to rethink my original plan to put in barberry bushes that would really prevent people and pets from walking through our yard but figured we might get some complaints and besides that I would probably tear my self to shreds putting them in and keeping them pruned back. So instead I have planted variegated weigela between our yard and our neighbors.

Right now they are kinda small so we had to put rocks around them to keep the lawn guys from not seeing them and mowing them over.  

These weigela will get big and have lots of flowers from spring to
fall that attract butterflies and hummingbirds.

Sneak Peak! 

Here is a sneak peak of how the rock border and mulch is going to look in the back, this is the only section I have done right now but it's coming along!

You can kind of see here how I have started laying out the border all the way across the back.

Now I have to dig up all the area where the rest of the plants are going and get it ready for when everything we just ordered comes in.

We also need to go rock hunting again and get more rock to fill in the border.

 Until next time... Happy Gardening!