Yard Work Part II - Front Yard

Yesterday and today I tackled the front flower beds.  I think I have the tan...and the back ache to prove it!  I went to bed last night at 8:45 and slept all night long.  I'm sure all this fresh air and hard work is good for my soul though!

Here's the rundown on what I planted.  I hope you can envision everything much fuller and taller.  It all looks a little wimpy right now, but after a few weeks of Texas sun and rain, I think it will look much better.

In this picture, you can see the Indian Hawthorne bushes at the front of the sidewalk.  I trimmed these back.  In these beds, I put salmon-pink salvia and hot pink periwinkles.  There looks like there is some verbena trying to come back from the roots, so I left that there.

This picture shows a mystery plant that I left in place.  It had a large purple flower earlier this year.  I'm not sure what it is.

Did I mention this is a corner lot?  LOTS of flower beds!  I trimmed all these Indian Hawthorne hedges.  I also pruned the one magnolia tree and several crape myrtles.  We will have to fill in one crape myrtle that died, but I will wait til we see what color the existing trees are.

This corner of the front bed has a crape myrtle, some holly bushes, and some bottle brush bushes.  I added a sago palm.

I pruned this magnolia.  Also added some double pink knock-out roses.  There was an existing red rose bush.  I added an orange hibiscus by the porch.

The other side shows the red rose bush.  I added double pink knock-out roses and an orange hibiscus here. 

My favorite view...I love the front porch and can't wait to get some rocking chairs.  

Lovely picture of dirt...ha!  These are the pink roses with a row of some type of big, leafy plants (hosta?) that are coming up between them and the azaleas.

This shows a poorly trimmed red plum tree that I am going to try to reshape.  It has some kind of lily or grass underneath.  I separated some of these to spread them out more.  Further down, you can see an existing crape myrtle and bushes.  I added gardenia bushes and a sago palm.

This picture represents on of our future challenges.  Our front and side yard have a total of TEN oak trees.  This will certainly be beautiful someday, but right now I can say that I don't think they have EVER been pruned and trimmed.  Not sure if you can tell, but the tiny branches are way overgrown and the canopy needs to be "raised."  A tree company quoted $450 (!!!) to get them all into shape.  I guess I need to get some other quotes, because that seems pretty high.

A view from the other side of the landscaping.

PS.  This is my 1000th post on this blog...yippee!