Holey landscaping. That’s what we had. Not holy (I know some of you may think that is just my horrable speling at work again)…but hole-y. As in, we were left with holes. And we knew from experience in the last house that if you need something to look good outside, plant sooner rather than later. So we decided to do it this year. That way we would reep the rewards of bigger plants (that cost more if you plant big) so we bought early and bought small.
But first – let’s recap where we started. Back in December, we snapped some photos of the holey ground, the overgrown rose bushes and the random bulbs.
Then in February, we decided it was warming up enough to start pruning the roses. These rose bushes were the bane of my life for three solid weeks. Most of them were so poorly neglected and overgrown, I decided that I would just cut them down by a third (instead of chopping them down to only a couple feet high) to see if they would even remain alive after such a shock. Seriously these bushes were like teenagers. I swear at one point the plant held up a branch, flipped me the middle stem and gave me a look that said ‘eat thorns and die!’
After the month-long-pruning marathon, they were finally taken down to a more reasonable height.
and after only one month, the new growth started and the plants….LIVED!
We also took one of the rose bushes out and put it on the spot on the side where there was no bush. But pruning isn’t the only thing this yard needed.
The landscaping on the sides of the steps was so ugly that it made poop paint color look good.
and there is still the matter of the center section…it was overgrown and full of grass. You may remember that it hardly resembled an actual garden bed. This photo is actually after Jeremy cleared out some of the grass and started defining the border.
And this is what the entire front beds look like prior to the main landscaping push.
Holey. Moley.
So after some planning (yup, I sketched out what to do on a post-it note minutes before heading to the nursery so technically there was a plan. sortof.), we went to buy some plants. Here’s the plant lowdown:
1. I wanted some hedges on either side of the steps – full sun with a thick habit. Japanese Clyera fit the bill.
2. I love azaleas and the neighbors said the roses were red. False. They are pink. So we exchanged the red azaleas for white ones. I think I would have exchanged them even if the roses were red.
3. On either side of the steps I wanted something that looked like mini christmas trees. Not dwarf spruces…because they hate me and I kill them. Fast growing and taller than 3 feet. Hollys were the answer.
All that other junk that was on either side of the steps….
we dug it up and moved them around the two trees that flanked the house.
We also defined all the beds and spread some pine straw. We did mulch at the other house…and we had issues with wash-away. We had that mulch so freakin’ thick and it still ended up going down the hills. So long moolah nice knowing ya.
So this time we decided that pine straw was a better fit financially. And I think it looks good if you can define your beds well.
Also, between the house and the left hand tree, we put in a couple gardenias. I love gardenias. They smell lovely…and grow pretty fast and did I mention that they smell lovely.
Now do you want to see it and what it currently looks like? No?
It greened up. and it bloomed. and it looks purty.
Now? Whoa. don’t all jump at once. Here it is.
The landscaping I think makes it look so much better. I can even handle the horrible trim color for a little longer now that the holes are gone.
Everything is still small but the infusion of color is just what the house needed.
Do you see those rose bushes? Crazy. Like my 16 year old face….except my mug was red with something ready to pop…and it wasn’t no flower bloom, if you know what I mean.
We still are waiting for the Georgia heat to green up our bermuda grass and then I’m hoping it will look really good.
Oh and for you detail people…we added some stones between the gardenias…because I am that lazy and ten more steps really is harder. The stones were from the old house. I’m sentimental like that….begging Jeremy to haul some big old fat rocks from the old house to the new one…just because we dug them out of the ground together.
The landscaping is still far from finished…the center section is cleared…and we decided to put bricks around the border…to help keep the sod from creeping in even more than it already does. But we are still deciding on the landscaping part. It’s gonna involve some big rocks….and some medium shrubs.
And yes, one day the trim color and the front doors will change and it will rock the world with awesomeness. But for now, the landscaping does wonders for the morale of this puppy.
Especially the bloomin’ wonders on either side. I’ve never seen knockout roses that have so many blooms…
and the funny thing is, there are more buds about to burst.
Of course, not all the rose bushes are quite so amazing. The ones on the side of the house are just simply on the wrong side…and don’t get enough sun. Plus, they were so neglected and it took me so long to get to them pruned that I fear they will take many years (and possible transplanting) to produce some substantial growth.
The worst two are these little guys. The one on the left was transplanted from the front (it was too close to the garage wall and other rose bushes) and the other one…well…it’s just a sad little plant. Simple as that.
Now for side by sides…because I love em….
