The weather is warming up here a bit, now that Spring is officially here. Which of course means I’ve turned my attention outside to the wasteland that is our yard. It’s sad, but true. I inherited a black thumb from someone in our family (um, Mom?), so landscaping is a challenge for me. Last year, transplanting grass was a big victory for me…too bad everything died this winter.

Still I dream of having friends over and hanging out in a space like this…

Image courtesy of HGTV

Oh and this.

 

Image courtesy HGTV

I mean a girl can dream right? Right now I’m just happy that I completed my grass-to-mulch bank conversion. I even planted some freesia bulbs!

It’s hard to tell from the picture, but I’ve planted a few bushes, bulbs, and a tree in the top left that will obscure the view of the lovely utility pole.

Our house is built into the side of a hill, so we don’t have a lot of flat space. But, I’d love to make a small area for some patio furniture for entertaining this year. I also have plans to reface that timber retaining wall with stone. I really wish I had started landscaping as soon as we moved in 4 years ago- lack of mature landscaping is a huge downside to buying a new construction. Slowly, every year I’ve been adding things (and killing things…), but if I just really put a lot of effort in that first year, we would have something closer to this.

Image courtesy of Better Homes & Gardens

Oh how I love a good arbor trellis. Maybe my sweet and talented hubby will build one for me. If I had the room for lots of garden furniture, I’d be in heaven.

Image courtesy of Better Homes & Gardens

Swoon.

It’s so easy to get carried away. For now, I’ll just stick with planting more flower bulbs, attempting a raised bed garden, and getting a green lawn.

3 Responses

  1. megan

    I wish I had a lovely garden too, I have no skill in the outdoor world, plus we live in Texas where nothing grows!

    Reply
  2. Michele

    My first house I felt that way. We had so much open space, I had wished we planted more trees. Even little, fast-growing trees would have filled in the space after as many years as we were there. But you know what? You do what you can do, and you need to be happy with what you have and what you are able to do. You learn with the trying. (It’s nice when the green-thumb neighbors give you some of their plants that get over-abundant.) The important thing is not to give up. How else do you learn? Life is busy!! PS – You’re doing great! (don’t wait to have friends over when everything is perfect or you’ll miss out on some important, fun times… no one needs the pressure of trying to get it perfect.) Sorry, didn’t mean to go off on a tangent. I just wanted to say ‘don’t lose your passion for home. Just don’t forget what’s important.’ 🙂

    Reply

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