A Hosta Standoff

Back in November, I told you that every time I looked at the landscaping in our front yard, I would have silent fits of frustration:

To help keep me sane, JEGs cut down the horrendous bushes next to the porch and yanked out the skimpy azaleas. We were left with the dogwood tree and two shrubs on either side.

 I dreamed of having  beautiful hydrangea bushes to really get the cottage feel, and bonus fresh flowers for the house.  However, those shrubs were standing in the way of all my hopes and dreams.  The shrubs were OK, but I just didn't love them. We couldn't justify tossing them because the were in good shape, so we listed them on Craigslist-  dig 'em out and they are yours for free.  On a Saturday morning around 11, some dude came to get them.  Twenty minutes later, he was gone and I was filling in the holes with leftover dirt.

Last weekend, JEGs and I decided to pick the hottest day of the year to do some yard work while the bubs was down for his nap.

Ok, so maybe I am exaggerating on the "hottest day of the year" but it was pretty miserable-  the Philly area was just coming down from it's first heat wave of the year.  In MAY.  Seriously you guys, I have not sweat this bad since I birthed a baby.  Lawdy.

Anyway, we grabbed two hydrangea plants for $6.98 each at Lowe's and I got to digging.  We picked plants that needed partial sun because our front yard gets the afternoon sun, but we have a huge tree by the tree that shades the house and yard.

They aren't very big right now, but they should grow to be about 5 ft x 5 ft.

My plan is next spring/summer we will finally transplant that stupid tree to the back yard and add a third hydrangea in the middle to fill in the planting bed nicely.

Since I was already a sweaty/muddy mess, I decided to turn my attention to the area between our porch and our neighbor's porch where the huge bushes used to be.  We had discussed with our neighbors, Amy and Brian, about creating a planting bed between the two houses.  My very generous mother-in-law had given us some hostas from her own garden, so Amy and I dug up the area and planted them to allow them room to grow.  For the time being, we interspersed Impatiences to make it look fuller.

Amy had two hanging baskets just chilling on her porch, so we grabbed two of the shepherd's hooks leftover from our wedding and hung the baskets for added height and color

That decorative piece in the middle will be getting a coat of spray paint later this week.

The view between the houses has changed dramatically in the past year!

                                         

circa June 2012

June 2013

              

We still have some edging to put around the planting beds, but so far I love how it looks-  so much more open and cleaner looking!

The toddler in the door saying "MAAAAAAAAmiiiieeeee.  MAAAAAAAAmiiiiieeeee" gives it a cozy feel too.  

After all that hard work, and the Monster woke up, we cooled off in a sprinkler we had snagged from Target earlier in the day

Instagram: LizzieInProgress

Best $9 ever spent.
 

Anyway, I think I'll probably plug in a couple more annuals in the front bed just to fill it in a little more.  Maybe it will distract people from that stupid tree.  God I hate that tree.

Have you done any yard work lately?  Are you super smart like us and wait till the heat index is 90+?  Any recommendations what we should put in the front garden?  

Always & Forever,

  ME