So there you have it…the what-we-did outside. Thank goodness. I feel like for the most part it’s outta our hands and now we are just leaving it up to Mother Nature to do her job and keep these things alive. And yes…she gets the blame if they die 🙂
Anyone else getting outside these days? Whatcha up to?
Looks beautiful! It always amazing how big of a difference even just defining beds with mulch makes, but the plants you chose will be beautiful as they grow in! I think you had mentioned in a previous post putting hanging ferns as well… those would be the cherries on top 🙂 Drive up your driveway a little slower so you have longer to enjoy the gorgeous new curb appeal!
Wow! Good work! It’s definitely starting to look like someone’s home!
wow, what a difference it makes!
I think my favorite part are the trees!!! They are gorgeous and just what the front needed! But of course, everything YOU added makes the whole transformation complete. Can’t wait to see the circular area. I’m picturing the fountain from “Splash.” : )
What a wonderful change from winter to spring!
Wow that’s impressive! I know that was a lot of hard work but it really does pay off! Now you can smile when you pull in the driveway! BTW, could your house BE any bigger? Gracious it’s gorgeous!!!
Wow, that looks great! The colour definitely makes a difference. And those roses are beautiful!
Wow looks great! It’s amazing what a little green can do outside!
i love what you did:) great goin!!!
Oh Katie, your givin’-lovin’ to this house is already showing and returning in becoming more beautiful! I must admit I didn’t much fancy this place at first, but now I see that you’re in posession of a magic wand and can beautify any place! I vote for the pillars and the trims to be white – they would make it all look nice crisp fresh and clean and I think would match the greyish stone much better than this poopey putty color.
it looks beautiful, katie! this represents a LOT of work! must feel so good to drive up and admire what you’ve done.
Oooh pretty!!! If I didn’t live on the other side of the world I’d offer you free gardening labour, I don’t have a garden living in a top floor apartment, and I love gardening… Woe is me lol
Garden looks lovely, does the tree on the right cover any upstairs windows? I’m trying to work out what’s on that side of the house….
nice side by side comparison. All that work makes such a great difference.
I have never heard of pine straw – mulch drives me nuts and we always have to put it down twice during the summer season.
It looks FANTASTIC! I read your outdoor tour earlier and was wondering how on earth you’d manage to improve such a large and barren looking space but you have definitely managed it. Love the pops of colour. Keep up the great work!
Wow what a difference! Looks wonderful!
It already looks soo much better! 🙂 Great job.
You could always add statue to that middle round thingy in front of the driveway? That would be…unique. seriously, though, it looks like it was made for a fountain or statue. I like the idea of rocks and plants though.
I’ve found with rose bushes that the more you prune them, the happier they are. At one place I lived I had to trim them down so they were only little stumps – and that year they grew back bigger than ever.
Looks so alive now! OMG- I see the sun outside- sorry gotta run. It’s rained for almost 2 straight weeks and my yard is looking like a sad wet mess!
I love having a very modestly-sized house until I see pictures of the outside of your house, at which point I start drooling and plotting ways to snag a mansion of my own. Beautiful job with the landscaping!
Wow, it looks so much better already! Have you considered hydrangeas for the not-sunny side of the house? My mom’s only get sun in the morning, and they’re so big beautiful! I think white ones would look great!
It looks amazing.
I am seeing a fire pit in that center circle. LOL – right out front
What a beautiful place to call home. Congratulations!
What an improvement!!! I need you to come work on my teeny tiny flower bed. It’s in bad shape! We bought the house about a year ago and I continually find myself finding indoor related ways to spend money that should have gone to the shrubbery…ha!
All that color really changes the look of the front – beautiful! We had a TON of holly bushes and trees, but unfortunately, they attracted so many bees and were so close to the house and surrounding the deck that it was difficult to go outside and sit without dressing like a beekeeper so we had to get rid of them. Sad because I really love the look of them. I did keep a few so I’d have fresh holly at Christmas 🙂 Can’t wait to see what you do with the circle!
Looks so beautiful. You must smile everytime you pull into the driveway!
Ps. I wouldn’t worry too much about killing them. If they were neglected for a while before you bought the house, surely they can handle a less-than-green thumb! 🙂
Katie,
That looks great! Your hard work and loving attention is paying off. Can’t wait to see what Mother Nature does with it from here 🙂
It looks incredible Katie! It made such a difference. We still haven’t seen a single bud of green here in Idaho, so I’m super jealous.
The house looks a million times better! Can’t wait to see it once the trimming is painted!
In december everything was brown and made the house look… blah… the trim was (is) all wrong but it was horrible. I think that with all the green going on it looks soooooo much better. I agree you can actually live with it a little longer. I cant wait to see how it continues to evolve.
