Lovely Green

I feel like the queen of yardwork today. I know I'm more of a page or a doorman of yardwork, but the man and I landscaped our asses off today. For reals.

For starters and most importantly, we took the front yard by storm. Earlier in the week, the day after I wrote about my landscaping intentions, I tore out the straggly bush/tree things that had somewhat taken over most of the level planting area in our sloping front yard. I was quite proud of myself and my lady muscles.

The next day I went out to two local, independent gardening stores and gathered opinions and advice regarding what sorts of flowering plants grow well in shade. Very helpful. I thought after my info sessions that I would set out to purchase two azaleas and several hostas to fill in the now barren, wonderfully promising plot. But I was overruled by my somewhat impatient man: he didn't want to wait three years to see large, full azalea bushes. He wanted large, full bushes right now. Not finding any large, full azaleas, we ended up with an equally lovely option: rhododendrons. Each bush is about three feet in circumference right now, to grow maybe another foot over the next couple of years. They're beautiful, even without their flowers.

We also got five hostas, which we planted in front of the rhodie bushes, and covered the entire area with mulch. And now, we wait. Rhododendron bushes are somewhat notorious for their picky tendencies. They die a lot. People plant them too deep for their shallow root structures. They plant them in moist, clay-based earth without good drainage. They overwater them. Or they underwater them. Rhodedenderons are tricky fellows indeed. But we are taking all precautions and guarding our investment - time, money, back muscles. My darling man dug through tree roots, into bricks, and around old stumps for two hours to get these bushes in the ground. Neither of us wants to do that again.

So, dear readers, here are a few pics of the finished product:


I really, really wish I had remembered to take some pics of what this scene looked like before I started working on it. It was pretty terrible. Even though the work we did today isn't showy, it's somewhat pride-inspiring for a girl who wasn't able to keep a single tomato plant alive last year.