I want to play to but im gonna have to wait a lot longer then you all to get started being in Colorado and all, no planting till after May 8, bulbs and some tree and bushes are ok right now....
i will entertain you with all of my before and up to date pics (there is hope out there for all you starting from scratch) as well as what i hope to finishe this summer as i feel the front yard is SOOOOO close to being done
we bought our home june 2008. there was no yard landscaping but what had survived 2+yrs with no care.
front yard when we moved in



lay out of new landscaping for when the sod and sprinkler gets put in, oct of 2008 (weekend ken proposed)


new sod!



flowers and tree summer of 2009


then i can't find any bloom pictures from 2010 so here is this past weekend with my grass cut down to regrow and i had planted a ton of bulbs at the end of last season so we are gonna wait to see what happens in the next few months! my tulips and daffodils and Irises are coming up
i also marked in the pics using photoshop what i want to do
front yard

juniper bushes GONE and i want to do flagstone walkway with a raised bed in front of the porch, as well as make wider steps, in the back corner i want to do another bed that blends into the grasses, burning bush is staying, i love that bush! its the big bald round one at the end of the porch.
side front yard

i want to build a raised bed to the left and make the flagstone walk way to the back.

ok here is the back yard before and where we are now.
collage pic from moving in


put a deck in april of 2009
biggest expense so far on the house, but so worth it!


i built 2 corner beds on each side of the back yard with bushes and flowers



last summer i did one flagstone patio and will do the other this summer



and that is it for what we have gotten done! the back yard needs a ton of help, the sprinkler system needs complete redo and i have steps to build off the deck and more flagstone to lay, who wants to come help finish the rest?

thanks for letting me join in the fun of yard work and flowers!

Wow, Jenn! You have done so much great stuff! I am impressed!

I also have a new house and new yard and new landscaping/gardening adventure... sadly for me, I was also cursed with a black thumb, so if I touch it, it dies. Lucky for me though, my sweet hubby is all about making the outdoors gorgeous.

looks wonderful so far!! i'd looove to resod...

AWESOME job Jenn!
I'd love to see how it looks mid-summer when things are in full bloom!

Wow, I completely missed this thread until now!

Awesome job so far, Jenn! What kind of tree is that in the front yard? Will all or most of what you had planted last year come back? Love the set up you had last year and your plans for this year sound great.

I can't wait to see what bulbs come up for you and what new stuff you put in the beds!

I want to add some stone steps and maybe some sort of outdoor uncovered patio area outside of our screened patio so I am in the brainstorming phase on that right now. I'll have to post more about it later and solicit ideas from you wonderful folks.

Huskyluv wrote:

What kind of tree is that in the front yard? Will all or most of what you had planted last year come back? Love the set up you had last year and your plans for this year sound great.

the front tree is a weeping mulberry, this is what it looks like with leaves on, (this is not my tree)
i plant nothing but Perennials so they come back every year bigger and bigger! i really can't wait for everything to come in so i can take a new pic! just wait....

Oh I love it! Does the weeping mulberry ever flower at all?

I planted almost exclusively perennials this year as well. Except for my petunias and I accidentally bought some annual verbena too. My mistake. Half my verbena are perennial and half are annual.

I do like petunias, and they flower up nicely, but they are annuals which is the down side. The up side? They're relatively inexpensive...

Anyway, I'm jealous of ya'all's gardening.
I need to just suck it up and set time aside to get flowers and plant them...

the weeping mulbery is a cute tree! although i have a severe distaste for anything mulberry related. my neighbor has 2 HUGE ones on our property line and it drops fruit in my yard that is impossible to get up and turns nikki red and pink from the berries. and they rot and smell horrible.

this is a non flowering/fruit kind i HATE fruit trees unless you can really eat the fruit. such a mess!

oh sweet then! haha how big do they get??

They are like a small tree under 10' I think.
I raked the whole front yard of all the dead grass, watered and fertlized. Also planted my hostas and ferns in the back yard today, I'm tired.

OH MY LORD Jenn!
You're a busy busy girl!!
Sounds like you do EVERYTHING in that household!! (planting, raking, house cleaning, S&J care and exercise...) And then you fit time in for a workout and a full time job!

How do you fit it all in? Do you have more than 24 hours in your day? ;-)

cmanding wrote:

OH MY LORD Jenn!
You're a busy busy girl!!
Sounds like you do EVERYTHING in that household!! (planting, raking, house cleaning, S&J care and exercise...) And then you fit time in for a workout and a full time job!

How do you fit it all in? Do you have more than 24 hours in your day? ;-)

sounds like my life, haha!

snrose wrote:

cmanding wrote:

OH MY LORD Jenn!
You're a busy busy girl!!
Sounds like you do EVERYTHING in that household!! (planting, raking, house cleaning, S&J care and exercise...) And then you fit time in for a workout and a full time job!

How do you fit it all in? Do you have more than 24 hours in your day? ;-)

sounds like my life, haha!

that's just crazy busy! i give you laides credit!
...for me? just don't wanna be that busy
maybe that's why my landscaping ain't gonna be as pretty as ya'all's!

oh yeah I also go to college! Ha ha...

cmanding wrote:

that's just crazy busy! i give you laides credit!
...for me? just don't wanna be that busy

I'm with you, Claudia! That's part of the reason I quit working is because I was too busy. Getting up at 4 am to do housework, cleaning, exercising the dog, then working full time, coming home to exercise the dog, cook dinner, clean up and more housework and maybe 30 minutes to an hour to check my email and forums before bed...nope, that wasn't working for me.

Seriously, I don't know how you ladies do it! Oh my gosh and if kids enter the picture. lol

Yes I'm a super busy person and I hate it. But really can't do much to fix it... no kids in the picture thank god! Ken does some things and it helps but I still do maybe 80% of it all. With ken working on the weekends I don't have another option on the "plant" lawn care as he knows nothing. He will be mowing and weed wacking once it gets to that time. If I had time I would have taken pics of all the small green that is showing up! Ok I have 2hrs to clean before 11 and get to bed. Big week ahead!

good monday morning... glad i got that fertilizer down over the weekend.....

I'd rather have that than the 3 days of constant pouring rain that we've had.

The rain is on it's way down here and has halted our landscaping plans for this week

You can have it! Three days straight it's been raining and we're supposed to have a break from it tomorrow and then we get another 3 days of rain after that.

April..i mean march showers....bring gorgeous flowers!!

Let's hope so!

We had more snow this morning but it has all melted.
my daffodils will bloom any day now!


and my tulips!