01 November 2007

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*



12 comments:

amanda p. said...

don't flowers have an amazing way of making your day brighter?! I love geraniums and am so so jealous of your cute house and beautiful red flowers! love it!

angiedunn said...

this post pretty much makes my heart happy. i love planting & flowers & digging in the dirt & your amazing skill @ paying attention to detail. your yard is a magazine cover.

someday i will have a yard w/out rocks. that will be a good day. until then i'll live vicariously through you.

kacee said...

I, too, am so jelous of all your cute flowers! I am getting ready for all things green to freeze and die and {lucky} you are just getting started. Good work!

abigail said...

Very nicely done!!!! Your house always looks so cute with the pots and flowers! You do deserve a manicure!! If you go get a pedicure too you probably wont have to take as much ibuprofen!!!

MichelleY said...

Looks amazing as always! Hope the flowers make it - I know Jones has replanted 3 times already because his keep dying. Oh and I think a Diet Coke from Sonic would have helped too :)

chris+amber said...

You can thank Jack for the gardening skills you have inherited. That house sure doesn't look 24 years old! You've kept it so nice! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the flowers. I know it's no easy task. Remember I did it one year for you! I do have to admit that I enjoyed it. Someday I'll have a flower bed & a yard to plant things.

chris+amber said...

PS. You can hire Chris to use his air gun to shoot cats who take a dump in your yard. He'd happily do it!

•stephanie• said...

when is chris available?

Unknown said...

holy smokes.. your posts/yard/house/life amaze me! i am in love with your house especially the flower beds & pots. it always looks so nice & cheery!

Unknown said...

I love that close up picture of your front porch. I want a house that looks like this someday. I am cracking up at your comment 'when is Chris available?'

Suzy Cummard said...

Of course your house is PERFECT..
Of Course.

SAM has a beeby gun... that worked with keeping cats off his lawn. Let me know if you need his digits! *WINK

The Fletchies said...

I'm really kind of in love with your black pots. where did you find them? the Romney house and its red flowers are always so cheery. I'm glad flowers brightened your day and I'm very sorry that your daisies are already dead. But congrats on having perfect landscaping!