it's like an HGTV show around here...

I know some of you aren't that interested in yard work stories.  I totally feel you.  I glaze over the minute someone starts telling me about their weird dreams.  So, if you're checking in to see the kids, here they are....

And if you want to see the kids AND hear about our grueling yard work, complete with too many pictures, I'm going to keep on keeping on.  Here's the thing - the front flower beds were long overdue for a makeover.  Like, 10 years overdue.  The bushes were so big they blocked the windows, the thing next to the bush below is a weed (I kid you not), and besides the two giant bushes, there wasn't any other plants.  The hubs and I have been planning this redo for a while, but with only the weekends to work on it and two kids who don't want us to work on it, we were stuck.  So, we planned on today being the day!

Here is the right side of the porch "before" - big ugly bush and weed.  

We couldn't pull the bush because the roots were too big and deep.  So the hubs took the pole saw to it and mowed that thing down.  Already it's looking better!  (If we all agree to ignore the half-dead holly bush left).

The "After"!  Boxwood shrubs under the windows that max out at four feet tall, so they won't ever get too big.  The corner got a sepia bush to attract butterflies, and we added some daylillies (to tie into the bed next to the stairs), some midnight hostas, and some blue flowers that I can't remember the name of now.

But, Carrie!  What about the left side?  Glad you asked.  Here's the before, and a quite sad story to go along with it.  Two weeks ago, the hubs cut this bush down.  And then noticed that a robin's nest with four eggs fell out.  I was frantic, thanks to oh-so-timely PMS, crying and searching the internet with phrases like "how to sit on robin's eggs and hatch them yourself."  

I tried putting the nest into the bush/tree next to it, and the mom robin actually found it!  I was of course spying through those windows.  But then, when I checked on the nest a little while later, it had fallen to the ground, one egg was cracked, and one egg was missing.  So I put the remaining two eggs and nest into a shoe box, and duck-taped it to the window (you can see in the picture below).  Then I propped the cut bush up against the window to make the robins think it was safe and entice them back to the nest.  Yep, it didn't work.  The robins never came back.

Ok, now that you're all "we're talking about two bird eggs, right?" let's see the "After"!  I used the same plants, in the same locations, so as to mirror the other side.  

I keep peeking out of the windows to see the difference.  And wow, it looks so much better.  Definitely worth the labor and sore back!  And now that these flower beds are complete, we are FINISHED with transformations.  Our HGTV show is cancelled!