With the roses… in the winter I would transplant all the ones on that side of the house.. you could put gardenias there… dont they like more shade then sun? That way it looks intentional.. they are near the tree and then move down the side of the house…
Good Job you guys!!!!!
You are giving me so much hope with this post! We bought our house in summer of 09 and the girl that lived here before us did absolutely nothing to the landscaping so we inherited almost no grass (almost half an acre of it!) and dead landscaping. I transplanted some bushes from the backyard and put them in front and this weekend I’ve been trying to plant a veggie garden in their old place. We have roses, too, but they’re dead (see a pattern?) and I had no idea you could trim them a bit and they might actually grow back. ..I’m so excited to get back out in the yard! Now if only that rain will wait a couple more hours…
This cracked me up…imagining dressing up like a beekeeper just to go outside. Oh the things we do to enjoy the outdoors 🙂
xo – kb
It covers up one little round window to the playnook off Will’s room. Jeremy hates that tree…but I like it…and it provides some shade which is nice in such a big sunny yard.
xo – kb
wow that is absolutely amazing! your house looks so warm and loved and welcoming. great job!
Looks great. Makes me so happy when I get a big landscaping project done – totally satisfying in a couple of days work that you get to love for years!! Your neighbors must be loving you guys!!!
It looks beautiful, Katie! You and Mother Nature do great work 🙂 (And Jeremy, of course.) I can’t wait to see what you do in the little circle, and of course, the trim painting day will be exciting, whenever that day comes. Your home is so beautiful!!
The house looks totally different now with your beautiful landscaping! It is actually inspiring me to take more seriously landscaping around our own house… Great job as always Katie!
-Rachel
http://commontomoms.blogspot.com
It really does look a million times better with the landscaping making it all freshity fresh! Also, I’m sure you already know this but you take a ton of photos! I scrolled back up to the top of the post in Google Reader to come here and comment and it took like twenty years worth of scrolling.
What an amazing amount of work you guys have done! Wow wow wow! While I find yard work very enjoyable, it is still hard work! I am loving how everything is coming together. It looks amazing.
gorgeous!!!!! it looks like your plants are really thankful for their new owners!! I can’t believe how well those roses recovered. Oh… wait. yes, I can. it seems that ANYTHING you and Sherry touch turns to gold. or green. whatever. =)
Wow! I don’t comment often, but I had to pop in to say you guys have done a fantastic job. I love that you are working with the existing plants, relocating some of them and filling in between with new plants.
I would love to see some exterior photos that you’ve photoshopped with new paint colors- if you haven’t done this already 🙂
I’m inspired to go outside and plant something now!
Wow! Love it. We are landscaping now and were lost as to what to include. You gave us a start! Thanks for the ideas.
OH. MY. GOODNESS…. What an amazing difference!!! You must just be looking at it all the time and patting yourself on the back (I know the other day I changed the arrangement on our dining table.. I really loved it and at night, I went to bed, but had get up and come back out just to see how great it looked again!! lol… can’t imagine what I’d do with this sort of front yard transformation… I might never sleep again!!!)
Great job, loving the new green house, it looks lovely 🙂 Hope you are not as obsessed with your new aesthetics as I would be!! lol
Krispy
katie- not gonna lie…i was expecting to see some not-so-drastic changes. i mean, i get it that it was a process, but our grass still looks crazy-town in VA with it not quite being warm enough yet…so i was nervous. but dang girl, that looks AWESOME. seriously. awesome. i’m super duper impressed. granted, my roses are dying. wanna come help me figure it out? i’m not very knowledgeable with the plants! anyway, we pruned our roses earlier and are hoping it’ll start blooming, it’s on-again, off-again.
anyway, that was rambling. sorry. but really. it looks phenom. can’t wait til you guys are able to change the paint colors. why am i telling you that? YOU can’t wait for those paint colors to change. 🙂
Love the landscaping changes and it looks so much better. I aqgree with your sentiments about the brown trim but am so curious: What color are you planning on changing it to???
We’ve been outside pretty much non-stop for the last few weeks working on the landscaping of our house (a great 43 yr old split with a huge yard that has been neglected) and have made great progress. I am curious how you defined your planting beds without (at least that I can tell) a border of some sort, whether it be a paver or the black landscape edging. We put some of the black land scape edging down and I am not super crazy about it and would prefer to go without, but I am afraid of the grass taking over without a physical border of some sort… interested to know what you did.
This is GREAT progress. So motivational. We moved last fall and are starting to tackle the yard full force this spring after a long winter in Minnesota. We are debating between covering the beds with rock or mulch, so it was good to hear your take on mulch. Thanks for sharing!
