Landscaping Before And Afters

I have a habit of obsessively taking photos of our everchanging landscape. I think Brad has always found that a bit weird about me. HOWEVER..when he recently saw the changes in growth and how much better things look...I DARE say he seems to be excited about the weird-camera-lovin-wife!

June 2008. We had just planted everything. Our home had nothing but some grass (and crappy grass at that!) and dirt in our front yard.

Look at the tree struggling there on the left...

Please pay the dog urination spots NO notice. Not much you can do with two dogs and..well we only had one back then!!

 NOW: What a difference a few years makes!  The tree has doubled in height! Yayy!! The little green plant between the two red shrubs is an Annabelle Hydrangea that we moved too late last summer. It got all stressed out and SHOULD be the size of the others that you'll see in a moment. Just as it started to come back this spring, I found our puppy gnawing on the wooden sticks. Nein! I was not happy and was prepared to remove it and replant. But then..it started coming back! Our own little Charlie Brown plant! Also..I have been meaning to paint the frames of these outdoor chairs black from Rustoleum for a few years now. What's my deal? If it's not on MY LIST, I forget! Guaranteed!

NOW: I had another two knockout rose bushes here. Curtis killed one and the winter killed the other. The survivors are amazing and flower like crazy!

Below is in 2008 after we planted everything.

Pay specific attention to the size of those green hydrangeas back there and the second to last hosta on the right.

Kind of looks like I gave that hosta a round up cocktail, does it not? We have NO clue why it grew so much larger than all of the others! It's crowding the barberry or bayberry (??) plant behind it. The only thing we surmised is that we had lots of rabbit droppings around said plant over the winter. Magic? 

He loves the plants too and gets caught in and around them daily. He needs to be neutered and soon and is on a long leash when out front because he runs after EVERYTHING...birds, cars, motorcycle and favorites that make him go NUTTY: school buses and the garbage truck!

Another look back in 2008-2009

And Today!

I'd always like more color in the front beds, but it's a very shady area. I THINK I'm going to paint our front door red as it's good feng shui and I'm sick of the black. Thoughts?

I'm off to eat cake AND maybe even HOT SOUP so as to stick with my latest weird hot-summer-eating theme! Dream Big!

Have a great day!

xoxo~

T