It’s no secret that I am not so great at keeping plants alive, I consider myself a plant hospice worker: I am easing their transition to death. I was determined this year, though, to finally tackle the front of our house. Since we took the bushes out last year, the whole beige on beige/tan/brown scheme has been on full display, and we needed something to break it up! Additionally, there were some prickly bushes under the big window in the middle of our house that we removed the first summer we lived there, thinking we would replace them with something softer ‘right away.’ That turned into a 3 year eyesore, so that is where we started.

This photo shows to overgrown bushes (there are windows behind there!) and the prickly bushes. Also, the first week or two I painted the garage door and all the shutters to break up the beige. The house is surrounded be tan rock, and there are no plants on either side or the entire back, something we will be addressing this summer. Here it as after all the bushes have been removed.

The Mr. managed to dig up most of the rock while I was gone, so I didn’t get a true before, but he mentioned the rock was a good 3-4″ thick in this area. We were able to remove most of it and found the previous owners did do some professional landscaping work because the soil here was in excellent condition, no clay for at least 8″.

We planted hydrangeas here, to fill in the beige and to add some color.

Originally, there was a border on the edge of the sidewalk that was made up of plastic pieces that snapped together, to hold the rock in. However, every piece had a lip, and it would get caught on the snowblower and snap off, leaving a jagged edge that looked like chipped teeth. I suggested we set the border back a few inches and fill the gap with pea rock. Also, dark brown mulch brings so much more contrast and life than tan rock!

I updated our front step rug and added some plant life to the corner; overall, I’d say this side is good to go. I wish plants grew faster!

Now we need to tackle the hard part in front of the lower windows, and I am stuck on which plants/trees/bushes to buy. I want something to anchor this side, but nothing that will block the light in the basement we worked so hard for. The search is on, in the meantime, there is free tan rock to anyone who wants to haul it!