It’s called the ditch method 🙂 Just dig a ditch abou four inches wide and four inches thick all the way around the bed and allow the ground cover (whether it be mulch or pine straw) cover the entire bed and go into the ditch. You will have to continue to weedwack the edges but it does work.
xo – kb
Probably something lighter. We don’t know yet but we have dreamed about changing it to white…and love talking about doing a light gray or cream or even a charcoal!
xo – kb
Lovin’ the transformation! I can’t wait to see what it looks like when you guys update the trim and door paint!
Nice bush……errr……nice rose bush! Not tryin to get awkward or anything!!! Love the scaping its coming along great!!!! Love your blog too…..keep up the great work KDiddy!!!! Stop on over if you have some time (perfectlyforeternity.blogspot.com) its brand spanking new!
we have been working on our yard like crazy this spring too…you have made awesome progress! We aren’t as far along on our work, but it’s only JUST gotten into the 60s this week!
Wow, what a change. I have just started landscaping by house after postponing it for years. Now I know why….I opted for more mature plants without realizing how big the holes would have to be dug. We are doing 164 ft. across the front. Putting in beds and drainage from scratch. I don’t think I can get my hubby to dig anymore holes this season but want to add a middle and front row to what I have. What are the small shrubs in front of the cleyera? I can’t really tell but looks like boxwood. I need something smaller for middle row but do not want it to grow into a hedge. Any suggestions?
LOOK WHAT YOU DID!!!! It’s amazing! Love the new plants! Your hard work really paid off.
Those little ones in front of the clyera are white azaleas…I don’t know off hand but they are not supposed to get large (3 feet tops).
xo – kb
Wow looks great:) Your house is looking alive!!!!
Your yard looks great!!! We’ve been outside for the past couple of weekends. I live in South Alabama so are blooming season is a bit longer. I have over 30 knockout roses and I’ve gotten to where I cut them twice a year. Once in Feb. and again in Aug. Each time I cut them, I cut them to about 18 inches and they are still a blooming machine!! I’m a yard person so flowers really get my excited especially in spring!
I also saw a comment about possible trim colors. I have a yellow house with white trim and HOLY MILDEW! Not sure if it’s just living in the house or the fact that I live so close to the water, but we have to power wash our house twice a year and we even used the right exterior anti-mildew paint.
Can’t wait to see what else you do with your yard!
I am soooooo jealous!! I have big plans for the flower beds in the front of our house this year too, but it is still too cold in Minnesota to start working on it Winter is really hanging on this year, we got snow yesterday… I am so ready for spring planting I can barely stand it!!!
WOW!! The difference is amazing! If we could only get some rain out here in West Texas, I know my plants would finally green up more. I have just started landscaping myself at our new house.
OOoh! Looks so good!
WOW! I’m shocked by how fast the trees got leaves, just a month ago they were bare. Y’all did a great job! It makes such a huge difference.
It looks great! And actually, I think the roses are “red.” Why they call it that, when they are clearly a darker pink, I don’t know. But, if I am looking at them right in the pictures, they look like the red variety of the knockout roses.
Wow- I’m so impressed! Up here in Minnesota things still look dead and gray. We just moved into our brand new project house and can’t wait to see what landscaping pops up once things green up around here. We are hearing from the neighbors that the outside is much better than the inside, thank the Lord, because the inside can’t get much worse!
Great choices. I absolutely love a gray pallet and it will match the stone perfectly. Good luck with it.
Gotta say, I’m lovin’ your blog! I liked to it from YHL, which I recently discovered from BabyCenter. Oh, boy, there’s a lot of time wasted just reading about other peoples’ lives! haha
Question about the pine straw: Does it stay in place when you mow next to it? Does the nice straight edge require maintenance? Do you have to keep picking pine needles out of your grass and grass out of your pine needles? It looks SO nice and we hadn’t considered it before seeing it here. Thanks in advance for the help and the inspiration!
We’ve hadn’t had any issues with it moving…we just layered it on pretty thick…and it stayed put. Hope this helps!
xo – kb
oooh good to know Lindsey…we’ll add that to the con list of white!
xo – kb
This is the same one we just put on our house! LOVE!
love it. can’ t ever go wrong with green hedges!
I really think something like this: http://pinterest.com/pin/16665280/
would look STUNNING in the circle area!
looks like a large circle…so you would need a very large/tall container for the center.
Absolutely lovely! The roses turn out great. I have always been afraid to trim my roses but now I can’t wait. They look a little WILD! Thanks for the great pictures.