Front Corner Hill Evolution

Everybody loves a good "before and after" story, and I'm no exception.  Getting our yard and gardens under control and reflective of our personal style has been a lot of work.  Little by little we've been making changes here and there, but the Front Corner Garden has been a dramatic change since the days we moved in last August.

When we first visited the house during our home search, we fell in love with the house immediately - but the yard was one of those things we declared "had potential" - home buyer code for "It needs work!".     Here is one of the main reasons why:

This is the Front Corner of our lot, as viewed from the street corner.    Where's the house???   That mound of greenery was a huge jungle of wild grape vine, honeysuckle, pokeweed, bindweed, English Ivy and who knows what else.


We lived with it this way through the fall and winter, but as soon as spring hit, we knew we had to do something about it.   We were out there hacking away it it little by little, when a hired-hand landscape crew came through the neighborhood one Saturday in March looking for work.  We haggled on the spot, and three hours later, this is what this corner looked like:

Big difference, huh?

I first wrote about this hill in this post, a while back, but I thought it would be a good time to bring you up to date.  

Over the months of April and May, we cleaned up the vining roots, purchased many, many shrubs and perennials, and planted this corner to make a new Front Corner Garden.

Here's the evolution in photos:

April 12

April 21

April 21

May 25

June 7

June 16

June 16

June 22

It's been quite the transformation!   Now when we're out there working on it, we get lots of compliments from neighbors passing by.  People love the fact that the big mound of green jungle is no longer there - sight lines are easier to see when driving at the corner, and the garden brings much-needed color to the landscape.

Of course, the garden isn't done.   We plan to re-plant a grass border on the right side near the sidewalk, continue cleaning up and clearing the jungle mess of weeds along the sidewalk to the right, and continue adding more plants as time goes by.  Our budget for Summer 2016 has been used up with this and many other projects, so no more plant purchases this year.  

Here's a run-down of what we have in here so far:

Holly 'Nellie Stevens' (1)

Willowleaf Viburnum (1)

Common Lilac (1)

Chaste Tree (1)

"Dark Knight" Blue Mist Shrub (1)

Variegated Wiegela (2)

Shasta Daisy 'Becky' (3)

Coreopsis 'Zagreb' (3)

Sedum 'Autumn Joy' (5)

Cranesbill 'Rozanne' (3)

Dahlia 'Babylon Red' (2)

Dahlia 'Dazzling Magic' (2)

Lavender 'Early Scent' (2)

Dahlia 'Otto's Thrill' (2)

Knock-Out Double Pink Rose (3)

Yarrow - 'New Vintage Violet' (3)

Verbena 'Homestead Purple" (5)

One more look at the before:

And the after:

Much better!

You guys, I'm so glad you were here today! Thanks so much for spending your time with me here.   

We've been working hard this summer to make our property what we want it to be. There are more articles here that showcase what we've been doing in our yard and gardens, you might want to check these out: 

 Check out this post to see how we totally transformed our side yard:

Here's what we've been up to in the back yard near the driveway:

And check out the blooms we had throughout the yard in July... many of them were on this front corner hill:

Please follow me on Facebook and Pinterest to keep in touch with more happenings around here!

 

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Sharing at:

Metamorphosis Monday - Between Naps On The Porch

June Garden Party With Friends - Poofing the Pillows

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