Peer pressure has lead me to this...

(Hang on, I have to reply to this post in order to attach pics. )

Here's the front of the house with the old, giant holly bushes up to the porch railings and azaleas in front of those. The small tree to the far left of the pic is some kind of dogwood tree (not indigenous).


This was an empty spot until I transplanted these three astillbe and an hostas here under these trees.


I'm not sure what look the previous owners were going for here. The varigated Euonymus bushes are an attempt at hiding the heat pumps. I pruned them last year, but they seem intent on growing straight up. I think the snowball bush and the azalea are out of place and may get moved. The snowball bush has never bloomed here. There are also a few huge hostas coming up in the middle. Last year I supplemented the bed with some annuals. (Notice Sandy's memorial in the back )


This tiny space has had more work than any other, I think. I planted a daisy in the top left and beside that a miniature lilac bush. There are two rose bushes that I inherited with the house. One is lovely, the other may be euthanized! lol In the front I planted one evening primrose plant that is spreading like crazy and looks to be choking out the dianthus!

Sad?
You have a very lovely home!

Now, if you look at the front of my house now compared to what it was last summer?! THAT'S sad! And I'm too embarrased to even take a picture of it now to show a comparison!!

Heh. If you want to see "sad", let me start a thread. There's actually some sort of something around your place. Much tidier than ours. I'll get a phone shot of one of our four "corner problems" to make you feel better...



I believe that's a laundry basket near the phone line box. In the far corner you'll notice several gates blocking access to a weird gap in the fence that only goes back a couple of feet. Lilacs growing through the fence from the neighbor's yard and leftover sunflower stalks all over the place. This is also where I dumped the ashes when we had a charcoal grill. HA! That's sad.

Our backyard is sad like Eddys Except it's most of the backyard, not just a corner lol

Our backyard still looks like a hockey rink. Were slowly trying to thaw out here though.

If you guys really really really want to see a pic of our yard let me know! Not pretty! LOL

You guys make me feel better! I think I'll just leave it like it is and see what comes up and hope the dog leaves it alone once it does come up!!

Here's what happens at my house on yardwork day:

The cat at work:


The dog at work:


The boys at work:




So that you will not think that we are ALL slackers, you should know that my dear hubby was working VERY hard and I was taking lots of pictures!! LOL

you need to bring sabaka to my house for a play date! lol or vice versa (if you have a fenced yard of course). or to the roanoke dog park!

Wow, Lisa, you have a gorgeous home and yard! I want to come live there! Wanna trade?

I like what you have so far and the work you've done on it. Do you have major plans this year for an overhaul or maybe take it little by little?

The cat is about as helpful as my three dogs put together.

That's a hard working bunch you got there!!

I'd be like your cat at my house watch my hubby work...LOL!

I always say I LOVE Charleston, but, of course, I'm seeing it through the eyes of a tourist! I don't think I would like the high humidity! It's bad enough here. My husband has a college buddy whose parents lived on Isle of Palms. It is gorgeous there! We honeymooned on Kiawah Island YEARS ago.

I remember a fun restaurant called R.B's By the Sea in Mt. Pleasant (maybe?) that was cute. I think that was the restaurant with a boat drive-thru. I also enjoyed touring the Middleton Plantation except I remember sweltering in the heat on that day!

I don't think I'll trade with you, but perhaps I'll get down there as a tourist again one day.

BTW, I think I'd like to see if this year we can get the grass looking a little better. My husband had a shade-grass experiment going on last year and he found one variety that, even though pricey, stayed green much of the summer.

And, wouldn't you know, Claudia, planting and fertilizing and watering the grass will mostly be my husband's job, so I really CAN work like the cat does!!!

I think we need to add another layer of mulch and fill in a few bare spots in the flower beds, but I'm going to not do much more that that, I think.

I *might* plant some flowers around the base of the tree out in the front....but that's about it, I think...

