Garden start -- Spring 2007

So, I grew up with a garden ... it was how mom kept the three of us occupied after school ... and we learned a lot from it ... a lot that I don't think we ever really realized we'd use, but now both my sister and I have a garden.

So when we bought our house, it had very little curb appeal. The biggest curb appeal came from the 10 fully mature pecan trees that were planted with the house in the early 30s that make two lines down the property, one on each side of the house. There's also a row of cedar bonsai trees. strange, I know; that was my thought the first year that I lived here, but they're growing on me. There are 3 Bradford pear trees in the front of the property (near the road). And, finally, there were hostas in front of the house (not shown in the pictures below since it was March and they hadn't come up yet) ... yep .... that's it! that's all there was. It was a foreclosure property and had lots of work to do on the landscaping.

Our first project was to bring some color to the front porch, and to do this we used the 3 hydrangeas that were bought for our wedding. We put these in concrete planters from the wedding; though since then we've bought a 4th and planted them at the two front corners of the house and on either side of the steps leading to the front porch.

And, while not gardening, though completely necessary, we changed the color (both main and trim) of the house to give a better palate for me to plant against as well as we simply didn't like the old color scheme! (see photos below)