And friendship is a guest,
Is surely home, and home sweet home
For there the heart can rest.
(Henry Van Dyke)
I took my coffee out front this morning but quickly came back inside. It was dark & thundering and lightening and within minutes of being inside it was raining. I am not complaining as we need the moisture very badly! My cup reads "Oh, what a birdiful morning", but today it is a beautiful morning with the much needed rains. No worries though as I took all the photos yesterday since rain is in the forecast for the next several days...
I searched my albums and found a photo of my front landscape "before" all of our work. We started in April with a repair job that blossomed into new windows and siding that blossomed into a new front landscape. It was a lot of work and my muscles are much stronger from carrying all those blocks/pavers but the end result is worth it.
Gabi's playing hostess to show you the new front "courtyard" entrance...
she's even in the shot when I stepped back to show the whole front landscape.
This area along the driveway used to be rocks and a few planters. It is now my "rose garden" with 9 different roses, irises, daylilies and a few other plants.
The centerpiece is a Kyushu hydrangea tree and scattered throughout is my rock collection. A little known fact about me is I love rocks and bring one home from every vacation/state we travel to. Where's Ruger?
Did you spot ET? I actually found this rock on my brother's farm, those eyes aren't painted on...they are a natural coloration in the rock.
Next is the bed in the front, I have to find a better way to disguise the rain gauge :-)
This bed has a burning bush "standard" tree which is actually a shrub grafted onto a standard trunk. I'm looking forward to the bright red fall color show it will provide and since it is a standard it will not get taller just fuller on the top. I also added a Contorted Filbert (Corkscrew Hazel, Harry Lauder's Walking Stick) because I think the branches will be awesome winter interest, a small Pee Gee hydrangea tree and a "Hope for Humanity" rose. The budget was extended on this area so the rest of the plants were transplanted from the backyard.
Next is the low maintenance shrub garden planted in the retaining wall. In the front is a dwarf Korean Lilac tree followed by several Pygmy Globe arborvitae that they tell me will never need pruning. In the center of the arborvitae is the Tinkerbelle lilac I bought early this spring and on the far end is a Northern Gold Forsythia. My design choices are probably not what a "professional" would plant but my experience is you plant what you love for the most enjoyment.
Finding annuals to plant in the pots on the four pillars in mid-July was quite the challenge but I did find some scraggly ones at 75% off and hopefully soon they will fill out. I'm already looking forward to next spring and finding "fun" plants for these planters. This landscape is so new I just finished painting the post yesterday, I laughed when I noticed my protective wax paper showing in this photo :-)
Finally, we walk along the side of the garage which hasn't changed except for new free standing trellises. We didn't want to screw the old ones into our new siding.
Tomorrow we start the backyard...I hope you are enjoying the tours.
8 comments:
Noticed you asked Lynne how to get the larger format, so here's how. First, you need to set your template to a stretch version. Next, when you make your post, click on the top where it says to "Edit HTML". Look down at the code until you see "s320" and change the number to "s640". Go back to the compose frame and your pictures will be bigger. You can change any number to 640 but no bigger. Hope this helps you.
Forgot to add that you can go back and edit previous posted pictures once you get the stretch template.
Love the new front landscaping! Can't wait to sit in the courtyard for morning coffee with you the next time I'm home.
I'm crazy about yout coutyard! What an amazing job you did.
I bring rocks home from every vacation too! My family just rolls their eyes when they see my eyes light up at a new rock that "I just have to have"!!
Ooopps. I should have said look for the "s" number since the number may be different. If you post at medium size it is 320, large size is 400. Don't know small number but just change the number to 640.
Wow! You have really been working very hard! My.....the changes are amazing. I love how you changed the front of your house....the stone that you used is so beautiful. What a difference this made. You added the patio area and all of the flower gardens. You did a great job.....and I have really enjoyed the last two days of the tours.
Can't wait to see more!
Boy, that's a LOT of work Marsha, and it looks wonderful!
What beautiful results! Enjoy...
Post a Comment