2002 This is picture I took of my friend Renee's house not long after she purchased in May 2002. It is the only true before pictures we managed to take, unfortunately. As you can see, the camellia bush in front had outgrown the planter - what planter you ask!?? well exactly! The Aztec grasses are haphazardly planted along the walkway and they die back in winter, and, of course, what you cannot see in this picture is the side yard on the right, which is completely overgrown and the camellia bush and azaleas planted on the left side cover the house! The house is really cute and the yard has potential, but needed some help. In addition, Renee wanted more of the house to be seen from the street. So I set to putting a design together that would be really inexpensive and super low maintenance - a challenge at best! We have only recently completed the bulk of the work just in time for the house to be put on the market. You have to see it in person to fully appreciate the added curb appeal; however, I will do my best here with pictures.

2004 Ahhh, now we can see the house and all its ornamental details.  In this picture you can see that we have removed the baby dogwood tree and the camellia from the front of the house and shaped the little shishi camellia in the yard. A little less obvious from this picture, but makes a remarkable difference, we also installed pavers leading from the road to the front porch, pressure washed the front porch, brick walkway and planter, trimmed down the bushes on the left side, pruned the remaining dogwood tree, and planted yellow lantana under the mailbox. What we don't have a before picture of, unfortunately, is the side yard on the right, in which falling trees and debris were removed and all the undergrowth and weeds were mowed down. Also, the camellia bush was trimmed to resemble a tree, pine straw was put down, the cast iron plants were rearranged and hoses and electrical cords were hung. All this opened up part of the yard Renee didn't have before and made it look tidy!

Front Bed and Planter

To the left are before, during and after pictures of the front bed along the walkway.  The Aztec grasses were removed and small boxwoods were planted symmetrically along the path. The camellia and all the cast iron plants were removed from the planter and hydrangeas and impatiens (for instant color until the hydrangeas grow) were planted in their place. The hydrangeas will get big enough to hide the gas meter but will not outgrow the planter. Some of the Aztec grasses were used in the middle of the bed to add a splash of contrasting foliage color to the boxwoods and caladiums were planted in front of the planter. The beds were also squared up using an electric edger and grass plugs were planted where needed. Here on the right from the top view picture you can see how the path pavers look - they made such a huge difference and look as if they were always there. Also, look at how beautiful the bricks are is once they were pressure washed!

Side Yard

In the before picture above on the left, the azaleas and camellia have already been severely trimmed down and are on their way to growing back (along with a bunch of weeds!). First we pulled the weeds, removed some weedy tree stumps and put down pine straw, which in and of itself was a huge improvement. Then the cast iron plants were moved from the side of the house and planted in clusters up under the trees where they look much more natural. The scraggly ligustrum bushes were pruned to resemble small trees and some ginger lilies that were pulled out of the circular planter in front (where they were mingling with the beautiful hydrangeas) were planted around the tree by the gate, which will look very pretty when they are in bloom. A curving bed similar to the one under the trees was defined around the azaleas and lined with clumps of lariope. A new azalea bush was planted to fill an empty space, and the remaining Aztec grasses, impatiens, caladiums and a holly fern were all artfully arranged to fill in the bed off the porch. Finally, the old birdbath from the backyard found a new home in the front bed to add to the cottage look.

 It's Done!

The cost for all this landscaping was around $100 and a whole lot of sweat and hard work. The biggest expense were the boxwoods, which will provide year-round structure to the front path. Much of the plant material used was already in the yard or was left over from other yards, which kept costs down considerably. The other expenses were the two new hydrangeas and azalea (all bought on sale), bales of inexpensive pine straw and pots of medium-sized impatiens for instant color (because the house was going on the market). Fortunately, it is raining just about ever day here in Tallahassee so watering the new landscape won't be necessary if this weather keeps up. However, once established these plants will need little maintenance, especially in the water department. Boxwoods are slow growers, but it will be important to keep them small so they don't outgrow their place and overcome the brick path. It was our intent to shape them into spheres as they grew, keeping them about 2 feet in diameter. Weeding will be necessary, but hopefully the pine straw will help keep the weeds to a minimum, and periodic edging to keep the grass from creeping into the beds and over the front curb will keep the look tidy. There are also areas for the new homeowner to plant colorful annuals if they wish. Other projects that would be nice to really spruce up the front would be to paint the new fence, repair to old fence, paint the front concrete porch black to match the door, put in a driveway (which there is even room to build a driveway extension into the side yard to fit one more car), build a stone or brick retaining wall with stairs where the yard slopes down towards the road, and put up a small white picket fence lined with flowers to complete the cottage look.  But our job here is done - these are all improvements for the next owner to consider. We think the yard looks great as it is!

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