Just thought I'd update how our landscaping is coming along! Talk about a JOB. I can't say that I do the majority of the work, Lord heavens no. While I like to plan/design the layout of the landscaping and buy all the pretty flowers, Chad is the one who's doing the hard work of planting them and keeping them alive. HA! It's a team effort, right? ;)
We are by no means experts on gardening and landscaping, but Chad really does work outside nonstop and I'm so glad he's got more of a green thumb than I do. Sometimes he will get up at 6am to do things in the yard before work just because he knows he won't have as many hours of daylight when he gets home. It definitely takes dedication. The boys and I do water flowers almost nightly and with this "thick of Summer" heat we've had the past week, it sometimes takes twice a day. Still, there's some that are just not thriving. SC July heat can be brutal. We do the best we can and have really enjoyed watching the blooms come and go all Spring and Summer!
Here's a look at our window boxes Chad made for his shop and while some of the more colorful begonias are hidden in this pic, it's all really blooming like crazy and growing so fast.
Our coneflowers that we planted last Summer have really been my favorite this year. They grow kinda wild and crazy (and TALL!) and first start off looking like weeds. My mother-in-law nearly pulled them up early Summer! Trust, it's easy to do. Once they bloom though, they're ah-mazing. We have them all over Uptown Greenwood so I knew I wanted to give them a shot. So pretty in the evening sun...
Chad is really into caladiums (elephant ears). I do love the pop of color...
These are all on either side of Chad's shop garage door...
Then behind the shop (well, to the side) he planted more caladiums in the shade...
Daylillies are a no brainer in the South. They always THRIVE, with very little maintenance. That's my kind of flowers let me tell you. This light pink colored daylilly we planted this year is a favorite...
and sometimes things bloom when you least expect it. We planted a dying mum from our front porch in the ground here just to see what would happen and bless pat, it BLOOMED in the Spring! What the world? It's HUGE.
Then Chad also planted a banana plant, one of the most hardy plants you can plant. They also need little water and holy cow, this is how much it's grown JUST THIS YEAR. It's right outside our kitchen bay window and it''s grown even more since I've taken this pic. Not going to lie, when the wind blows sometimes and I catch it swaying out of the corner of my eye, I nearly freak out and drop my early morning coffee. Sheesh.
This spike in the middle of our planter was an annual, but survived our Winter and came on back this Spring. We added bright purple wave petunias + sweet potato vine, which is one of my favorite combinations...
As for the little fence and wagon wheel (from my dad's old house) behind our house, we pulled up the dying azaleas that just did not do well there and transplanted them back in more shade behind the shop. We purchased two HUGE hosta plants from our local nursery and filled in the rest with perennials on sale from Lowes!
Speaking of lilies, I mean come. on. These gorgeous pink lilies are hands down, my favorite. They smell divine, grow so big and look gorgeous in arrangements.
We did plant a hydrangea bush for the first time this Spring! It started out with pink blooms that are now turning blue because of our soil. I've always heard how fickle they are and how much maintenance they need, so I'm just over here crossing my fingers it lives and doesn't get too much sun.
Lastly, we planted seeds and bulbs two Springs ago, the first Spring we were in the house and some of the gladiolas finally came up this year! Gorgeous pink, of course my pick. We had a bad storm that made them fall over to the ground, so I clipped them off and stuck them in a pitcher on our kitchen table...
We also purchased two crabapple trees this year for outside our master bedroom/bathroom window and a Japanese dogwood for behind the house. We just try to invest a little more every Spring, since we certainly couldn't do all at once, and we try to only spend money on trees and perennials! My best advice is to search the clearance racks at Lowe's. Yes, the clearance racks for PLANTS. We lucked up this year as our local Lowe's had overbought and had sooo many perennials they needed to move. We got an entire buggy full one time for $40 bucks. Sometimes if they don't look as well, you can always take them home and "revive" them! It's worth taking a glance and starting there before paying full price for basically the same exact flower, whether annual or perennial.
The only things we'd like to really purchase now would be crepe myrtles for behind our corner fence and maybe a few big magnolia trees. Then after two years since moving into our new house and starting from scratch on landscaping, we feel like we'll be DONE! (Ok, maybe not ever fully 100% done but you know what I mean )
PS. If you have any tips on keeping hydrangeas alive and/or favorite (easy to maintain) flowers/shrubs, definitely let me know!
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