extreme makeover . . .

. . . home edition - november 2007 . . .

this house has a

serious case of "summeritis"

~ you know ~

where you had to toss

all the spring flowers

in about june

& then it's way too hot

to plant anything new

'til now . . .

i give you before photos . . . . . . bare porch/entry way . . . . . . nothing on brick pillars . . .
. . . no "welcome to our home" feeling

even by the side door . . .

. . . scary hairy topiaries . . .

{that kinda rhymed!}

. . . this stuff is called spurge . . .

. . . don't let it's cute, tiny leaves

fool you ~ it's a ground-covering,

fast-growing WEED and it must die

these pots look

like part of a haunted house

or something

and this, my friends,

is the bane of my life ~

cat doo doo in my flower beds!

seriously, if you must have a cat,
or in the case of my neighborhood ~
multiple {so very many} cats,
could you please have it/them
poop at your house?

first step . . .

get rid of spurge

{three buckets full}

& dreaded cat droppings

{disgusting}

CHECK

second step . . .

trim/shape topiaries

. . . both of them . . .

CHECK

third step . . .

gather supplies:

red & white geraniums sweet alyssum
& gerbera daisies

CHECK
fourth step . . .

start digging

pots successfully repotted

side door seems cheerier

front porch looks cozier

welcome to our home

. . . the winter lawn

is coming along, too . . .
{even better now that
we figured out that
it does, in fact, matter
if the sprinklers come on
six times during the day,
rather than
six times during the night}

by the numbers:

100 gallon size geraniums
28 small allysum plants
2 gerbera daisies
{1 has already perished}
1 potted mum
& a partridge
in a pear tree
{just kidding about the partridge,
but that really is a flowering pear tree!}

* right about now, i could sure use

four ibuprofen & a manicure*