Three years ago we first started talking about getting the front of our house re-landscaped. It was ugly but it wasn’t awful, so we kept putting it off. That was until this year when we noticed the railroad ties were rotted through and basically falling apart. Both of us were excited by the idea of having landscaping done, but neither one of us wanted to put in the effort of doing it ourselves. We are clueless about picking out plants, making sure we’re in the correct zone and how much shade or sun all the different plants need. It was one of those projects we were okay with hiring out for. So back in March we got quotes from a few places and signed a contract.
Before
Before, we had very dated looking bushes. We aren’t sure how old they were, but they filled the space in and were okay for the time being. We had planted a rose bush in the front that did well. I was actually sad to see it go. Daffodils bloomed every spring, but after that we weren’t left with much color. The lily of the valley bloomed twice in the five years we’ve been here. The railroad ties were rotted, we didn’t love the scalloped edging, and then there was the weirdly placed concrete planter-box-thing (technical term) on the corner. It was all over the place.
The job was completed back in May, but I wanted to wait until the flowers and bushes bloomed before taking the after photos. Then summer showed up and the plants didn’t like the heat so the plants drooped a bit. Because our house faces south, I found it a bit challenging to get photos because the sun is always behind our house, or our giant oak tree makes everything dark. So all of that aside, the afters…!
After
We went through a local company called Timberline Landscapes and really liked the end result. They provided a pretty thorough plan, a clear estimate and timeline, and were great to talk with if we had any type of question or concern. Timberline and one of the other companies came in with almost identical quotes, so it came down to the design and plants. I asked for a couple plant revisions, which they were happy to do and suggest other options that would work.
What we asked for:
– Low maintenance plants, color, variety of textures
– We didn’t want the front yard to look completely dead during the winter either, so some sort of bush.
– A new curved wall where the railroad ties were and to have the downspout system tied into it.
– Removal of a smaller cedar tree.
– Till up our garden bed on the side of the house and put in new compost/dirt and mulch.
We ended up going with a mix of green velvet boxwood bushes, hummingbird clethra bushes, endless summer hydrangeas, little lime hydrangeas, peach drift roses, veronica flowers and blanket flowers. Oh, and a dogwood tree, which won’t bloom until next spring. When everything is in bloom at the same time, it looks really nice!
The blanket flowers and roses require deadheading so they bloom in spurts, but I haven’t quite figured out the growth pattern of the veronica flowers. Our endless summer hydrangeas are just starting to bloom for the second time and the little lime hydrangeas are doing great. One thing I didn’t think about when going over the plants was how many bees we’d attract! It’s great and kind of terrifying at the same time. I just stand really far away when watering the plants. Our boxwoods are small right now, but we were told give them a couple years and they’ll really fill out. We’ll eventually have to shape them.
We had several people in our neighborhood tell us how nice it looked when it was done. That made us feel good because of A) the amount of money we spent and B) it shows that people pay attention to what happens in the neighborhood. We found out after our project was completed that Timberline doesn’t normally do as small of a job as our’s, but because it was only a 2-day project they were happy to take it on. So now that that big project is out of the way, we can start researching for the next one: replacing the driveway.
—m.