Sunday, June 22, 2008

My! How Your Garden's Grown!

I said I was going to do this a few weeks back....but uh, life's been busy, please forgive!

When we first bought our home, it was Winter, 2004.

Our house was completed in Summer, 2003 but no one had occupied it before us.

The front had been landscaped, but part of the beauty of a new construction home was that we got to do ALL of the backyard landscaping.

We were pretty broke, but a bonus here and a tax return there was how we got our yard landscaped. We did everything ourselves. Erm....Charlie Brown did all the work while I sat and watched, oohing and ahhing at his prowess at things like installing a sprinkler system, setting fence posts, laying a paved patio, and digging and planting. I had little ones to keep out of the way, right? Charlie Brown's mom and dad helped out, buying us some of our very first plants for our anniversary that year; some shrubs, our willow tree (a Home Depot clearance item at a whopping $10!) and our crabapple tree.

Late in the summer of 2004, this is what our backyard looked like:

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Our front yard looked like this:

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As of Saturday night, it was time to compare and see just what 4 years has done:

From the front (with my beautiful planter boxes):

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The back is more dramatic though....

Remember that puny little willow tree? (if not, scroll back up before scrolling down)...

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Charlie Brown is scared that it is going to eat us.

We now have mulch in the beds, accumulated more shrubs, a canopy over the patio with yard lights - making for many a midsummer night's dreams - and our fence is up:

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Porter puppy knocked that chair over, please don't mind.

We have rose bushes - this one, a Claire Austin I believe, was planted last year:

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And Catalina was just planted this year, alongside Pat Austin - who had no blooms for show at time of shooting:

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Our wildflowers, along the other side of the drive way, have come back quite thick - this is their 3rd season:

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I love my gardens - they have become our sanctuary!


© 2008 Ramblings of a Red-Headed Step-Child. All Rights Reserved

4 comments:

  1. What a lovely garden, yard, home, block!!

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  2. Beautiful! We're working on our gardens too.

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  3. Oh, I love your garden and your rose bushes! I hope mine stay alive long enoguh to look like that! Beau-ti-ful!

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