Everyone needs some yard bling

Here begins a very long post, with pictures, that might bore you to tears. Consider yourself warned.

For two years we have been working on the front and side of our house. In the beginning, we had a crumbling wrap around porch. With holes. Large holes. Our first full summer here we replaced the whole sha-bang, with a large deck area off of the rear of the house. That project depleted all of our funds, along with any ambition for more outdoor projects.

Last year, our bank account bounced back along with our ambition. We had a beautiful wrap around porch, but no bling. I'm talking yard bling. Plants. No, not flamingos. I do have standards ya know. (Really, I would probably put one in my yard. Really. Maybe two.) So we spent some cha-ching to get some yard bling. We dug out sod, scooped away decorative rock (shakes a fist at previous owners!), and planted some beauties of some bushes. Along with the bushes I planted a BUNCH of hostas I had to beg, borrow, and steal. Yes, steal. Stole them from my sister's place. She said no, so I took. So there. Call the police. Wait. I live with the police. Forget I said anything.

Now we have a nice garden area around the deck. Time to branch out. Move on to phase... I can't remember what phase I am on. Partly because I am making it up as I go. So tonight I share photos, crappy almost night time photos, of my yard bling. As a special bonus, I am sharing with you the next phase (whatever number it is) of the yard saga. Don't clap all at once.  

This is the front of my house.  All of the hostas were given to me.  Except the three in the front.  They were stolen.

Here is the other side of the front of my house.  See the vast openess of the mulch in the lower left hand corner?  That is where our sidewalk is supposed to go.  Turns out, because we have no street parking there is no point in spending the money to have a sidewalk that goes to nothing.  Also, this means we have spent a bagillion bucks on the front of our house for no one to see but us.  And don't tell me people will see it driving by.  We live on a hill.  A VERY large hill.  No one is going to see it but us.  

Here is some more landscaping on the side.  All hostas were borrowed in this picture.

Here is the side picture right off of our deck.  I have hostas, spirea, wiegella, and boxwoods.  I planted a few wave petunias for a little color this summer.  

Today I worked on a smaller area.  I don't have a before picture, but here is a patch of weeds that looks like the weeds I dug out today.  This is 90% of my yard.  Weeds.  Exciting, I know.

Here is the finished product.  The ginormous planter was already there.  And the rose bush I got Mother's Day a year ago.  Today, I planted a butterfly bush, a couple hostas (given to me thankyouverymuch) and some yellow perennial plant that I will never know the name of.  My four year old got a little over-zealous throwing things away for me.  Including plant tags.  

Here are the bonus photos.  This is the area off the rear of our deck.  This is the path we take to get into our house every day.  A combination of broken concrete, weeds, and dirt greet me every single day.  I won't even go into the mud baths my boys take when it rains.  This is our next project.  It's a ground level deck.  All nice level prettiness will be here soon.  

Gone will be the treacherous stairs of cement block.  

Along with it, the cement block retaining wall.  (Shakes fists at previous owners!)  Just for reference here, cement blocks are not attractive for steps, walls, or anything else.  They are ugly.  Just in case you were considering them for your landscape needs.