Last year’s backyard. Forgive the blue toes!

And today’s. Blue toes replaced by blue swim fins. The cut-off bloom at lower right is the miniflora, Unbridled. Top left shows Munstead Wood next to yellow lilies. Large bloom center right is Chicago Peace. Potted hibiscus at lower left — I thought I was buying a yellow one, but look what happened. Apologies for bare patches in lawn, but we have dogs ....

“who, us?.” Daisy (top) and Desmond.

Last pair. Darcey Bussell last year ...

And today, with a few of my beloved succulents.

My Kordes Cinderella Fairy Tale in full sun.

Cinderella after a downpour !

I love posts like this, well, except your heartbreaking "after" picture, old rosarian. Oh my, that is sooo distressing. Sylvia, thank you for including those adorable doggies. It is amazing (most times!) what nature can do, even in a relatively short time span. The photo of Darcey Bussell makes me want it. I need that rich color in my garden.

Sylvia what cosmos are you growing..... I planted Sensation which is supposed to be about 5 foot tall. My plants are 8 foot right now.... shading the roses and not a bloom or bud in sight.... I love yours .... very pretty.

I also love seeing before and aftershots! It's amazing to see the progression pictures of the plants as well as yard photos. Cute dogs too!

I got all excited to see Cinderella, until I saw the rotten blooms. That sucks! But yours is gigantic! I planted this one last year & am hoping to see more beautiful blooms this year.

I've gone to heaven, Ingrid.

This is a great thread!

Before

Today...not finished yet but big progress!

My favourite thread! I have a few of Ballerina and a fullish bed shot I'll post later. Thanks for starting this thread! : ))

Pippa, that is so impressive! A great deal of work, but that's going to be so beautiful even later on this year. Of course we'll want to see pictures!

Love your before and after pics!

Kate

Does this count? February vs June before & after.

@Ingrid- you have made a huge improvement to your yard! It looks lovely!

@Pippa - I know you have been putting a lot of work into your new yard. Can't wait to see the updates!

Ballerina 2017

2018

2019

Looks great, vapor. I love that progression. There is nothing like seeing basal canes come up and a plant really taking off.

ohhhh amazing before and after pictures. I love seeing how everything changes with love and lots of hard work.

before on 2016

House remodel · More Info

2018

2018 Also · More Info

2019 All Unfinished, but now it looks like someone actually lives here.

Spring 2019 · More Info

Spring 2019 · More Info

Spring 2019 · More Info

More wonderful posts. Blondie, that does count! I love the huge rock on your lawn, what an awesome look! Vapor, your beautiful Ballerina looks great against your wonderful balustrade. Dianela, you and your husband, who no doubt are madly busy, have created something so very beautiful here. It will be even more lovely with each passing year.

=) made it back to this thread to be able to post more now that I have some time to study. This is definitely is not studying, but it is my own social media interaction with friends so I need to take few minutes and then resume.

Sylvia I really like your pictures, Moonstone is my number one hybrid tea. There is something lovely about a delicate white rose with that pink edge. It also makes a wonderful cut rose. I like your stone fence, do you have any plans for climbing roses? They would look amazing. Daisy and Desmond are just adorable =)

Oldrosarian your picture of Cinderella left me amazed and drooling over it. What an impressive gorgeous globular rose. I then saw your shot with all the brown blooms and was a bit disappointed. Is this what happens to that rose every time it rains or something made it happen this one time? I recently planted 4 pomponellas and I think they may also turn this ugly brown as they fade requiring diligent deadheading. I am a complete crazy lady for the globular blooms tho and your rose is just spectacular. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you Ingrid you entire yard is just magnificent. I don't know how you got that giant rock, but it adds another layer or charm and it fits in very well in the landscape. I love everything t you have done and it just seems to flow very well showing that you have a fantastic eye for design besides being a great gardener.

Pippa I think you have made a huge change and I like the way you started doing. Everything looks organized and well planned. I have to admit to being very impulsive in the garden scene and just planting lots of stuff every where then neglecting to weed it. Your garden looks neat and clean, with good textures and great attention to detail. Which roses do you have planted in that large bed?

HalloBlondie those pictures certainly count! Huge difference in a yard with such impressive winter cover. Everything looks so alive now and beautiful.

Vapor your ballerina on that balustrade looks like out of a Spanish castle magazine. I love the soft girly look of that rose and feel like it looks wonderful paired with anything. Is that lamb's ear showing up in your picture? I don't have any, but have seen it at lowes and always wondered if it would be a good companion plant.

Thank you, everyone who’s enjoying this thread!

sharon2079: my cosmos are off-the-shelf from the local nursery. They might be Sensations, though.

Daniela, thanks for positive feedback on the stone walls .. my space is so limited here, I think every picture will show them in the background. I do have one little climber under way -Burling’s Flamingo Dancer — and later this summer I’ll be putting Raspberry Twirl opposite it! I succumbed to that Heirloom sale ...

I could have more roses, including climbers, if I could talk DH into giving up more lawn. One of these days ...

Al these photos are magnificent and inspiring!

Sylvia

@Sylvia - I've slowly gotten my husband to give up more grass. It's taken a while, but he is realizing that gardens make the grass look even better & flowers add so much more to the yard than a sea of green.

@Vaporvac - I like see the actual plant progression each year. I'm sure you must have a lot of before and after photos since you have undertaken such a restoration.

@Dianela - your yard is very different than what you started with. It's incredible to see the difference. And I have to say, you have gone all in on the rose growing!

I need to find pictures of my yard from 2015, when it was a fenced in patch of grass with a few poorly planned invasive shrubs. There has been a lot of changes here. We have done a lot of work to this house.

It's really inspiring to see other's photos & to think of how many countless hours we have all spent toiling away in our gardens. And I cannot even fathom how much money we have all spent on our obsessions, lol!

While organizing my phone pics I realized I had an astounding QUICK progression of Ghislaine de Feligone. In the first two pics there is also a Lavender Lassie which I had to move as it was growing backwards in this demanding spot. I have a lot of this type of photo, but have to go through my dropbox and old flashdrives as my smartphone pics only go back to 2017... and I starting redoing the garden in 2015/16. Pics to follow: 2018 Late July
Please click for detail! : ))

2019 you can see the spigot for comparison in this picture.

And of course its lovely flowers. To me they are elegance personified.

vapor, it's truly thrilling how a little green bush can grow and be transformed into such a vision of loveliness. What a special rose this is.

dianela, that rock was there long before us, and is in fact part of a granite outcropping that runs parallel to the house for about a hundred yards, and there are plenty of other boulders scattered around, which is one of the reasons it's a difficult place for the roses. Those rocks collect a lot of heat, and as you can imagine the soil is very poor, and in many places we run into granite no more than a foot below the "soil". That the roses grow at all is a testament to their tough and tenacious nature.

Wow! Your landscape is just gorgeous, Ingrid!

Great contrast everyone! I love this thread! My dream house is a small cottage with a full-sun front, side, AND back yard. I am glad to see many of you live my dream

My potted roses. From planting in March to now.

Matt, that looks awesome. I envy people who can grow beautiful plants in pots, which makes it so easy to vary their locations according to need.