I’ve spent the past few weekends, some week nights and most of the time that the sun is shining playing in the dirt, so I’m pretty sure that makes me a dirty girl!
The gardens are really coming together! As I mentioned previously HERE, the outside of the house wasn’t exactly a priority when we first moved in- the 3 layers of hideous wallpaper were!!
So, this season, we’ve been focused on the outside and man, is that dirt and sweat paying off!
Thankfully, I have a strong, patient, talented and incredibly sexy husband who doesn’t mind working with me to develop new plant beds, remove old tree stumps, plant new grass, re-level the yard, change all the edgers, transplant family plants… are you getting the reason for the patient, talented and sexy comment? I took a try at swinging the 8lb sledge/axe at the tree stump and just about bite it! Bri made it look effortless (until he woke up the next morning, saying bad words and screaming for tylenol!).
Here are some updated pictures to give you an idea of what we’ve been up to and why the posts have been few and far between (reality= haven’t been able to lift my arms or stay awake on the weekends to prep posts!).

Front and side yard- added the lily bed, the chairs, the new trellis with two new clematis (one might actually live…)
Behind the lilies are young rose bushes- yellow with tangerine edges.

Trellis close-up (don’t you love my Lowe’s adirondack chairs?!)

The “almost-divorce” stump spot. It was ugly, but it’s gone- and in 7-10 days a little grass should cover the spot~

Front yard minus the incredibly ugly evergreen trees (click HERE for a ‘before’ look)

Evergreen topiaries, ‘Fire’ azaleas and stella d’oro day-lilies

Nikko blue hydrangea (back corner), dwarf rhododendron, Knock-Out rose (fuschia) and Stella d’oro day-lilies.

Front steps with plants-
READER QUESTION: Do I plant the remaining two plants exactly the same as the baskets and the other planters, or do I do something different?
Truth: I ran out of plants.

Landscape grass, white plants that Brian loved and (Mer’s all-time favorite!) WAVE petunias in purple stripe.

Hanging basket with the same ingredients as the planters…

Fairy garden- made one for Mom for Mother’s Day and had to make one for myself as well…
Looks like it’s been through a bit of an earthquake, thank-you-cats-that-ruin-and-eat-everything.
Notice the day-lily that my Mom carefully dug up for me because it’s from my grandmother’s house in WI- chewed to a respectable 3″ height.
And, that, my friends, is why my needlepoint has remained tucked into it’s bag, my laundry remains dirty, my house remains dusty and my eyes droop at about 9pm. Because, my yard is starting to look AMAZING!
Be sure and leave a comment with some ideas for the other planters- and let me know what your favorite plants are… what am I missing in my garden?!
Happy Tuesday- we are that much closer to Friday (and more time to play in the dirt!).
XO, Mer
P.S. I found some time for Pinterest this week, so check for a post on Friday about some of my finds!