Front of House Landscaped

I share a personality trait with several of you DIYers, a little quirk in my get-up which makes finishing inspiring projects somewhat of a hassle. A say 'inspiring projects' because as you all know, we certainly don't START anything that isn't inspiring.

It's often the finishing that becomes laborious...the moment when the inspirational bug has been fed and the laboring is all that's left.

The best part, though, is the celebratory TA-DAAA in my spirit when I remain disciplined and true to said project and finish to the very....last.....bit.

Which is a moment I joyfully share with you today ~

This week I put the finishing touches on the front retaining wall of our home, a tricky area for landscaping because it's not level, it's north-facing ( = not much sunlight), and it's a primary walkway, but it's also one of the first areas you see when you approach our house, so it needs to look somewhat nice.

First, the BEFORE picture.  Below is the area in May after we rototilled all the yucky grass and weeds in the upper portion of the wall so we could start fresh with rocky soil.

And here it is today with lots of red lava rock which I found for $5 a bag at Walmart (!), a pea gravel walkway lined with red bricks, and various shrubs which promise on their nursery tags to do well in shady areas.

I prayed over each one as I planted it.  This is the land of Jack London's "To Build a Fire," after all.

I planted a different variety of petunia (along with white lobelia) in the lower portion of the wall because the tag said it would "WAVE" over the edges of containers.  I had visions of tumbling petunias "waving" over the lower portion of my wall...what a beautiful approach to our home that would make, no?!

I'm still waiting for the big "wave."  I don't think it's going to happen.  I think I'll be going with a larger WAVE petunia next year.

I actually rested in that chair on the left Monday afternoon to drink my afternoon latte and read "To Kill a Mockingbird."  It was a lovely place to sit where no one expected to find me, and I could gaze down our driveway as I sipped my coffee.

Lovely, lovely.

 
I put weed-block fabric under EVERYTHING (except the flowers), having done just enough landscaping to know things don't look nice long if you haven't protected against weeds, especially when laying rocks down.

More of a problem will be keeping those rocks in place given all the foot traffic.  The kids like to balance precariously on the red bricks ~ high-wire style ~ as they shimmy barefoot across this area several times a day.  We will probably pour concrete in the path some day, but with everything else going on this summer, neither Mr. Mimsy nor I were too excited about spending a couple days doing a concrete pour.  The pea gravel will have to do in the meantime.

You know, placing small pea-sized rocks back in their place may just be the perfect discipline for various infractions such as forgetting to put shoes away, occasional sibling discord, conditions of becoming too big for one's britches....that kind of thing.

Just sayin'.