Whew, guys I am beat. This three day weekend kicked my butt! Between sun, fun, family, friends, and swimming. I am needing another weekend to recuperate from my weekend. Not only did I enjoy leisure time, I also did more of the Curb Appeal Challenge, adding the flowers. I got to spend time at one of my happy places, the flower store! Seriously, I am doing a happy dance down the rows of flowers and wondering why we need to pay bills, we should just go broke buying all of the flowers!
I introduced you all to this Curb Appeal challenge I am doing with a group of bloggers last week. This week we are all sharing our progress. You will be able to see their posts by clicking on the links at the bottom of this post. I saw their plans last week and I am so excited to see what they have done this week! Here is what I have to work with at my home, it has great potential, but my flowers planters were the first thing I was eager to tackle.
Here is a close-up of the mess. Most people have trouble getting grass to grow, we have no problem here. In fact, we have it growing in our flower beds! The plan is to move the two larger side plants to a flower bed on the side of the house. Keep the two large center plants which are lavender. Then fill in the rest with new shrubs of varying sizes, heights and color.
Here is the planter by the mailbox and the light post. It is over taken by ever green stuff and grass. The plan is for all of this to go but the big plant in the back with purple flowers. The rest is just too much, and leaving even a little of this ground cover will have it all get taken over again.
Me and my crew took a trip to the flower shop! On a side-note, Nora and Caleb will be done with school on Friday for the summer! Caleb will be done with Kindergarten. I am ok for now, but when we are watching my sweet middle man standing up there for his little graduation is is going to be tough. Why do kids insist on growing up?!!! I am however looking forward to summer with my trio of littles. They helped me pick out our loo of flowers, and just like their Mommy, they are pretty obsessed with flowers.
Here is some of it already planted in the front porch. I am going to be giving you little hints at the reveal. No big picture until it is full reveal time. For now honestly I just have the flowers done, but you will only get bits and pieces of this until reveal week. I have to have some suspense around here!
We bought lots of dark brown mulch.
This is the two planters with all of the plants pulled out. This was a lot of work, which I have most to thank my handsome and exhausted husband Dale to thank for. He used his muscles for this mailbox planter. The ground cover was a beast to get out, and it was a very hot and sunny day when we worked on this.
I used pulled out all of the grass and churned the dirt up making it look even more of a mess. There was a method to this madness, but at the time I worried I just made more work for me. This is actually how it was supposed to look, it had to get worse before it got better.
I took off the top layer of bricks to the planter.
I used weed protecting screens, to prevent more grass from growing anywhere else. Lay it down over the dirt, then set the bricks over the top of it.
I cut out holes for the 4 plants I ended up keeping in the planter. I also had a shadow in the name of Gavin who asked me the process, wanting every tiny detail that I was doing. He is always an eager assistant. Nora hides in her room, afraid we will force her to help. Caleb pops in and out, it is how my three kids work. When they get older I will be putting them to work more often!
Next I set all of the plants into the planter. Making sure I had an even amount, differing heights and sizes. I have plants that go from tiny ground cover moss, to 8 inch tall plants, all the way up to 24 inch plants. I like to keep flower beds with varying heights. I also had to be very selective with these plants, because I want them to come back next year. I also plant in the ground perennials, which means they will come back each year. But, with my living in the crazy harsh winters of Wisconsin I am limited to what can last in the -30 degree temperatures we get. It seems like a long way off after spending a hot weekend in the sun and getting good and sweaty working on this planter. Winter will come and it will be freezing. These plants should be good to last.
Then cut the weed protector to make a hole for the new plant to go.
Put the plant in the hole.
Then you can make sure the plant has dirt around it. Tuck the weed screen back in place around the plants.
Then, put the mulch around the whole planter.
Here is how it looked right after everything was put in. I am hoping the plants grow, it always looks a little sparse until the plants really start growing.
I also put some plants on my front porch. These ones are not perennials. So these lovelies get to shine this year and then will need to be replaced next year. I like to put these in buckets or pots. It makes it very easy to swap them out.
With this Curb Appeal Challenge, adding the flowers it may not seem like a lot of work. But I can guarantee that Dale and I are achy, sore, with scratches and blisters to prove how hard we worked on this. It is not easy to put flowers in the ground. It is chopping up and removing the grass, weeds, or ground cover that insisted on staying. We won! We have some pretty planters that are thoroughly soaked with water to encourage new growth. I insisted that we get them done so that our neighbors would not side-eye us while walking their dogs if we had un-finished planters.
Now that the flowers and landscaping is done for this curb appeal challenge I am moving towards the house itself. Next on our to-do list is to paint these columns.
I decided I am going to be painting these shutters either a dark gray or a black. We need to remove them all and paint them.
