The New Yard

Dreams do come true! Ever since I married Nate I've dreamed about having a beautiful landscaped yard done by a professional landscape architect! After all isn't that what my prince charming graduated in Landscape Architecture?! Well nearly seven years of waiting paid off because the past couple weeks we've been working nonstop, day (and even night) on our new landscaped yard! Although it was hard manual labor and took a lot of time and even $$$, we are very happy and pleased with how it turned out!

The Back Yard:
We wanted a pathway to our woodshed so we wouldn't get muddy wet shoes in the winter carrying in firewood. We took out all the grass and put down cement pavers. We planted shrubs and a clematis to climb up the shed. On the other side we made another planter and transplanted our Bleeding Heart bush and added a few more perennials. It looks a little shabby at the moment, but hopefully next spring we wave beautiful bleeding heart bushes with white ground cover beneath!

Erica's Experimental Garden:
This little area was beyond Nate's ability!! My friend had given me a few starts from her yard including bamboo, fountain grass, and a lilly. I wasn't ready at the time for them so I just stuck them there until I was ready. We tore out all the grass and made it into a flower bed. I added a few perennials and I'd like to add a few mums for the fall and bulbs for the spring! It's a work in progress, Nate said "it was E's area to do whatever she wanted!"

The Front Yard:
In the front our neighbors had an old garbage can holder made out of 2x4's. It hasn't been used for years, but it just sits there. So Nate called the landlord and asked if we could take it to the dump. He said that would be fine. So in one of the pictures you'll see Nate going at it with his ax! We tore out all the grass from the sidewalk up to the fence. Although it looks like it belongs on our yard this strip is actually on the neighbors boundary. The landlord didn't mind and it makes sense to have it in our yard. We raised up the bed and planted trees, shrubs, and other plants.
In the front planters we took out all the weeds and previous bushes and planted shrubbery and a Japanese Maple.

The Walkway:
I love how this area turned out! Nate--you are a genius! The pathway up to the house was too narrow, so before we had planted flowers but they overgrew into the walkway. Nate decided to widen the pathway by laying down bricks. He dug out the dirt and added rocks and sand and then put the bricks in place.

We are very grateful to our friends the Christensen's for letting us borrow their truck and for the Thomas's Dairy Farm for all the cow manure they gave us! It was nice to have such sunny and beautiful weather to work in. I'm glad we could finish before the rainy weather arrives! It was a lot of fun for the kids to play outside and their favorite part was finding all sorts of bugs, worms, caterpillars, and other creepy crawlies! Ty and Mara were such troopers as we worked and even helped out where they could!