{Front Yard} Foundation Stones, part 3

Read all about the foundation stones here and here for the other areas of the house. This post is about the front bed (behind the giant holly in the picture below).

The previous homeowner(s) didn't do much in the landscaping department. They did maybe 50 years ago when they planted what now are giant bushes, but other than that, nothing. To the left of our sidewalk (on the opposite side of the bushes) was a very small, plain, somewhat empty flower bed with small wood boarders. Wood (in our mind) + moisture = termites. We're not fond of 'em, so we wanted them gone. Plus, it was small and ugly. I'm sorry I didn't get great before shots. This was right as we were moving in and then I didn't think much about it during the next step.

See? Not much going on.

Here's Doug removing the concrete stepping stones that were basically covered up with grass and weeds, making it a small hazard when mowing. We (ok, he did all of this) pulled them all up and we set them aside, knowing some day we may reuse them. It only took 2+ years for me to do something with them...

But you can see there's not much going on in this garden. Irises, sure, and some sedum (the stuff with yellow flowers) but not much else.

Oh, and I know you're jealous of the crazy purple bird. Lily was obsessed with it for a whole summer last year.

And after! Well, not the completely made over after. But better!

See the wood planks? That's the border. We threw those things to the curb as fast as possible. I've since replanted many of the irises to the south side of our house with the others and have moved some of those sedums around too. My goal is to have this side of the house as my Moon Garden (or all white garden) and I'm slowly working on getting some great looking plants. Right now it's a mix of colors as I use annuals to fill in spaces and planters. A few of my plants haven't made it, so they'll be replaced eventually. My goal plants to include would be some white lilies, daisies (got 'em), Columbine, moon vine, hibiscus, and many others. I want a variety so it's layered and they bloom all throughout the season.

I'm also thinking of doing some small evergreens in this area too. I'd love to do a blue spruce or a Fat Albert spruce in the yard (where there was once a giant tree... we know this because there's still a giant hole!) and some other small greenery that would be pretty throughout the winter too. Especially once that stupid holly is gone. He's a thorn in my side some days... ok, every day I look at him!

{Front Yard} Foundation Stones, part 2

I showed you here what Lily's Garden looked like full of foundation stones. We knew we had more than we needed for her garden, so we found places within our front yard for some extras. Doug had in his mind that we would have one big one near the street and that some day (still hasn't happened) I will paint our address numbers on it. Our house has the numbers, but it's impossible to see and for some reason people get it confused with the house across the street. Anyway... here are the pics for the front yard and how Doug manhandled the rock into place.

First, he dug the hole. We spaced it far enough away from our sidewalk that we could some day rebuild the sidewalk (not he one behind him right now, but to the right, leading up to our house) wider than what we have right now. This would allow extra width without getting too close to the big rock, 'cause he's not moving any time soon!

Seriously big. This photo doesn't do it justice.

Here it is compared to Doug. He's roughly 5'10" and well built, so that should give you an idea of how massive this rock was. 

{Front Yard} Foundation Stones

Some how these photos never ended up on here... so here's the best type of before shots of Lily's Garden that I have on this computer. Maybe some day I can check on the old Mac's hard drive (it's still good although the laptop is just a giant paperweight now).

Here we are bringing in the big toys. That's my dad's tractor and about the only thing we could use to move some of the foundation stones we found on Craigslist. That and Doug's strength. :)

The side garden before anything. This was obviously taken after the rocks sat there long enough for the grass to grow around them. This was also pre-fence too. See that concrete in the back? That's our giant patio. See the building in the far back? That's a local elementary school. School's make for nice neighbors. :)

Oh, the stump. Good golly that thing was ugly and massive. The plant itself, before being cut down, was probably over 9 feet tall. And ugly. Plain Jane for sure.

One of the biggest rocks. We loved his little character with the corner piece missing, so we sat him upright. I'll have to do a before and after photo with this one now that I've found it. He's surrounded by my hydrangeas now. I'm not sure what happened to that yellow daisy flower though... it didn't make it last year.

And the reason behind all the madness. Our little Miss Lily back when she was just 1. Short hair, her red car, and a bottle.