Thoughts on Landscaping the Yard

Here's our little home.

We love it and enjoy spending time on the front porch.

Perched up on a little hill we're set back from the sidewalk and street giving us plenty of privacy.

And yes, I took a photo of a photo from my computer screen.

As far as front yard landscaping - we're happy with it.

Except for the weeds.

Any tried & true suggestion on the best way to go about killing an overgrowth of weeds from your yard?

And yes, (above) the dog statues are wearing bunny ears for Easter, and if you look closely you'll see my husband standing in the doorway.

The side porch.

My parents - who know plants and happen to have a beautiful back yard - helped out so much last weekend while they were here and picked out these beautiful flowers for us!

(above) The 2 corner planters: Bouganvilla, Snow Cone Candytuft, and Purple Fountain grass.

The 2 center planters: Viola Klose Sage

I love them.

(above) The back right planter: Leyland Cypress

I have always loved the look of Sky Pencil Japanese Holly bushes.

I don't know why, but they remind me of the French countryside.

(above) Also planted: red Salvia & purple Petunias

The back corner planter is a Majesty Palm plant.

Patio furniture - complements of Craigslist. I'm on the hunt for wrought iron set for our back patio. New is just too expensive, so I'll just keep checking Craiglist. Unless you know someone in GA selling one :-)

I planted both these flowers (above) last summer. I just love the richness of the purple and red together. The trick to enjoying your Salvia longer, just keep pinching back the blooms and they'll keep regrowing.

Here's my little rosemary bush, basil pot, and cherry tomato & yellow bell pepper plants - which JUST finally sprouted! (See the tiny sprout on the right?!) I'm planning to replant them all together in a much larger pot together.

I don't know if you remember the beautiful & bountiful Rosemary bush I rescued from the trash from last year, but it died about a month or so later. I never could find the right place for it. Hopefully this pint-sized bush will be easier to maintain.

Onto the back yard ...

Here you see a corner of our almost-finished project of redoing the brick patio! (That project will have to be a separate post entirely! Perhaps a guest post from my husband.) Along with the patio redo- we're revamping the surrounding landscaping. Using plants from around the yard, we separated & replanted these grasses along the backside of the patio, curving around the firepit and the side of the yard, essentially making a huge planter between the car port & the yard.

More of the newly planted grasses & planter.

The question is, how should we fill this space?

THIS is what used to be there! I have no idea what kind of plant it was - but it was totally overgrown and jungle-y!

Here's what I'm picturing - a few of these planters, maybe planting a few things in the ground, and cover the rest with mulch.

Or edge the area with bricks, still use a few of these planters, and fill the rest with stone.

My husband wants to build a fountain. (We have one further along in the back yard.)

Hmmm ... that sounds like quite a project to me.

Any other suggestions?

Who'd a thought I'd enjoy working in the yard as much as I do! Last night I worked outside for several hours. It was just too nice to sit inside and fold laundry.

Do you enjoy working in your yard? What are you planting?

*** update ***

I just learned about hypertufa planters, and how to maker your own.

See this post for how to videos!

I'm linking up with Serenity Now and Tatertots & Jello for their Bloggy Reading & Weekend Wrap-up & over at Flaunt it Friday.