And so it begins

I have been meaning to put all of my work, my updates, my progress pictures in one location for people to enjoy. Hopefully people will actually read this - I don't know many people on blog spot - that is, I don't know many people personally who use this blog. So hopefully these updates won't be for naught.


So we have been working hard in our yard! We first purchased our home in June 2008 and it had a lovely yard and small garden. We were not gardeners so it all went to crap shortly after we bought it. Turns out that the pretty morning glory I admired when I first moved in belongs to the devil and it's purpose is to grow over everything and kill it. It has taken us two years to get a nice yard but I think we're finally achieving it.


Here is our back yard in June when we first moved in.











Cute right? Well it wasn't so cute the next year. It took us a lot of mistakes and a lot of hard work to fix all the bad things we did with the yard - aka neglect. This is our 3rd summer in this house if you count the summer we moved in. That first summer our yard was great! The 2nd year.. not so much. This year was much better though our dogs have done a number on the grass.


And here was our front yard:





Here are some pictures taken last winter, probably late feb or early March.











So as you can see, not exactly the same. Obviously there is a seasonal difference (summer is a far cry from winter) but besides that it just wasn't pretty. We got one step ahead of the morning glory and tore down all the hibernating vines that were just waiting for the warmth to come before it goes nuts and kills everything again. We also pruned down the rose bush and two hydrangeas. GO US!!


Here are some pictures of the backyard taken this summer:








Much better! We have a lot of our plants in containers now to help combat the morning glory. We also have two 4' x 4' x 2' deep cedar planter boxes for veggies.


And here is the work done on the front -
Before:





After:





Basically the after consists of all the grass being gone  and replacing it with Vinca Minor, pretty grass, and dwarf Japanese Maples.


Vinca Minor:





Hupps Dwarf JM starting to wake up





Dwarf JM Aoba Jo





Dwarf JM Pixie





Dwarf JM Abigail Rose - still slumbering. This little beauty slept the longest of all my Japanese Maples





And then there was the front steps with the little box beds. Here is the before:




And then After:








And then came the blooms
I just love tulips








And of course who can resist a beautiful hyacinth




And thus finishes the beginning of our story - the journey that will never end