It’s been awhile, I know. Par for the course for me. I’d love to say that I’ve been living life to the fullest and thus had absolutely not a spare moment to blog. But then I’d be lying. Now don’t go thinking I’m above a good truth alteration—for that, in fact, would also be a falsehood. I just don’t see the point in lying when I am most likely the only person who noticed I’d stopped blogging in the first place. Nonetheless, apologies all around.
I figure the easiest way to play catch up is with a few photo-filled posts. And by easy, I mean easy for me—considering I can’t seem remember much of anything unless I’ve taken pictures. Although the intense yard work we’ve been doing lately seems impossible to forget. (You like how I did that transition right there? Of course you do. That’s my journalism schooling in action.)
For reference, I give you the before shots. We began with two very overgrown front flower beds. The right bed (above) was the lesser of shrubbish-evil. However, the large holly plant was all that we intended to keep.
And then there was the anti-Christ of horticulture, the green monster, the bastard bush which overtook every spare inch and every drop of nutrients in the left bed. At the peak of his reign of terror, the monster extended well above the top of that first floor window. My in-laws were kind enough to cut him back some when we moved in last September. But the master plan was always to send him packing entirely.
So, armed with an axe, my husband began hacking away with little grace but ample aggression. I would say it took close to an hour to get him down to a stump. The photo below doesn’t really do justice to the stump beast, so you’ll just have to trust me when I say it was big and ornery.
Two broken tie-straps, several hours of root amputation and a few more tantrums than I’d care to admit to and victory was finally ours! Monster-0, Sarah & Bill- 0, but with home-field advantage. Essentially, we won by default. It wasn’t pretty, but we’ll take it.
And in place of the pine needle atrocity, we planted a pink peony—which l expected to be charming and delicate, but seems to be a little more alarming and vibrant. Oh well, peonies are my favorite, no matter their color. The only thing not yet open are my blue hydrangeas—one of the only positives left behind by the previous owner.
But what is open? My allium! I planted these dolls in the fall and they tricked me into thinking they were my tullips (which never did make an appearance) for most of April. They’re the only real source of color in the left bed right now, but they are purple perfection!
The biggest difference made in the front right bed was achieved simply by removing most of what was there.
Before the allium opened, in desperate longing for color, I added a few annuals under the holly but their not looking so strong after only a few weeks. Considering the instant regret I felt after planting, I’m perfectly okay with their failure.
The long-term plan is to dominate the right corner of this bed with a lilac bush. This placement will hopefully send a perfect waft of aroma directly into the living room and possibly reach our second-floor bedroom window. I’m open to suggestions for what to plant on the left of the holly. Azalea maybe?
The big picture in all this, you ask? I am my mother’s daughter. I’ve started looking forward to Saturday mornings and ‘gardening clothes.’ I take such great pride in the revamped curb appeal of our little tudor and I worry constantly about whether my little buds are getting enough rain sun. At last I’ve found my little piece of (low-calorie*) domestic bliss.
*baking will always be my first love…
