A landscaping fever!
I've spent almost every moment of the past two weeks dreaming about our landscaping (well, the moments when I'm not caring for children, teaching, grading papers, cleaning the house, etc.).
We've had several challenges with our front landscaping, the biggest one being drainage! The low spot in our front beds were to the left of the sidewalk, and water just sat there. Kyle installed gutters last fall, but that didn't solve the problem (althou
gh it did help some). I researched and researched, and we decided that french drains were the solution. We dug a trench all along the front of the house (including driving a 3 inch pipe underneath a five foot section of sidewalk), filled with gravel and perforated pipe, topped with more gravel, and voila! Now we can spray water at the driveway, and it comes all the way out on the other side of the house. Here's the water coming out of the end of the drain. Hooray!
Soooo...we were ready for plants! Almost. First, we built up the level of our beds a little bit. Braden had a great time helping with every dump truck and tractor he owns:
I'd researched the plants for our area and our planting conditions (lots of shade--the house faces North) Braden went with me to Lowe's to pick out plants. We bought:
I've spent almost every moment of the past two weeks dreaming about our landscaping (well, the moments when I'm not caring for children, teaching, grading papers, cleaning the house, etc.).
We've had several challenges with our front landscaping, the biggest one being drainage! The low spot in our front beds were to the left of the sidewalk, and water just sat there. Kyle installed gutters last fall, but that didn't solve the problem (althou
gh it did help some). I researched and researched, and we decided that french drains were the solution. We dug a trench all along the front of the house (including driving a 3 inch pipe underneath a five foot section of sidewalk), filled with gravel and perforated pipe, topped with more gravel, and voila! Now we can spray water at the driveway, and it comes all the way out on the other side of the house. Here's the water coming out of the end of the drain. Hooray!Soooo...we were ready for plants! Almost. First, we built up the level of our beds a little bit. Braden had a great time helping with every dump truck and tractor he owns:
I'd researched the plants for our area and our planting conditions (lots of shade--the house faces North) Braden went with me to Lowe's to pick out plants. We bought:
- 2 3-gallon waxleaf ligustrums
- 6 1-gallon Japanese boxwoods
- 6 1-gallon "Clara" Indian hawthornes
- 4 3-gallon "Blueberry Muffin" Indian hawthornes
- 6 variated liriopes
- 3 cast iron plants
- 3 autumn ferns
Braden picked out a 6-pack of lavender impatiens. I'm not ready to plant summer annuals yet, but he really wanted something with flowers.
We planted last night. Today after church, Kyle bought a square yard of "black velvet" mulch, and here are the beautiful results: 
I have more plants planned...a Knockout Rose, a few crape myrtles, a couple of bottlebrush plants, and a loropetalum, but for now, I'm happy and content.
I also have a pretty major landscaping feature underway in the backyard, but I'll reveal it on here once we're totally finished!
1 comment:
Wow Erin! It looks really great!! You guys did a fantastic job!!
Post a Comment