backyard metamorphosis

we have completed phases 1-6 of the backyard!! YEAH!!! when we purchased our home in 2006, you could have looked up "jungle" in webster's and pictured there would have been the backyard. there's no way that joyce did ANYTHING to her yard in probably ten years. there were three different types of fencing, weeds that had become decorative trees, a rusty swingset, loads of shells (apparently, a previous owner used sea shells as mulch- we learned this when the grandson, who spent summers in our home, stopped by to visit), trash, you name it- it was there. the only thing i liked was the huge gardenia bush right smack in the middle of the "yard." one of the first projects we had was to remove the gigantic rotten maple tree from the back yard. to do so, the gardenia had to be cut down. boo for that. but basically, we removed EVERYTHING that was alive from the yard and re-did it.

unfortunately, i don't have any pictures of the "before." what was i thinking?!?! however, i have several throughout the phases. we've had to be very patient as we saved and saved to fix it all up. my favorite part is the "three wise men" as our neighbor named them, and the combination of coneflower, lambsear, firewitch dianthus, snow hill salvia, marigolds (from seeds my mother gave me out of her yard), verbena, and cosmos. most will bloom later, but there will be some color, all spring and summer. we are so pleased with our hard work. now we can enjoy having a backyard retreat!