Not The Ugliest House On The Block

Today was a day I've been dreaming about for months. It was finally warm enough to plant some pretty plants out front. It was high time for landscaping duty!

We went to Home Depot around 10:30 AM after hosting a breakfast waffle party for some friends from church. Patient John let me wander to find exactly what I needed for the spot out front. He was even good enough to voice opinions now and then. I had drawn up a map of where things should be planted (nerd alert!). We needed one big plant (3-4 feet in diameter), three medium plants (about 2 feet) and two small plants (1 foot in size). After checking out the new selection in the garden center, we selected some pretty things to brighten up our yard!

The Lineup

The Big Plant: we couldn't find anything that size, so we ended up transplanting a bush from the side of the house. It will work for now...and if it survives the violent move, it will have a happy home out front to first greet visitors. I like it...it's a pretty light-green color that is different from everything else we planted.

The Medium Plants: three were purchased. First, a sweet Dwarf Mock Orange Tree, which is a dense, beautiful bush. It is already full-size, so we were able to plant accordingly without planning future growth. Second, a Pink Breath of Heaven. It's an evergreen, which means it will look great all year long. It also blooms pretty little pink flowers in the spring, and already some are peeking through near the base of the plant. Finally, we bought a Natal Plum, which has thick, gorgeous leaves and will be any shape we want. I love it and can't wait for it to grow to maturity...about two feet in diameter.

The Small Plants: two cacti were selected to stay true to the Arizona roots. We planted a bright yellow Golden Barrel cactus to add  some color. We also added a mature Crosby's Prolific succulent, and I love the shape and size. It looks like it will bloom some stalk flowers, which will be pretty. These guys are both low-maintenance. Actually, everything we planted will be very little work! That's just how we roll. I wanted it to look good without a whole lot of work from us. No one in our house has time to baby plants.

So it's easy, right? Just dig some holes, throw some plants into them, fill them with dirt, water, repeat. Right? As we were digging the first hole for the big plant, John hit some rock and cement. Apparently, a coi pond used to inhabit this space...and instead of getting rid of all the concrete before filling it in, the previous owners just broke up the pieces a little, then buried it. Awesome. So we dug and dug and dug until all the rock and cement had been removed. After three hours, we were finally ready to start putting things back in! It definitely counted as my workout yesterday.

Once all the plants were in and the dirt was filled again, about four tons to be exact, it was time to water. We soaked it using water cans and our rain barrel...that thing is proving to be pretty handy! After all the babies were soaked, it was Mulch Time! We found a smokin' deal about a month ago for $4 mulch at $0.96. So we got a little carried away and bought enough to hopefully do all of the landscaping jobs we have in mind. I love how the black mulch contrasts against the pretty green plants and our house. It just looks so...finished! Now I just have to be patient to wait for the plants to grow to their mature size. I am sure carrying on lengthy conversations with them will help in that regard.

Even though the project ended up taking a lot more effort than we were expecting, the results were certainly worth it. We are both so tickled with how it looks! The best news of the day? Just as I was hoping, John mentioned changing the other bushes in front of the windows to match. It will look SO much better if we just tear everything up and start from scratch. He hasn't let me tear anything out, and it's been killing me. I think he might be on board now that he has seen its potential. Fingers crossed!

Our curb appeal became a little more appealing yesterday, and I have a strong, patient, hard-working man to thank for it. Just for the record, I was in there digging just as much. Oddly enough, photo evidence is mostly lacking of such endeavors.