Landscaping: Phase I

When we bought our house, we knew that it was a landscaping nightmare.  But really, that's what made Ray all the more excited about it.  Our first house was a nightmare too and Ray turned it around and made it look amazing - just in time to sell it.  This spring, Ray started the landscaping renovation.  Here is the before picture of the front of the house. 

 I don't know what the previous owners were thinking when it came to landscaping.  All the bushes in front of the house were random... none of them matched and they all had horrible form.  None of it was worth saving, so Ray took all the bushes out and started from scratch.  While Ray worked on the yard, James and I watched.  I'm a little behind on this post - these pictures were taken back in March -

And here's what it looks like today-

To recap - Phase I included:

- Taking out all the bushes in front of the house

- Planting new bushes in front of the house - Ray planted Gardenia, Holly, and Loropetalum

- Planting Hosta and Stella de Oro in front of the house

- Taking the large stump out of the front yard (Ray's parents hired someone to do this)

- Planting a Bloodgood Japanese Maple in the front yard

- Planting Irises around the Japanese Maple

- Planting Knockout Roses beside the mailbox

Future plans include:

- Ripping all the bushes out that are on the side of the house and planting new ones

- Killing all the grass in the front yard and starting over

- Taking up the large "flower bed" in the front yard and planting grass where it was

- And who knows what esle

Stay tuned for Phase II! And that's so much Ray, for all your hard work... because the Lord knows that I would not be happy digging in the dirt and straining my back to get gigantic bushes out of the ground.