Landscaping 101

Last week my AMAZING, AWESOME brother came over and worked on my yard.  I mean WORKED on my yard. It was a mess...

This was in 2010 after we moved in.  It was a little out of control for my taste- it hadn't been tended to in a couple of years.  Last summer, I ripped it all out....ALL OF IT.  I could not stand one more day of those spirea, nor the bushes that grew under the front window.  I dug them all out.  (Dana helped too!)  I don't have an after of that, but you get the idea of what "nothing" would look like, right?!

Fast forward to now:

I am in LOVE with my new landscaped yard.  I LOVE the red bricks and I love the plants Sean chose.  I think it is going to be amazing when everything starts to grow and take over that space.  I love best that we chose perrenials so I don't have to keep planting year after year.  It was A LOT of work.  I was exhausted. Sean was beat.  But, look at it now...worth it all.   I am so grateful for a brother who came out several times to work on it- despite downpours of rain one night, and shovel 5 yards of dirt and one of mulch into this space.  He dug out every bit of grass, which is super hard.  I did under one tree and the mailbox- Holy Cow! Back-breaking, I tell ya.  My kiddos pitched in too- Alex shoveled half a yard of dirt himself, and the girls helped out by sweeping up the dirt on the sidewalk.  My plan is to add another little wall of bricks in front of the azeala off the porch, but that is probably next month.  For now, I just enjoy the view.