Before/ After : New Curb Appeal Garden

Hello everyone, and greetings spring!

It's finally here and I am so super excited!

Everything is finally in bloom and is so beautiful!

It was such a long, long loooong winter.

But now that it has warmed up
we were FINALLY able to finish our garden out front.

It was a long process, but we are so happy with it now!

LET ME START WITH A BEFORE PIC..... 

showing our overgrown smoke bushes -

 which (truth be told) we rather liked...

but they very quickly got out of control!

And when we had to heavily prune them

it left the huge cut branches really ugly...
especially from behind them next to the foundation.

I saw them every day when in my home office,

-where one may usually find me-

or at the window in front of my piano... 

I'd sit there and just cringe and wish and hope and wait

 for the day those old and very sad bushes

were no longer part of our garden design!

You can see what we had was just dated, overgrown,
nondescript  foundation garden plots
which were covering up the windows!

Just noticed this really is a "before" because it also shows

our old door and side window panels!

~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~

And now the reveal: TA-DA!!!!! 

Here is our AFTER!
 Every thing all nice and pretty!

It will take a while for things to settle down
and a few things will bloom - hopefully-
which will make it all much prettier eventually.

Since this pic was taken 2 days ago we moved
a few things around to balance better.

We planted 3 big limelight hydrangea (left),
one gorgeous Weeping Lace Leaf Japanese Maple (right)
3 boxwoods (left)- forget real name but kind that get tall
2 Holly Sky Pencils (both sides)
10 Heuchera Purples (both sides)
14 Big Blue Liriope (both sides)
and one Red Twig Dogwood (right)

Our home finally has a bit more curb appeal.

A couple years ago we planted this mailbox garden.

That's our wee red Mini Cooper in the background.
It's been leaking oil lately - 
so it's banished from the driveway or garage for now.

This is what Lime Light Hydrangea looks like when mature:

It's fun to compare before/after pics.

Those orange things are where I wanted the stones to go.

We shortened both gardens quite a bit
 to make them less weedy and needy.

On the right there's now a nice patch of sod grass
 between walkway and garden.

On left we designed an angle for the natural stone wall.

We are always limited to what we can plant due to all the deer.

The bunnies love the liriope though, so keeping fingers crossed.
I sprinkled red pepper flakes around to keep them at bay.


On the side of the house our Bleeding Heart is still thriving.

A HUGE THANKS TO:



*Sharyn for her awesome landscape designs.

*Andrew for all the intense laborous work,
especially for the fabulous stone walls!

And a HUGE thanks to my wonderful
 hardworking, handsome, awesome husband
 who worked long exhausting hours prepping everything,
 and working right beside Andrew
 lifting and planting and mulching and perspiring
on planting day and earlier 
to help make this dream come true.

Also - a big thanks to YOU for your visit!



If you're ever in the Columbus, Ohio area
I would be delighted to welcome you in for tea.

♥

~Michele

Linking:

Metamorphosis Monday   *   Make it Pretty Monday   *   

Inspire me Tuesday   *  At Our Home   *   Style Showcase   *

Home and Garden Thursday

There's Something About Roses...

Thought I'd re-visit and/or re-vamp some pretty rose-themed
pics now that we're into St. Valentine's Day week!

Oh, isn't there just something about roses?

They've been the symbol of romance throughout the ages!

Be it a romantic gift from a loved one...

 


    

Found on a beauitful china tea set 
or on a porcelain spoon,or on decorated sugar cubes....

Or soft deep red vintage velvet roses 
sitting inside an old silverplated dish....

Delicate pink wispy painted roses on lovely china
at tea time....

Around this nest it is quite easy to find roses
when one knows where to look ; - )

Fragrant rose petal soap flakes is a personal favorite...

Roses on a pretty place card & napkin ring
 when having a friend for formal afternoon tea...

Or on a yummy piece of cake....

The time I made macarons-
they deserved to be presented 
on matching rose-themed china!

Roses are especially wonderful if one's daughter grows them; 
especially unique ones... fresh garden roses have the best fragrance!

(I've shared this a lot but it is just so awesome!)

I am very slowly learning how to garden.

 Roses, treasured though they may be, are so danged fussy.

 Ours don't like how tall and shady the trees have become. 

(We really need to re-think the gardens this year.)

Just thinking about the garden has brightened my mood!

I hope you've enjoyed the "roses" at our nest
 as much as I have enjoyed sharing them with you!

As always, thank you for stopping by!

Have a Happy St. Valentine's week!

♥

~Michele

Linking:

Mosaic Monday  *  No Place Like Home  *  BTTCG  *  

Teacup Tues  *  Tuesdays at Home  *  Roses of Inspiration   

Make it Pretty   *   Tuesday Cuppa Tea

Shabby Garden Room

A few of you have written asking to see more

 of our covered patio outdoor garden room

after my last post about the little garden breakfast tea

I hosted recently for my niece. 

