When we first bought our current house, we were very aware that it was in need of some serious updating. The entire thing screamed bachelor pad circa 1985, and I couldn’t wait to start updating it all. The previous owner was a “geographical bachelor”, since his kids were all grown and his wife lived across the country, so it really was a bachelor pad stuck in the 80s. The worst part of the house (just kidding, it was all equally bad) was the curb appeal. If you like towering, monochromatic structures with the same amount of welcoming appeal of an office park, you’d feel right at home. The rest of us (AKA me, just me) spent two years dreaming of the day we could finally shovel out the glaring white rock and haul out the boxwoods.

The day we closed on the house we already had a list of all the changes we wanted to make to the front of the house – New windows that actually open and aren’t broken from age. A front door that we don’t have to throw our body weight against because it swells when the sun roasts it in the afternoon. New paint that gives the house some depth and distracts you from its imposing height. (Why is our attic sooooo tall? We’ll never know.) A walkway that isn’t uneven, chipping, and cracking. Light fixtures that actually cast some light at night. Tearing off the glowing red house number above the garage (it haunts my dreams, but I’m sure it’ll be the last thing we fix). And, of course, THE LANDSCAPING.

First up was removing all the rock. We were scrappy (and I’m cheap), so despite lots of teasing from our neighbors who all claimed it would never work, we actually resold all the rock and made enough money to pay for new retaining walls, plants, and mulch. I even still have some money left over to use this fall for some more plants!

Next was the plants. I have a hate/hate relationship with boxwoods after removing far too many overgrown ones from the fourplexes, so despite the fact that they’re hardy evergreens, I refuse to ever have boxwoods at my house again. We were also still scarred from ripping out all 25+ boxwoods in the backyard last summer. That job was no small feat and still isn’t technically finished since we have some stumps left, so we were really dreading pulling these out too. Luckily I have the most amazing husband who hooked up the tow straps to the truck and pulled all these bushes out, minus two he had to remove by hand. Did I mention he’s amazing and I love him and appreciate him?

The crumbling red retaining walls had always bothered me and I wasn’t sure how much longer they’d be structurally sound, so we decided to take down the walls and sell those blocks too. We replaced them with a weathered gray flagstone and made sure to prep the base correctly, since the old blocks were just sitting in dirt. Some AB3, paver sand, and lots of sweat later, we had some new walls!

We made sure to prep the soil for planting, even though at this point we were exhausted and ready to quit. We removed all the grass and weeds, turned the dirt, and turned in some compost and top soil. Now we were finally ready for the good part – the planting!

The front of our house bakes in the sun every afternoon, so we opted for hardy, full sun plants. I was aiming for a very loose, meadow-like garden and I knew I wanted to plant some things that grow quite tall to disguise the height of our towering house. I picked a variety of plants and hope that they’ll spread and that I can add more in over the years to get a really full, lush look. If you ask my husband, he says we already have too many plants, but I say there’s no such thing (he calls our house a jungle – we might not have furniture in all the rooms, but there’s a plant around every corner!).

Some of the plants I’ve already used:

• Mallow
• Coneflower
• Salvia
• Daylily
• Tickseed
• Sedum
• Kaleidoscope bush
• Grasses
• Ground cover
• False indigo
• Tickseed
• Hostas under the tree
• Hollyhocks

Plants I want to add:

• Alium
• Black eyed susans
• Geraniums
• Some sort of evergreens/more bushes to add some depth since the winters here are long and brown
• Lupins
• Some sort of climbing vine on a trellis
• More of everything! The more lush the better, plus I’m a sucker for plants.

It’s been two months since we finished the garden and I already have a few things I want to rearrange. I definitely want to add in some bushes/evergreens to get us through the fall and winter months, and there are a few plants that just don’t quite feel right. Overall I’m in love with the garden so far though. It makes me smile every time I come up to the house because it’s finally starting to feel a bit more like home.