Keeping on track with planting, this weekend, we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and spend some time outside. When we woke up on Saturday morning, I looked out the bathroom windows to see our pear tree blooming! When we first looked at the property, Google Maps had flown over for aerials in Spring, so the tree in back yard had white flowers on it. It took us a while to figure out what type of tree it is, but it's a non-fruit bearing pear tree! We have been looking forward to seeing the tree bloom and flower since we moved in, so being able to see the delicate white flowers on the branches this weekend was great!
Pear tree flowers. / Personal Picture
D and I have been waiting for the weather to get nice so we can finally get to work on the yard. Our neighborhood is absolutely beautiful, and the landscaping could not be more perfect. Since the area is so established, the homeowners have gorgeous mature landscaping and on a daily basis, there must be more than a dozen landscaping and yard care companies around taking care of the grounds of the houses. Since our house was not taken care of very well prior to us owning it, we are kind of the ugly ducklings at this point.
So, in an attempt to make the house look better, and be in better condition, we have already had the roof replaced, and the exterior painted. We've also torn up the front walkway, and plan to lay down a new one when the weather gets a little warmer.
"Before" picture from one of our home showing days. / Personal Picture
"After" picture from post-painting and roof replacement. / Personal Picture
Now that Spring has sprung, it is time to clean out the gardens. The landscaping in the front is nice, but was really overgrown.
When we first moved in, we trimmed things back that way branches and bushes weren't up against the house trapping the moisture, and so the shingles could be painted. We also tore out some big pieces that were dead and in the way. In the front, there are a lot of evergreens, but the problem was that nothing had ever been trimmed.
After trimming some things back, and having two truck loads, two garbage cans, and three yard waste bags worth of yard trimmings and branches, we were finally able to get out there to do all the weeding.
This is what we started out with. It looks like there is no defined garden bed, even though there is/was, and I think there are more weeds than plants, which is why it should be called a weed garden.
"Before" near the front porch and garage. / Personal Picture
"Before" below the kitchen windows and more towards the front door. / Personal Picture
Quite the amount of work ahead of us. I wasn't kidding when I said that nothing had been taken care of. There wasn't even a single piece of mulch in the garden beds.
D and I set up with our yard waste bins, and got to work, and within fifteen minutes, there was already a huge difference. It took us about two hours total to get the front beds weeded, and that's with me being more particular and OCD than I should have been. But, it's finally at a place where we can go buy some plants and then put down garden mesh and mulch.
"After" near the front porch and garage. / Personal Picture
"After" below the kitchen windows and more towards the front door. / Personal Picture
So. Much. Better.
I think we're going to go with a dark mulch, that way the attention goes to the plants in the bed instead of towards the ground. In terms of plants though, I'm not really sure what I want to do. Any suggestions on non-invasive low-lying plants or flowers that would match with the landscaping that is currently around the front of the house? We do want to move some plants, but that likely won't happen this season.
