2005 Yard Landscaping Makeover
We have long disliked the hedges in the front of our house, and we finally decided to start doing something about it this summer. We weren't exactly sure what we wanted to do, but we knew we didn't want the hedges -- they were as old as the house (16 years) and it was no longer possible to keep them off the sidewalk without scalping them back so far that they would just be skeletons.
So, on July 2 we cut them down and then pulled the stumps out with the help of the pickup. Of the seven stumps in the front, only one really gave us any trouble, but we were patient and persistent and we eventually succeeded. After that, things just sort of escalated and we ended up re-landscaping much of the front of the house and a little bit of the back as well! I've split up the photos and text in an effort to describe and show you the whole process.
Front and Center
The central portion of the front of the house is what started the whole thing, and it was the first portion that we completed, although we've made a couple more changes as the whole project has evolved (and will probably make a couple more before all is complete). The first two photos are "before", the 3rd and 4th were taken on July 2nd after we had completed ripping the hedges out, and the 5th photo is as it appeared on November 21 after we added Sparky to the area:
(Note: click on any thumbnail photo to see a larger version, then use your browser's "Back" button to return to this page.)
The critters in the final photo, from left to right, are Kuntz (pronounced like "coonts"), Rusty, Sparky, and Dunn (pronounced like "dune"). Sparky was just added to our family in November after we picked him up in Branson, so he warrants a couple close-ups:
The Fountain Garden
We call the area near the driveway the "fountain garden" because it is home to our bear fountain . . . when we moved into the house this area was completely overgrown by a large variety of flowers and plants . . . we thinned it out a bit, but never really got it under control, so we completely wiped it out on October 1st and put in the same gravel that we used in the front. Then during a trip to Branson we picked up some really great blue pots to help break up the "sameness" and texture of the gravel. Following are some before and after shots . . . the last shot shows the fountain garden area and the central portion of the front also:
Behind the House
On October 29, we got to work on the area in front of our bedroom (to the right of the front porch), but that area already had a bunch of gravel in it that we needed to get rid of. Our plan was to move the gravel that was there to an area in back of the house so we had to prepare that rear area first. Then I moved the gravel from the front of the house to the back while Beverly weeded and mulched the area around the back porch:
Beside the Porch
This was by far the hardest portion of the whole project, but we're pretty happy with the way that it is turning out. The timbers were quite rotten and literally fell apart as we ripped them out. We decided to move the small evergreen tree instead of just trashing it . . . hopefully it will survive the move. And we purchased a larger blue pot for use as the top of a water feature:
New Lights
On November 23 and 27 we installed new lighting in front of the house: 8 landscaping lights, a matching house light and yard light, and 2 small floods (these latter to illuminate the flag). The landscaping lights are 11W and the fluted glass creates a very nice pattern of light all around. We still think we need to do something with the black pole for the yard light, and will experiment with a few color treatments when we catch some decent weather, but otherwise we are quite happy with the results . . . it's nice to have some light in front of the house at night.:
We Finally Have Fountainage!
I doubt that "fountainage" is a word, but it should be. On April 15, 2006 we purchased some more gravel and rocks, and we finished preparing the big blue pot. Then that afternoon we filled it up with water and turned it on! Here are a couple of photos (note: these are pretty big pictures and may take a while to load when you click on them):
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We're still planning to place a few larger rocks in various areas for added visual appeal, but that'll have to wait. We are first going to get a couple of plants for the other two blue pots, and a new pump for the bear fountain.
And here is a photo that I took on November 4th (2005) when the tree in the front yard was in full color . . . we were just leaving for Branson (which is why you don't see Sparky or the blue pots or the new lighting in the picture), and I stopped to snap this shot:
