Garden/Landscaping Project: Before

 Many moons ago (two years, to be precise), I shared that I had been working with a landscape/garden designer to re-configure my flower beds. My goal at that time was (and still is) to modify my beds to resemble cottage gardens. This is the look that I've always been striving for but have never achieved! You can read more about my original plan HERE.

Well, after the plans were drawn up, nothing happened on this project in the summer of 2014 nor in the summer of 2015. There were good reasons for the delay but this spring, I vowed not to let this project languish for yet another summer! So we engaged a landscape company to help make the original plans a reality. Because the designs were pretty overwhelming for me to decipher, it was great to be able to hand them to someone who would could read them and help me figure out how to get started!

So I'm happy to report that next week we are finally starting on the first step of the project, which will be to enlarge the beds according to the plans and replace the ugly black plastic edging with stone edging. The edging will go all around the house, expanding the beds in some areas where indicated by the spray paint.

 

In addition to the edging, some bushes will be removed, such as this boxwood and an unsightly barberry in the back garden.

 

Many of the flower areas have no edging at all, so they'll look much tidier with a stone border. After the expansion is done, the beds will also be mulched, which always helps the appearance!

The original plans called for the bed behind the house to be expanded, softening the sharp corner into a more organic shape.

It was interesting to see how much bigger the flower beds will become!

As part of this first phase, we will be adding a few trees, including one marked here by the pink flag, an area previously occupied by a locust tree.

A Japanese tree lilac like this one (but much smaller, of course!) will go in that spot. I think this beautiful tree will add a lot to our backyard.

This bed will get a lot of attention in the next phase, but for now it will be expanded and edged with stone.

In the fall, we plan to start the next phase of the project. At that time, I will work with the landscape guy and crew to dig up, split, move, and add some new perennials to the various expanded spaces. I had hoped we could get to this step during the cooler spring months, but that just wasn't feasible. And of course, it's not a good idea to move perennials in the heat of the summer so fall is the next best option.

This bed is going to fill up the entire corner next to the patio, as marked here. This will make for easier mowing for Spouse and should provide a nice "screen" for the patio.

This narrow bed is a huge mess! Now that I know it won't see any attention until fall, I need to get it cleaned up. It's very overgrown and weedy. YIKES. Truthfully, all of the beds need a lot of tidying up, but I've put off that task as I've been waiting to see how this project would unfold.

We lost a tree a few years ago from this corner bed at the front of the house, so I'm very happy we will be replacing it with a lilac tree on standard, shown in the photo below.

Stay tuned for a progress report on the first phase of this project! I'm very excited to get started on this long-awaited improvement! :)

jp