The garden room is my very own girlie space,
 my favorite get-away spot;

a shady cool area to spend in the morning
 and then again in late afternoon
 after the sun sinks below the tall tree-lined backyard facing west.

It's a beautiful spot to watch the sun settling behind the trees.

That is when the sun is shining, which has been RARE lately!

My husband and his friend built this structure for me as a surprise,
 and it was really intended to be just a temporary "porch"until we could afford decided what kind of large

screened-in porch to have built onto the house.

Yet,  all these years later it still stands.

(Probably because they put roofing shingles on it.) 

♥

One of these days we will finally splurge and "upgrade,"

 but for now it really soothes my soul; and gives me respite....

I am so happy to share it & a bit of our garden with you today!

My husband also built the deck here in pic below.

Yes, keeping it real: we need new deck chair cushions,
I should've opened the umbrella for this shot and 
perhaps could have swept a bit.

Blame it on the broken foot, aye?

BTW- we keep the half umbrella up (2nd pic)

 because that side of the room faces the full afternoon sun. 

-

The umbrella helps to keep the space much cooler for longer.

It's difficult to tell but the room is deeper than it looks

 so the umbrella isn't really in the way, if that makes sense.

Depth perception is a bit off in the pic to be able to tell.

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

Every year I seem to change up this space a little bit;-

this year it has a pretty feminine pastel floral decor.

My garden in-ground hydrangea bushes are deep pink,

 because our soil is so high in alkaline.

To get the blue/purple ones I have to buy them like that

 and keep them in pots....and constantly add acid amendments
 to keep them that way.

(Used coffee grounds and tea leaves make good acidic amends to soil.)

I love both colors, so it works for me.  

You will almost always find some birdhouses 

~real and decorative~  around Finch Rest!

Have been resting out panoramic pic taking -
 way too small and skinny but I liked the pic so including it.

This is the first time I've ever shown a pic at an angle
 good enough to see my white candle chandy.

I used our shabby shutters in place of my metal room divider -
which is now in our master bedroom.

I kept it simple because it just won't stop raining.
I haven't even bothered with my decorative pillows this year.

In the last 16 days it's rained 14 of them,
has rained all day today and supposed to rain for 9 more days.


Which is why we haven't been able to paint the wicker.
Which is why we haven't been able to do much of anything!

It's kept my violets alive though - usually they're long gone
with the hot sunny days - it's been super hot
 but not at all sunny, so they're holding on for dear life!

So there's my garden room tour-
the perfect place for tea sipping, visiting, 
reading, bird gazing, praying, resting......

So glad you came along for my little tour!

As always, thank you for your visit!


♥

~Michele

Linking:

Share My Style   *   Share Your Cup   *   Home and Garden

Simple and Sweet    *   Feathered Nest     *     Pink Saturday

Perfect Weather for Tea Time

Popping in to wish everyone a truly wonderful day.

The weather today is absolutely awesome-

not too hot, not too cold, not too damp, not too windy.

Perfect.....and quite rare for Ohio.

It is the perfect weather to take tea outdoors,

with you - my sweet and special friend.

There isn't a thing I'd love better right now!

The birds will be our entertainment

as we peacefully enjoy one another's delightful company.

as we have before, a time or two...........

With pretty china and flowers and fresh air and sunshine............

It is such a pleasure to revisit some of our pretty

outdoor garden tea times

we have had together over the last few years.

Tea time is so much better taken outside, is it not?

It brings one's thoughts of gentle days of  the past.

How nice it would have been to have lived in an old country manor

with acres upon acres of lovely landscape and gardens;

along with the necessary  trusted staff to help make

gardens and frequent tea parties even possible!

Do you ever get the feeling that perhaps

 you were born in the wrong century?

I don't think I'd much enjoy corsets,  or not having

 indoor plumbing or modern medicine....

but I know I would have enjoyed what teatime meant

to the beautiful ladies of that era.

Of course, we may always attempt what we are able

 to bring back that special few hours called tea time...

to celebrate our solidarity, celebrate our femininity,

take time to still ourselves long enough to relax

 and visit:

to listen, to learn and to CARE.

So many of us are running on a fretfully dangerous,

stressful treadmill in our lives.

It's time to step off that race for a time;

consider how nice life can be just slowing down.

Even just a little bit....as a gift to ourselves.

So for today, and frankly, for ALWAYS-

I wish for you long leisurely days of quiet rest.

I bid thee well, and ask God to grant you peace.

♥

~Michele

Linking:

Pink Saturday   *  Saturday Show Off   *   Mosaic Monday   *   

Make it Pretty   *   Teatime Tuesday   *   Inspire Me Tuesday

Roses of Inspiration   *   Friends Sharing Tea   *  Martha's Favs


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