I always get the itch to change things up outside when the weather turns nice.
And since this is what we inheirited, we have a lot that needs changing.
I'm not a big fan of little circle islands around huge trees. I think they need something more substantial, so I spent 2 afternoons getting rid of those circles (I am pregnant here! lol). The little red bricks I sort of like (they're there and free), I just didn't like where they were, so I also moved them, along with matching bricks creating little circle islands around trees in the back yard. I arranged the red bricks in a bigger bed to include the two trees. I removed most of the sod in the bed, and covered the whole area with several layers of newspaper with mulch on top.
If you've never tried this method, it is a super easy way to create a flowerbed. At our old home, I actually never removed the sod. I just layed down the newspaper down directly over the grass, and covered with mulch. The effect was a smothering off the grass since it was getting NO sunlight. Within a few months, the paper and grass had composted into some wonderful planting soil.
Anyway, after several days of hard work, this is what I came up with. It still isn't perfect, the old bushes need to be trimmed up and the new plants are small, but they'll grow into nice mature sizes in a year or so. Since the ornamental grass around the left tree was pretty much dead, as seen in the first photo, I divided up the HUGE groupings of grass around the right tree and did a little 'Spreadin' the Love around.'
The small plantings in the front should grow to have an 18in spread each, and the ferns behind and throughout the bed should grow to about 2 ft tall. Hopefully when everything grows in it will look less bare. :)
Hopefully soon we can finish up our curb appeal with some fresh paint on the shutters and trim.
Have a great day!
