I did real landscaping for the first time this past weekend. I don’t have much of a green thumb, so I consider landscaping running to the store and buying a few hanging plants and calling it a day. Tim actually did run to Home Depot and buy three hanging plants, but I did spend a good three hours or so in the front yard Saturday morning making it look spiffy. I raked dead leaves out of the flower bed/area, planted some flower bulbs for next year [I’m a little late on that part], pulled out a lot of plants and spread mulch. My legs were pretty sore Sunday morning from all of the work. I’ve been meaning to do this for a couple of weeks now, but laziness and rainy weekends have prevented me from doing so. However, there was a “Stock the Bar/Pre-Wedding” party at our that afternoon for our friends Brian and Lillian, so it had to be done.
I forgot to get a true “before” picture, but I remembered to grab my camera right after I started raking all of the leaves out. So here’s the almost-before picture.
So all of these leaves…
…came out of this area. Quite a bit for a small area. It’s because of the big oak tree in our front yard just off to the right.
Next was to remove all of this. I was told it’s a type of Lily of the Valley, though I’ve never seen it bloom with flowers. I personally don’t care much for it. It always looks wild and overgrown no matter how much I try up–keeping it.
So I pulled it all out. I realize it will eventually grow back, but for now I’m hoping that the mulch I put down helps slow down that process. Since I’m no expert at landscaping, I’ll just have to wait and find out.
It looks so much better already without all of the dead leaves and the leafy plants. Tim wanted me leave in a couple of those plants that aren’t Lily of the Valley, but I couldn’t tell you what they are. The one laying down is sad looking. The pink flowers are a type of rose bush that were planted last year after Tim bought the house. The small plants off to the right are Dusty Millers. I believe they were there when Tim bought the house.
And then I laid down the six bags of cedar mulch. I didn’t expect to use six bags, but apparently that’s what I needed. We didn’t have to purchase the mulch thanks to Tim’s mom buying him a lawn care package as part of his birthday gift. I came home from work one day to find six bags of mulch sitting in our driveway. Thanks, Sue!
A view from the other direction.
And a view from far back. I gave myself a big pat on the back after I was finished. It wasn’t as horrible as I thought it would be, but it did take all morning to get the job done. I know that there is kind of a random assortment [and placement] of the plants and flowers in the bed/area, but I’m okay with that. I planted some tulip bulbs [that should have been planted back in November] in hopes that they bloom next spring. I don’t really expect them too, but something started sprouting out of the bulbs while in the package so I thought what the heck, I’ll try it.
Hopefully this coming weekend [or next] I can get mulch put down around the bushes on the right side of the front door. The previous owners just had rocks and pebbles put down around the bushes but I would rather have mulch. It looks nicer, not to mention it would match the other side.
One of the city parks has free mulch from trees they had to trim or cut down, so I may go check that out to see what they have. It doesn’t have to be cedar like the other side, but I would like it at least look similar.
Go me.
—m.