Garden Trek Series - Episode 3

People, when you are trying to sell your house, PUHLEASE, do something with its curb appeal.  In this stale housing market that might just be the little thing that sets your home apart from the other gazillion homes out there going for a bargain.  When we were looking for ours, Steve had to twist my arm to get me to look at this one.  I could hardly get past this...

And these pictures were taken after I moved in and had the rosebushes trimmed and dead azaleas removed, and planted some pansies so I wouldn't be too embarassed when my family visited at Christmas.  I don't think these people ever ran their sprinkler system.  And if they did, it was set for everyday for 8 minutes per station.  My understanding is that you don't water everyday, but only when rainfall is less then 1 inch in a week.  Either way... everything was looking pretty dry, dead, and depressing.

Here is what we did with the front bed.  It may not look like much, but just wait until the end of the growing season.  A little time will do wonders to this bed...

notice the arbovitae that was moved to the left of the courtyard, anchoring that side of the house
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  Removed an arbovitae from the corner of the garage and replaced it with sweet olive (Osmanthus Fragrans) so that we could enjoy the fragrance when in bloom as you approach the house and balance out the landscape because of the other plant introductions
• Removed the big Sago Palm that was just sitting there smack in the middle of the flower bed and planted it in the back. 
• Added two gorgeous Blue Star Junipers flanking the window.  I would have preferred to have had them closer to the house, but there were some pipes right where I wanted them planted
• We added three layers of bushes:  Mock Orange dwarf in front of the window, Loropetalum, and Sunrise Winter Creeper

• Divided all of the summer blooming bulbs/rizhomes and added some pretty grasslike blomming flowers which I have no idea what they are called
• Planted a beautiful cone shaped holly tree at the right corner of the house
• Extended the flower bed on the side of the house all the way to the gate, where we planted some regular Mock Orange, Creeping fig to grow up the wall and some fox tails for a change in texture.

Underneath the small window there is a palm tree that we are waiting to see if it died in the freeze

In the late Summer I will post some of these same areas so we can see how much it has filled in.  Also, I have to pick out my summer flowers and am thinking about using deep pink/purples...  Maybe the fuschia pink periwinkles, or petunias, or just load up on verbenas and sprinkle a few burgundy coleus with the chartreuse edge here and there.  What do you all think?  We are also thinking about painting all of the shutters black.  These seem to disappear.  I hated them when I first looked at the house... but now that we have a few plants growing around them, I have grown accustomed to them.  We'll see.

This is not my home, but I love how they painted the trim on the doors/windows black.  I will be doing that too to my courtyard's windows. Don't know where I got this picture, sorry.

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/2010/04/welcome-to-64th-metamorphosis-monday.html

This post is linked to Metamorphosis Monday

This upcoming week should be interesting at the Shiny Pebble. I will be writing a guest post at Housewife Bliss and Amanda from AB Home Interiors will be hippifying my dining room.  I have also recieved an award from Christina at Greige  and will be sharing some little things about myself later in the week.  Meanwhile, stop by her fabulous shop, My Sparrow.  I have placed a link to the right.  Also, I'll have an update on the Chanel Nail Polish Sweepstakes.  There is still time to enter you chance to win.  So check back and join in on the fun.