Update on the Great Outdoors

Although at the beginning of the summer I had hopes and dreams that our house would look something like this by the end of the summer...

I've realized those dreams aren't going to happen as soon as I'd hoped.  

(Photo courtesy of many hours of photoshop and my boredom)

So, now I'm just focusing my attention on an improved version of this (reality)...

I think we've made some moves in the right direction. 

I replaced the brick walkway border with monkey grass.  

My monkey grass was getting all brown on the tips, and so I went back through and mulched it.  It has really helped because the soil isn't getting so dried up with the sun.  

Sand probably would have been better, but I had mulch on hand.  I want the monkey grass patches to grow together and fill in, and I hope the mulch doesn't prevent that.  

I tryed to clip down some of the Camellias on the left so that they wouldn't cover our window, but then I realized it was a job for a professional!  But I did make them nice and round (except a few places I couldn't reach).

I got ferns!  (Thanks Mom!)  But I can't figure out why they look so pitiful.  

They didn't look too good when I first got them, but I didn't realize that was such a bad sign.  I promise I water them!

Am I supposed to trim off the stringy parts?  Help!  Leave comments!  

I planted some Ilex Holly shrubs.  I googled them and they are supposed to get 6-8 feet in diameter!  I hope that's right, cause I planted them pretty far apart and only planted two.  

Our monkey grass is over grown and some of it needs to be dug up or killed or something.  I'm not sure what the best plan of attack is for that one yet.  Hopefully, next year we can plant some flowers to fill up this large bed.  We did have some lambs ears, but Chris yanked them up because he thought they were weeds!  But it's okay, we're even cause I sprayed round-up in some of our sod and killed it!

 My flower boxes have been blooming like crazy, but it's like the second it changed from June to July they started really struggling in this heat.  I CANNOT miss a day of watering without having dead blooms.  I under estimated what a big commitment it is to keep your flowers alive.  Watering wouldn't be such a big deal if it weren't for the fact that our water spout is wacky and I get drenched every time I turn it on.  

 This is my shady-est box and the little pink trailing flowers didn't last AT ALL!  They need a lot of sunlight I guess.  

I happened to go over to, my sister, Liz's house at just the right time this week, because she had put this rug on the street to be thrown out!  Makes a perfect little porch rug for us, and it's indoor/outdoor.  

 The ferns and the rug make our porch a cozy little late-evening hangout spot.  

It was so cozy, that somebody wasn't going to get up anytime soon...so I seized the opportunity for live models.  

This crepe myrtle is blooming like crazy in our side yard!

Unfortunately the little tree in front of it looks dead as a doornail.  

I love how the blooms arch over our gate, and I love seeing them out our window.  

I think soon I'll try and paint our pitiful rod iron columns so they'll disappear blend in with the house more and maybe paint our front door a fun color.  But if I paint the front door a bold color, I can't decide what color our shutters should be.  Something to ponder...

Here's the recap...

Before:

Lately:

Fantasy:

Thanks for reading.