before and after, part 1

I've had a few people mention they'd like to see the before shots during construction and the after shots now that all the painting and most of the decorating is finished... all in due time, all in due time.

I'll save the interior shots for another time. Right now, this time of year it's all about the outside. Such a limited window to establish plants, help them flourish so that one can enjoy the beauty of their work all summer long.

For now, the before:

One bare canvas of a yard, barely a lawn, though some section were recently regraded and seeded by the builder again.

30 or so plants

5 trees, about 5-8 feet tall right now

a dog pen waiting for us to level the dirt for a concrete pour

2 corners of the yard needing plants

the entire front walkway planting bed, barren

6 cubic yards of mulch

4 cubic yards of crappy builders fill to move to the new dog pen

4 cubic yards of new, planting dirt

The result, I'll leave that up to you. But for now a huge thank you to my mom. With E's allergies through the roof and way too much money invested in the plants sitting for weeks on our driveway, and me just about giving up with all the prep work required in the planting beds before a single plant could be dropped in, she came for the day and we knocked out the largest bed at the front of the house. I had already done all the prep work most nights the last two weeks after work and was pretty much running on empty. She did an awesome job and within hours the job was done.

Afterward, E and I were inspired to get one more corner of the fenced yard. Later today we had this gorgeous Peaches and Cream Japanese Maple delivered, yeah, that means tomorrow we're right back at it again.

The only thing left for now is the dogpen. This fall I'll plant the bulbs I can, next spring more bulbs and perhaps even some burning bush and Thudercloud plums along the old stone wall by the road. It's a work in progress and we have limitless vision.

The small planting bed at the bottom of the yard as some assorted lilacs, butterfly bushes and some incredible dawn redwoods. The dawn redwoods are a beautiful tree and were believed to be extinct, found only in fossilized form from the Mesozoic Age, until 1941 when a grove of the species was found in remote sections of China. In 1948 seeds were harvested and brought throughout the world for cultivation. It is now thriving though still on the endangered list. They are beautiful and incredibly delicate looking, barely fir, trees. If you have the room, they grow several feet per year up to well over 100 feet tall, these are a species to behold.

Enjoy the before and after shots.