I always find it hard to balance working on the inside projects versus outside projects. So much to do but yet so little time.
Jim and I dabbled in gardening while in Southie...rooftop container gardens were our jam. So once we bought a house we were psyched about having a yard and imagining all of the grandiose gardening that would occur. But we weren't too sure what to do about the landscaping around the house. That was somewhat foreign to us. Thank God for the web, books and knowledge from Jim's mom somehow we have been able to muddle through.
We pretty much removed all the old existing landscaping since most of it was dead anyways and it was too formal for my taste. Jim and I cut down all the old shrubs then we had a company come in and remove the stumps. Then we hit up all the end of season sales at a couple of local nurseries. We saved a ton of money waiting till the fall to buy shrubs and plants since most places mark things down 30-50% off. We planted all of them the day after the Halloween snow storm (thank God for the help of Jim's mom and Bob planting all those shrubs (about 30 total)...Jim was on crutches so he couldn't help...how convenient right??? Just kidding Jim!). I still get twinges of soreness whenever I think back to that.
Anyhoo, it's been fun to see how things have taken off each year. And each year we learn a little more. And of course I'm always daydreaming of where I can create new gardens.
So here are some pictures of our landscaping in early April. We've been working on a few things that I'll share in the near future.
This is an area right near our back door. It our herb and boxwood garden. We would eventually like to elevate this area and remove some of the boxwood's to another area of the yard and maybe add more herbs. The goal with this garden is to hide the ugly bulkhead. All of the herbs (with the exception of basil) survived the winter and are going strong. We have thyme, lavender, mint, and oregano planted here.
This little perennial garden is on the side of our garage. This area was just all grass that Jim and I dug up, laid a flagstone patio and re stained a bistro set that used to be my kitchen table when I lived by myself. We would like too add more perennials in the future, add some twinkle lights and remove the swill pit. In this area we have climbing roses (those are what are climbing up the gray trellises), bleeding hearts, day lillies, foxglove, allium, irises, rosemary and some perennial I'm not sure the name of (oops!)
The left hand side of the perennial garden.
This is the side of lady land that I have dubbed hydrangea row. We have a blue hydrangea and the other two are peegee's. I just love hydrangea's.
Still along Lady Land. You can see the lone iris that was blooming.
Our new fence. We have plans to add landscaping along the side of the fence.
This is behind the library. We have a few rose bushes planted here along with some day lillies, and tick seed.
And our big, old, beautiful hydrangea tree. My favorite.
Along the side of the library. Here we have a few rose bushes, a hydrangea bush and some wine and rose bushes planted.
The front right of the house. We have a rhododendron, two azalea's and some boxwoods. I would love to add a flowering tree in the corner to add some height to that area. We also want to add more flowering shrubs at some point to give more color.
Looking at the front of the house. More boxwood's and some tulips. We were hoping for early bloom tulips to bring some much needed color but these tulips are late spring blooming. We have to work on planting some early blooming buds in the fall.
To the left of the house....more boxwood's. Don't mind the weeds. They'll be gone when we mulch next weekend.
Our azalea is blooming already!
More boxwood and a rose of sharon.
And those things on the end that look like weeds are actually peonies! Another one of my favorite flowers! Can't wait till they bloom in a few short weeks!
And the front of the new fence. We moved the urns that were on the front steps to here. We have plans to dig up and create new landscaping all along the front of the gate so those urns will make sense in a few weeks.
And just some shots of some flowers that are blooming. Below is of a tulip which is now bright pink and full.
And a Hyacinth and one lonely Pansie that seeded itself from last spring. We didn't have much luck with the Hyacinth this year but I'll try again next year.
And a blurry picture (I literally took about 50 pictures and they all look like this. Amateur photographer right here!) of an iris. Irises are just so stately.
Right now we're battling dandelions. I'll be back with how we are trying to overcome them. Sadly, they are still winning.
