Hi Tara,
I enjoyed all your pictures. I guess you two have been busy!!!! I have one of those dump trailers for the back of our lawnmower, I love it!!! It sure beats a wheelbarrow. I'm anxious to see your progress!! See you at the plant swap. MULCHY

Tara,
Y'all have really been working. We won't recognize the place when we come out this summer. It is going to look awsome!

Penny

I can't wait to see the pictures after you plant. You've done some amazing work. Nice house by the way.
Robin

Tara-Looks great, can't wait to see it at the swap! Kathy

You've really removed a lot of sod. It is going to look great. That's lots more room for Irises!
Remy

Looks great, you guys have been busy!

Tracy

Ok, so I worked on some bubble diagrams for some of the new areas last night.

As you look at the picture of the house, you'll see there are several cone shaped shrubs next to the foundation of the house. Some have boxy yews in between them, some don't. I am getting rid of all the boxy yews and replacing them with flowers. THose are the box diagrams I worked on last night. Those gardens will have delphinums, foxgloves, platycodon, phlox, catanache caerulea alba, cransebill geraniums, and campanula. Also, the one in front of the garage is larger, so that one will also have a Rose (probably 'Peace' variety).

So I've got those all planned. But here's my dillema. Or actually, I have several dilemmas that I need input on.

1) Since those gardens are mostly blues/purples/whites/pinks will they look ok with my burgandy shutters? I would love to change the color of the shutters, but my roof is red, so I really can't. And I tend to pick flowers in those color families because I don't really care for reds. I do pick yellows too though. Just not in those foundation gardens.

2) As you look at the front you will see there are the three areas next to the foundation. The sidwalk goes alongside two of them and ends at the third. I plan to continue the pathway along the remaining front and wind it around to the back in the Northeast corner of the house. I'm planning on using flagstone to make the pathway. That leaves two large bump out areas in the front with a narrow strip along the sidewalk connecting the two. The narrow strip will probably contain angelonias. What should I do with the bump outs? I want to make sure they look good from the road and from the side walk. I'm going to have a dogwood planted in the bump out in front of the garage and as you can see in the pics, i just planted a multistem crab apple in the other bump out. I'm also thinking of putting a mountain laurel in each of the bump outs, but from there, I can't decide. I also want to make sure that they don't block the foundation gardens from view completely although with the tall flowers I've selected that should be fairly easy to accomplish.

3) As you go around the NE corner of the house following the pathway I'm going to put in there are more shrubs. I'm going to remove those and I am thinking of putting in some sort of large perennial like Nepeta Six Hills Giant or a larger lavendar or something. Not sure though. I've also got a lilac there that's small right now, but as we all know will grow and get larger. Should I put anything else in there or just keep it minimal?

4) If you look at the photo titled NW gardens around pool aerial view...I have started a peastone pathway which will go all the way out to the grass. Also, coming from the front of the house will be a flagstone pathway that will follow the line of the house until the deck then follow the curve of the garden and go around the pool (I think?). I can't figure out how to merge the two pathways where they come together?

5) Any other suggestions for other areas would also be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!!

Tara

OK, I've made a bit of progress, so I'm attaching a link to my album again with updated photos at the end!

PLEASE GIVE SOME SUGGESTIONS????? I can't believe not a soul has had any ideas for me??? :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Updated photos of the garden renovation

Looks like you're making a lot of progress. Lots of hard work there. What kind of plants are you putting in?