SPRING CLEANING - GARDEN UPDATE

Although I grew up in a family where just about everyone had green thumbs, it wasn't until I had a house and yard of my own that I started paying attention to plants or even enjoyed gardening. My mom was always out in the yard and is well known for being a plant expert in our family (she used to want to be a horticulturist) - so I guess you could say that all of these years of her talking plants to me finally rubbed off. I've officially come down with the gardening bug.

This past Saturday marked one full year in our home and I have to say we fall more in love with it each day. After a crazy first year of planning our wedding and tackling some projects over the winter I was excited to dive into our yard and garden.

This is how our yard started...

I don't have any pre-fence photos since we had them install the fence right after we settled so the dogs would have a place to stay, but this shows what we started with pretty well. 

Here is a pretty good representation of where we are now:

We updated the shutters and front door color this past winter, planted some bulbs around the front cherry tree, edged the flower beds with pavers to match our back yard retaining wall and all of my perennials from last year popped back up in the front flower beds.

It really is exciting to see things you planted last year come back bigger and better this year. It sounds extremely nerdy - but it's so interesting to me now to watch how different plants grow.

Hostas, speedwell and pansies are getting HUGE in our front flower bed!

Last year as a house warming gift, my mom helped us create a retaining wall/firepit area with two planters on the side. I wasn't kidding when I said she was amazing in the yard! She drew up some plans and spent countless hours helping us create this space all by ourselves. She even took off work to work on it while we were both at the office. I'll have to do a post on the retaining wall she is working on in her yard - it's outrageous! (hint - she's putting in a pizza oven and waterfall on the wall.)

This gives you a better idea of how the retaining wall and fire pit area are positioned on the left side of our back yard. We back filled the retaining wall with dirt and planted some seed last fall and it's looking great! We still have to secure the tops of the planters and wall, but it works for now.

I won't bore you with a garden tour of our house, but I can't say it enough - gardening has been so rewarding to me. I love walking around and seeing what is popping up next and it was such a stress reliever when work was going crazy!

If you are looking for some great perennials, here are some I chose:
Bearded Iris
Astilbe
Day Lilies
Hosta
Hydrangea
Peonies
Viburnum
Bleeding Heart
Sedum
Columbine
Hyacinth
Tulips
Gladiolus
Phlox
And much more...