Our Front Yard "Makeover"

For the almost 4 years we've lived here, we've spent very little time in the front yard.  Heck, we don't even use our front door since we live on a corner lot and our driveway is on the side of our house.  When we moved in, we first dealt with the jungle we had surrounding our deck and planted new flowers and plants around it.  The next year we had newborns so we just maintained what we did the first year.  Last year, we spent a little time fixing up the front yard, but mainly the hot mess of a corner we had.  There were two dying evergreens near the corner of our lot, and right on the curb line, there was a massive "garden" area that was very overgrown and out of control.  We cut down the trees and planted a new maple, and dug out the "garden" and sodded the area.  There was just no way that I could keep up with all of it!  As we started spending a little more time in the front yard, I realized how unappealing it looked.  We had some greenery out there, but that was it.  There were some perennial bulbs planted but they were so overcrowded, they stopped growing.  So, in the fall, I started digging out everything I didn't like - some hostas (that the deer just ended up eating, so they looked horrible), some jam-packed bulbs of who knows what (there were so many of them in there, they just couldn't bloom and grow).  It was my mission to fix up the front yard.  Even though we might not be out there much, people drive by all the time and it wouldn't hurt making it look a little nicer.

So, I've literally spent all my free time this entire month, whenever it wasn't raining, outside.  I've weeded, weeded, and weeded some more until I thought I got all the old stuff out.  This past weekend, our neighbor popped out two of our shrubs that were on the shabby side (and starting to die).  Today, I pulled out three mini supposed-to-be-ornamental trees that just weren't doing anything for us.  On Friday and Saturday, Rosie and I went out flower/plant shopping, and we busted butt yesterday planting most of it.  Since I didn't pull out the mini trees until today, I finished planting the rest of the flowers while the boys napped.  NOT an easy feat to get all of it done, but I'm pretty pleased with it.  I like how "clean" it all looks (with the exception of the couple of shrubs we kept that need to be trimmed up), and I can't wait until things start blooming and growing and fill in the space a bit better.  So, here is the before and after:

Before: This is just to the left of the garage and the sidewalk that leads to our front door.

The home of a bunch of hostas last year.  This year, it started as nothing but weeds and sunken in dirt

There used to be some tulips and lilies in between these shrubs but they haven't bloomed since the first year we lived here.  When I started digging the bulbs up, I couldn't believe how jam-packed they were in there!  No wonder they couldn't grow!

AFTER: The shrub has been taken out of the corner and replaced with daisies - my favorite!

This is right under the garage window - next to the daisies.  A mix of perennials and annuals,
mainly pinks, purples,  and whites.

A close up of the same area as above.

On the right of the sidewalk, there was a shrub that we pulled out yesterday and put some grasses in it's place.  To the left of the sidewalk, I pulled out the 3 mini trees and planted some annuals around the rock.  The space in front of the sidewalk that is just dirt has grass seed on it.  There were tons of deer-eaten hostas there, that I took out last fall.  

A closer view of the right side of the sidewalk.

Where the 3 mini-trees used to be. 

For now, I'm pleased with how it looks.  Of course as things start growing and blooming, I will love it even more since it will fill in the empty space a bit, but it's a start.  I tried to get things that are a variety of heights and textures just to change things up a bit (and not have everything so low to the ground, looking all the same), but that isn't always so easy when buying young plants.  It's just a matter of time (and money)!    

Next up, trim the shrubs up a bit and wait for things to start blooming!  Anyone else do some gardening this weekend?