I am also going to be replacing the porch light, two garage lights, and painting the front door. Also, a new screen door is needed, badly. This one has been here for decades I swear and it sounds like a very scary movie door. It belongs in a haunted house when it creaked open. I am soooo excited to get this next phase done on the house. I think adding the new colored shutters and door are going to make this house have just the refresh that it needs! For now I am off to enjoy the day alone with my littlest little, and rest my achy muscles. I am not as young and a full weekend really wears on you!
Be sure to check in on the other talented blogging ladies and what they got up to in this weeks Curb Appeal Challenge.
OMG, your kiddos are so cute! It’s nice you have helpers 🙂 Things are coming along. Planting IS hard work. Goodluck!
Thank you!
I would love to have some nice flowers in my yard. I need to do something about that…..
I love adding flowers to my yard, it makes such a difference!
You front yard is coming along nicely! And how cute are your little ones 🙂
Thanks! It is a lot of work but I am finally seeing results!
We just planted out front flower bed and our planters.
Make sure you plant perennials too so next spring you have some new growth.
Good point! I do a mix of the two but tend to use perennials for the in-ground flowers.
Flowers make such a difference around the house. My husband is the gardener in our family, and I’m going to ask him to add some more now!
I love gardening!
My husband spent his entire weekend doing flowers! It certainly heightens curb appeal. As a professional photographer who also does real estate photography, it’s why I love shooting this time of year.
Oh, how amazing to get to take pictures of homes! I am sure right now everything is in full bloom.
Looking great! Your helpers, I am sure, make your garden flourish. We planted our annuals on the day recommended here in MD when there should be no more frost. They forgot to tell us that it was going to be cool and rain and dreary enough for 2 weeks to cause over half of them to rot. Too expensive to replace all of them. So sad! The Peonies and Iris bloomed and the rain beat them to death. Out of 12 Peony plants I had enough for a large bouquet. Don’t know what to do…turn it back to grass, make it a rock garden or buy faux flowers. At least on the deck in the back all the potted plants survived. I vote for grass.
Oh no! I am so sorry to hear about that, we deal with frost as well and had a few cold nights here. I adore Peonies and will be adding some to my garden soon! I am so sorry you lost so many flowers, hopefully you figure out what you want to do to that area.
Your kids are adorable! Mine are going on their second week of summer vacation and we’ve had a lot of fun so far… except, it needs to stop raining so much! I really love the assortment of flowers that you selected. I could spend a ton in the flower store, too! I just painted my door this weekend, I can’t wait to see how yours turns out!
Carrie
curlycraftymom.com
Thanks Carrie! I hope you are having better summer weather now!
We need to plant new flowers out front. You’re yard is looking great!
Thanks!
Looks like everything is coming along great! I’m planting today!
Thank you!
I love the aged wooden planter, it has such a great look. I’m sure you will absolutely love pulling up to your house now that all the gorgeous flowers have been planted. And you also have a bunch of cute little helpers!
Thank you! My kids love to help with planting, I think it is just the playing in dirt part 🙂
I love new flowers!! They add I instant curb appeal don’t they! Your kiddos are so cute btw : )
I look toward to seeing what you do this week -Jenny
Thanks so much Jenny!
Wow what beautiful flowers you choose Your yard is looking great.
Thanks!
I think my favorite are the flower planters on your porch! What a wonderful job you did on adding curb appeal!
Thank you so much! I love putting the flowers on my front porch.
What a difference a few flowers makes! Looks great, Emily!
So true about flowers making a huge difference!
Your landscaping is coming along nicely! You did a really good job.
Thank you!
Emily,you and the kids did a great job in picking out the flowers, glad you had help too:) Look forward to see the porgress each week
Maria
Thanks so much, I am happy you are enjoying this curb appeal challenge!
I love that you are planting! Planting is so much fun and makes everything look great! Can’t wait to see how the rest of your project comes along!
Thanks so much! Planting is a lot of fun!
It looks great! I love your pots! I’ve just planted mine too!
Thanks!
Nice choice in colors for the flowers. I recall your first post on the topic of curb appeal. I love the end result!
Thanks so much for following along!
I need to pick up the slack in my yard, our curb appeal is non-existent. Thanks for the inspiration!
I am so happy you found this helpful!
Flowers do so much to improve your home’s curb appeal. We are planning to add flowers to our home’s front too this year.
How fun!
I love planting and adding flowers to my front yard. You did a great job and it looks gorgeous!
Thanks so much Dawn!
You guys are doing a great job and you’re inspiring me! Our front yard is a hot mess right now and needs to be cleaned up! Thanks for the ideas!
I am so happy you enjoyed this and found some inspiration!
Hurrah for the warm weather season. I love getting out there in the yard.
Me too!
The flowers are such a beautiful change! Yard work is definitely an intense work out!
It is! I was beat up and achy after all of this!
I love flower shopping too and your kids looked like they were having so much fun!!! Gardening is tough work and you did a great job!!!
My kids had such a good time!
My goodness emily this looks so great! I can’t believe you did that all yourself. Love how you always include your kids in your posts. You house is just so pretty!