DIY Gone Wrong

So in an effort to save some money, after a crazy month of landscape expenses  ( due in part to the kids 16th party blowout bash)and postpone yet another visit from Arturo who helps out with this massive lawn,  my sweet husband borrowed his buddy's hedge trimmers and decided to take a whack at trimming the 65+ bushes we have around this house.

 

When Mom and I arrived home after a few errands, we saw him stretched over the loropetalum swinging that trimmer back and forth.  When I asked how he was going to get the other side, he firmly stated, I am going to walk on the brick retaining wall.  Ok!  It was then that my Mom turned to me and said "I will bet you he will either fall off the wall, and that will hurt or he is going to cut that cord in two and that won't be good!"  I turned to her and said "either way, I am not going to stand out here and watch that go down." so up to the porch we went to take photos of the potted plants.

 

I stepped out side to check on him, and he was standing on the porch dripping with sweat (it is 96+ degrees today) and rolling up the extension cord.  I said "Are you done?" his reply "I am now", I said too hot, he said no "I cut the cord!"

 

I had to come in and tell Mom she had guessed right..he cut the cord!  Oh well, now a 'free' day of labor actually has turned into a $50.00 trip to the home improvement store to replace the heavy duty 100-ft extension cord he made short work of!  You know what they say, "there is no such thing as a free lunch" and evidently "free yard work" as well!

 

Pretty Potted Plants

Here are a few photos of the potted plants on our front porch.  I love all the different varieties of grasses and vines you can find.  The only trouble I had this year was not enough pots to put them in!

Welcome to the Jungle

If you could say only one thing about our yard in TN it would be "well manicured". I really miss my yard and all my flowers and potted plants. Don't get me wrong, I love the 'potential' of this yard, but right now that is ALL it has going for it....potential! I attached a photo of my potted plants shortly after we set them in place, and way before they were in total bloom, but you get the jest.

Our lot is actually larger here than it was in TN, it 1.25 acres. A good percent of that applies to our front yard and that large hill you have to climb to get to our home. The second largest patch is our back yard, which climbs upward until you get to a semi plateau. Outside of the front yard, which has your standard Indian Hawthorne and Little Gem Magnolia's it isn't very inspiring. The back yard well all I can say about it is...........Welcome to the Jungle!!!!!

Yep, that is just 1/4 of our lovely back yard jungle. Complete with pine saplings, wild black berries and lots of scrub brush. Buried deep in the middle are (4) very pricey Little Gem Magnolia, but it will take a little unearthing to get to them. Evidently, the former owners were not big nature lovers and so that explains a lot when it come to the lack of care in the back. One plus we didn't know we were purchasing was the prayer alter or rock in this case. If you look at the photo above you can see the tip of the rock peeking about the saplings. Great, you can bet your bottom dollar, I will waste no time removing those incense plates and knocking that bad boy down. As I was standing on the back porch shaking my head my husband felt the need to remind me "Honey, just remember, this house is a marathon and not a sprint". Thank goodness, because I don't have enough tread on my shoes and energy bars to get through this project anytime soon. So for now I will just have to long for that lovely yard and beautiful grass I left behind in TN, and hope that eventually this one will look just a lovely!