Gettin' our Hands Dirty...

So two years ago, I had a landscape design done for the front of the house {see it HERE}, and we're finally getting around to starting it.

I haven't tackled the extreme slope of a garden that's in front of our porch, but the hubs has definitely risen to the challenge of breaking up the dirt clay that makes up the sections of garden we have added. He fussed at me for lifting the pick axe. Its only 5 pounds, but something about being 5 months pregnant or something, so I went and sat down on the porch and directed for a few minutes. As you can see, our entire front yard is nice red clay. No wonder there are several brick factories in and around us.

We've taken a couple of weekends, only working on Saturday morning, while the front is shadowed by the house. We still have 2 or so weekends of work in front of us, but its coming along!! I didn't realize that when the plan called for about 17 plants, it really, REALLY meant it. 7 liriopes did not cut filling in this space.

Luckily, I found more liriopes at the Lowe's in Manassas and bought 10 more plants to help fill in this space!

We even added the solar lights that my mother-in-law gave us. They finish off the space nicely, and light up the walkway, since the lamppost is not currently working. At least its doing a fine job of holding the clematis up. :) 

Doesn't the clemaits look like something out of a Dr. Seuss book? I can't wait till he gets bigger. Hopefully it'll bloom this autumn, but the coreopsis surrounding it have really started to take off. Of course, all the plants are new, but I can't wait until these buggers fill in!

I also decided to move two of my huge clumps of day lilies to around our trees in the front yard. So Steve dug them up for me, separated them and then planted them inside the new tree rings.

All that is left, is to tackle the new garden over by the garage and then the sloped garden. I'm afraid of the sloped garden, but in the meantime I'm going to enjoy the lovely work we've already put into the yard. What I didn't show you was the enclosed garden, because it looks pretty much the same as it did 2 years ago. The big difference? Everything is larger. :)

See you guys later!