Landscaping our Home

Creating curb appeal and landscaping our home has been a slow process...(and finding the time to blog about it, has been even slower!).  Chris and I have been chipping away at the landscaping part of things mostly since Spring of 2011.  But we did the most work on it this fall.  There are still a few finishing touches to be done, but I am pleased with the progress.

Here's the journey...

We bought the house in Fall 2009.

 Spring 2010

 Spring 2010

 Winter 2011

(New paint job and woodwork)

Winter 2011

 Spring 2011

Fall 2011...

My goal in landscaping our yard was to make our home feel tucked-in to the landscape and feel like it has been there for a long time (which it has...but the landscape wasn't speaking to that).  Because our house is so high off the ground, it is easy for it to look out of touch with its surroundings...like someone just plopped it down.  So, we bought as many fast growing shrubs as possible, and the largest shrubs we could afford.  We planted the tree on the left corner of our home to provide shade that will give us a cozy cottage feel.  I can't wait to see as the Carolina Jasmine grows up around our porch to bring "green" up, making our home feel "tucked-in". 

Now we just have to wait for everything to grow!!!

Eventually the Taber Azaleas on both sides will grow to cover our foundation completely.  The River Birch tree will be taller than our house and will shade our front window (our bedroom).  The Caroline Jasmine vines will wrap around our columns and arch over our front porch.  The rosemary flanking our steps will grow big and create a fragrant welcoming to our home.  I'm not crazy about the two small Azaleas by the sidewalk, so I think I will move those this spring and replace them with something else.  

A few notes for impatient people like me...

I'm no gardening wizard, but here's what I've noticed at our house:

Knockout roses grow like crazy.  

My rosemary is not growing very fast.  I've heard the more you cut from it the faster it grows, though.    

Carolina Jasmine and pink jasmine grow very fast (but you have to make it very easy for them to climb...I created a trellis of nails and wire on our columns for it to fire, and fishing wire on our light post.  The confederate jasmine that I planted in a few places in our backyard is not growing very fast at all.

I also planted creeping fig on our foundation, it is growing well...but it's having a hard time clinging to our bricks...which is the whole point!  When I bought it, I got mixed advice, but one person said to cut off all existing growth when you plant it, because only the new growth will stick to the walls.  I didn't do this...I think they must have been right.    

By the way, Happy New Year!  

Thanks for checking in!