When we moved into this house, almost exactly 8 years ago, there was a beautiful, big flower garden on the north side of our backyard. It was full of flowers that we didn't have a clue about, except one - I recognized the sunflower. And it was beautifully designed because there was something blooming in it from April to September. So, the previous owners had really known what they were doing.
The second year we were here, I weeded it a bit and still thought it was beautiful, but I had a 4-year-old, an 18-month-old and was newly pregnant with my third baby. So, it was way low on my priority list. Year 3 brought a brand new baby in the spring and a sewer line that exploded about 3 feet from the flower bed. Our backyard was torn up for most of the spring and summer and I never even looked at the flower bed, let alone weeded it.
Year 4 brought a bit of attention, but just a bit. I cut out some things, weeded it a bit (but didn't know what was a weed or a flower by that time), and was really overwhelmed by it because it was getting overgrown. Year 5 brought a bit more attention - I cut out a little more of the overgrown stuff, we laid down some weed resistant sheeting and planted two shrub roses and some lavendar along the edges. Years 6 and 7 just brought total abandonment. :p It was just way too overwhelming at that point because it was completely overgrown and weeds grew up through the sheeting. So, we decided to just let it go completely. We swore that we were going to tear it all out every spring, then it got too late.
Finally, this year, we made a different decision. We were going to tear it all out like we had said, but instead of just planting grass seed, we decided to try our hand at building a new flower garden. And that's what we did this weekend.
Here's a before shot. Be warned - it's really bad. Completely abandoned.
You can't really tell in this photo, but it's basically an oval-shaped bed with some basic black edging around it. The edging has been completely taken over by grass in this photo. It was just a huge eyesore and a huge embarrassment for me. I hated having people over and just stopped inviting them because I was so mortified by the state of our backyard. The only other recognizable thing in this photo is the large iris.
However, it looks a lot different now and, let me tell you, I am totally in love with gardening. Who knew?!?! Maybe I'm just getting old, but I could putter in there all day now that it's done. I'm dreaming about going to plant nurseries and I want to dig out another bed soooooo badly. So, here it is now. It's actually a bad picture, but I was so covered in dirt that I just snapped a quick shot and that was it.
The only color we have in it now is the salvia, but the shrub rose is about to bloom, the lavendar should bloom in the next week or two and I may throw in some annuals, too.
My favorite part is the stone path! And I can't wait for the peonies and azaleas to bloom. :)
Love the salvia!
And that's just one of the projects we worked on this weekend. Tomorrow, I'll show you our first veggie garden. We must be either really motivated or really stupid to try all of this first-time gardening in the same year. LOL!