Landscaping "After" Photos: A Job Well Done

I had originally planned to retire early tonight and create this blog post in the morning. My previous blog posted on May 1 included "before" landscaping photos that I published only so Wonderworker Extraordinaire could quickly have access to pictures of my house. Publishing them on my blog was easier for me than e-mailing the photos.

Unexpectedly, BlogHer included that post, fraught with ugly, real-time pictures of my front yard, as one of the four "health-related" links included under their ad. AAAaaggh!!! Now I feel pressured to publish the "after" pictures as quickly as possible.

Here's a reminder of my front yard as of May 1, 2008...

YUCK! I had intentionally left my front yard unfinished as I waited to install new gutters and pursued building project completion. New seamless gutters were installed earlier this year, then damaged by the ice storm, then re-installed after we received a generous insurance settlement.

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Now for a little insight into mom's and my vegetation expedition this past Saturday. After ten years without landscaping, I had spent many hours perusing magazines and honing my front-yard aspirations. I've always wanted a Japanese Maple, which I planned to place in the big white gap pictured here:

However, the least expensive Japanese Maple of any size larger than a twig cost upwards of $100. Because I wasn't even certain I could keep the foreign tree alive, I remembered how much I love Redbud trees every spring & chose that indigenous tree instead (only $35).

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Below is a picture of Wonderworker Extraordinaire and Carl digging holes for the liriope (a.k.a. Monkey Grass) that mom provided from the excess in her own flower beds. The Redbud is in the background.

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OK OK. Following is the real "after" picture:

Not bad, huh? I still need to clean up the brick and repaint it, but the flower bed is a HUGE improvement to the dirt pile placed there previously.

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I purchased a Japanese Maple after all (albeit a small one) and replaced the mum & purple pansies originally placed in this pot.

Oh, Gawd, you can practically see up my shorts.

That reminds me of a time when I visited my grandmother in the care home after her stroke. Prior to her stroke, she was--to my knowledge--pure and proper. No dirty jokes. No off-color remarks. (I have since learned that she and my Aunt Gin, her sister, would give each other girly giggles on occasion...I guess with a name like "Gin" what would you expect.)

ANYHOO when Mom and I visited Grandma Angie that hot, summer day we sat outside together in our shorts and tank tops. Mom had her leg lifted similarly to mine in the picture above while carrying on a one-sided conversation with her stroke-damaged mother.

Out of the blue, Grandma Angie said, "Heeere kitty kitty kitty."

I looked at mom and asked, "Did she say what I think she said???" I was all of twenty and still pretty sure my mom and her siblings arrived in this earth via some kind of Catholic virgin birth.

Mom said, "I think so," and we laughed until we cried.

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Back to the present. Remember this photo?

Here's my front porch now (did I tell you that Carl carved the Welcome Bear?)...

...and the view just to the left of it....

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Mom, Katie and Hailey:

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Do you know about the pre-emergents you can sprinkle on your flower bed to prevent weed growth, like one with the brand name "Preen"? Worth EVERY penny. Ashley, if you have read this far, I've taken a picture from the back of my pre-emergent's bag to indicate how thickly it should be applied. Based on the application I observed on your flower bed, you shouldn't have weeds until the year 2020.

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One more picture of Hannah in front of my new "Ivory Halo Dogwood" bush.

Carl and I next to my new Redbud tree. I can't wait to see it's blooms next spring!