Landscape Reveal Cont’d…

Let’s pick up where we left off, the corner of the front yard. We had a few unhealthy dwarf barberries around the perimeter of the holly. Behind the holly I had tried to make a gladioli patch last summer, around the same time we made the flower bed in the back. As expected we made the same mistakes and this year it was overrun by the lawn. This is what we had to deal with; 

The plan was to plant knockout roses all the way through. But as I was writing that post it occurred to me that we need to add some height to the bed.  So we reworked the plan a bit. Our landscaper, J & A Landscaping, was such a sport that he ran with it without even cribbing about the last minute change. The ‘after’; 

We moved the gladioli to the flower bed in the back and planted dark pink knock out roses (zero maintenance)  till mid way. Then we switched to a yellow knockout rose and added some height with a plum dazzle crepe myrtle (to go with the one in the front).  2 black eyed susans around the crepe myrtle add interest and gives a break to all that pink.  We followed it up with a yellow and few more pink knockout roses to keep the flow. The magnolia that we transplanted from the front finishes off the bed. We’re very happy how it turned out. 

We planted only perennials so that we can enjoy them year after year.  I really wanted an oleander in the crepe myrtle’s place but B wouldn’t have it as the leaves and the sap of oleander are poisonous.  Like the water lily, oleander is another plant that brings back so many memories of home. Maybe one day when the kids are off to college I’ll have it in my home.

Moving to the back we decided to wait on making the veggie beds especially after we spotted deer in the backyard. We even caught a family of bunnies munching away at our neighbor’s plants. So we thought we would research safe anti deer/bunny strategies (I do not like the idea of putting up a deer fence around the bed) thoroughly before we put in the bed.

Off to problem #3, the unused space under the deck. B hates to mow that area because of the height. Ever since we’d made concrete plans on the landscaping project we started ignoring that place completely and we ended up with this. 

Check out our new under the deck landscaping. Per plan, we the landscapers cleared out the area, laid down landscaping fabric, and mulched it. On the outside we planted 3 hydrangeas. 

Ain’t that a million times better? A close up shot,

 

On the other side of the deck, we moved the dwarf crepe myrtle that was already there closer to the stairs and plopped in two of the azaleas from the front. 

Technically we could enclose the area under the deck  and use it to store our lawn equipment. But I do not like the look of those lattice enclosures. So until we figure out a way to make it useable it has to stay like this. You got any ideas folks?

The whole project cost us under $1,400. The plants alone were over $400. This July 4th we complete two years in the house! We definitely think that the wait was worth it.