before pictures

granny pat and i rode down to dewayne's today in smithfield...always see lots of stuff there! and granny was soo sweet and she bought all the plants i got from there today!! that includes the three crepe myrtles, and the four candytufts...she said she'd rather help with that than all the work mom and i are in for tomorrow! thanks, granny!

as promised, these will be the official before pictures for the yard makeover...even though i did a little work today...trimming some of the bushes and getting those last two beasty sea oat things by the curb...and i did put the plants about where they were going to go tomorrow when mom gets here! yay! above: the left side of the porch will feature the tonto color of crepe myrtle on the corner (in the bucket at the far left)...seen below
below is another view of the left side of the front porch...we'll have knockout roses (like my pretty flower fairy tree) and some variety of accent plant (i bought a couple of things today)

some combination of candytufts seen here...or firepower nandinas....

above is the right side of the front porch...here we'll also have the knockout roses and another tonto crepe myrtle on the far right corner...we'll also have some work to do to bring the natural area a little more forward (in front of my flag) to match the line on the other side...hopefully it will have a "flare" look when all is said and done...we'll see...

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below is the "middle area" between the porch area and the spot in front of my garage...this is the corner where my 2nd tonto crepe myrtle will go (hopefully replacing the cypress tree)....the cypress tree is totally inappropriate here...it doesn't look that way now, but this tree will get HUGE and take over the corner of the house....its gotta go!

and below is the spot in front of my garage where the two euonymous emerald 'n golds will go (under each window) and the white auburn camelia will sit so pretty in between the two windows...

...notice how i've already trimmed my unruly cherry laurels (??? i'm guessing that's what they are...mom and i saw something just like it in lowes...and it was a cherry laurel...

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and here's the infamous kidney bean...EMPTY! woo hoo! and the one bucket plant in the middle is the white crepe myrtle...it will most likely sit by itself...

hopefully, one day it will look like this...

i hope you're ready mom! i am getting excited! i also got to get lots of homeowner-y tools today...hedge clippers...gardening tools...a shovel...a hose and a hose keeper...and a nifty watering nozzle...

i can't wait for tomorrow...should be fun...i've already got the pick-up truck...i think we might be getting some mulch tomorrow, too...and i'll have to take the "after" pictures...and some more pictures when everything starts blooming! :) stay tuned!