Nice home! I would get some more flowers for the beds and if u really did not like the front bushes I would replace them with another tall bush maybe flowering... love the pictures of ur helpers!

Thanks, Jen! I will add some annuals after the fear of frost has past. Some of these perennials will flower this summer. Some of the bushes in front of the house are azeleas and will bloom later this spring. The dogwood tree on the side blooms in the spring, too. Summer is kind of drab in the front. Last year I had some luck with impatiens in front of the house. It is just SO dark and shady here! I just moved from a very sunny house now here I cannot plant the plants that I am used to.

Does anyone have suggestions for flowering shade plants?? I have worked on the beds in the sunny locations because that's what I know. I have forsythia, lilac and roses in the sunny areas, as well as, black-eyed susans, daisies, daylilies, primrose, and dianthus.

SabakaMom wrote:

Does anyone have suggestions for flowering shade plants??

I put in some shade loving Astilbe (Erika and Anita Pfeifer), Dicentra (Candy Hearts), and Lily of the Valley in my shady areas for color. Not sure if those would do well in your zone or not.

I have some Astilbe that was here when we bought the house. It was planted in one of the few sunnier beds, so this spring I moved it to deeper shade hoping it will bloom even nicer. I seem to have three different colors of Astilbe but do not know the variety, of course. The Bleeding Heart will do well here. I have had one at every other house I've lived in. They are also resistant to deer, I think. I may have to get one. I had forgotten about about them! All of these plants bloom early so I would like to find some others that bloom later in the summer. I find that annuals often have a longer blooming time than do perenials, so I might have to fill in with some of those.

I know there are more options but I can only think of what I recently put in for now. I am staying away from annuals for the most part as I much prefer perennials...less work.

Things are growing!!! The hostas are going CraZY (and that's after I divided and moved many of them)! I have little buds on the lilac and the azaleas are budding or blooming as well.

The first of many HUGE hostas you will see. These have not been divided this year. My son would say I should have taken a picture of a dime beside these plants so you could know just how huge they are. And they're only going to get bigger...


Recently transplanted hosta and astilbe. Previously they were in too much sun.


I added some Dragon's Blood Sedum to the Daylily and Black-eyed Susans at the mailbox.


More hostas I divided and put under the trees for lack of another place to put them.


A little section of my periwinkle (affectionately called "Dead Grandfather Periwinkle" because I "stole" a clipping from a Great grandfather's grave) that I brought with me from my last house.


The trees are beginning to get leaves (all these trees are why my hostas are BEASTS) and soon the yard will be shaded nearly all day. Lots of trees we got here!


I hope my next post will have more flowers! I did take a picture of some of the azaleas but I'm tired of uploading these pics

I wish all of you gardeners lived closer and I would divide these hostas and share with all of you!!

i live close! but i dont have much more shaded area to plant! :\ everything you've shown so far is looking nice!

Looking good, Lisa! How do you divide plants by the way? I wish I could take some Hosta off your hands. The Astilbe are looking a lot like mine are right now.

Looks good Lisa,
can't you ship them? stick them in some moist soil in a bag? i want some!!!!

You know, Val, I don't think I have the patience to divide a hosta correctly. I think you are supposed to dig it up, soak the dirt off and patiently separate root sections. I just dig it up and get some of the men/boys around here to chop, slice, saw or otherwise rip it into three or four sections! They always grow and by the end of the summer look like they need to be divided again. I think the hostas that came with the house should have been divided years ago. I read somewhere that they should be dug up and divided every 3-4 years otherwise they get huge and it becomes nearly impossible to cut through the giant root ball.

Ha! I could start my own hosta shipping business, Jennifer!

Shannon, we need to get our dogs together! I'll have to survive the kids' spring sports schedule and meet you at your dog park some day. The Lynchburg dog park is being developed - it seems like it's been "coming soon" forever! I'll come bearing hostas...lol!

Just let me know when you are available!