It's Now or Never

This is one of those posts that I anticipated being so much better. However, I did not account for the exhaustion and the competition I would have against daylight to get this project done. So while I hate the thought of posting such an unexciting entry, I worked so hard last weekend that I hate not to talk about it. Not to mention that around here, not every project is glamorous. {enter Fergie ear worm} Take this paragraph as a hint that a) the pics came out horrible for something that should have made a big impact and b) this will be Part 1 of 2 once Spring hits and my hard work pays off with beautiful tulips and irises (I Hope!).

Anyway, with forecasted temperatures of 67 last Sunday (Nov 13th), I set off to work on the flower beds on the front of the house (after spending ALL DAY on Saturday painting The Kitchen [still a work in progress but will post pics soon]). We also just put down grass seed on Halloween! (There are baby grass sprouts popping up though!!)

The beds are already full of azaleas that bloomed pink in April or May when we were first stalking the house. As I have no azaleas over at The Old House, I recently learned that you have to prune them right after they bloom. I so missed the boat on that until this coming late Spring.

Not knowing what any of the other bushes were, I went ahead and pruned them a little. I also pulled out all of that ground cover which I think is Vinca. Not that I'm against Vinca, but the former owners were not into gardens so they put the stuff in every garden bed in lieu of flowers. I mean I get it, no ground showing no weeds, but I can make a LITTLE more effort than that....



This guy did not need much so I just trimmed him up a little. See the ground cover below him?





This one was shooting out everywhere so I clipped a bit more off him to give some shape.





Side of the house with weeds and lots and lots of Vinca.



Then I planned out and planted all of these special little guys I got from Brecks:

Iris - 25 bulbs
Monet Tulips - 60 bulbs
Queen of the Night - 20 bulbs
Apple Blossom Tulips - 25 bulbs
That's 130 bulbs for anyone who's counting!
PLUS 36 purple pansies I got that morning at Lowes and a Eucalyptus that I bought at Walmart over a month ago and forgot about (at least it's been rainy enough here to sustain it).
Digging trenches and placing them in the trenches is by far easier than using a bulb planter and putting each bulb in one by one. The pictures don't look like it but I did dig the appropriate 6 inches deep.

Once the leaves stop falling I will put mulch down for added protection and anxiously gladly wait for Spring. (We love the dead of Winter when we do not have to deal with yard work!)

Doesn't look like much now but once I move a peony to where that white thing is to the left and the irises and tulips I put in there come up AND the Hostas come back, it will look a lot prettier. The bright green bush in the front of the pic is a Camellia which will bloom this winter. Yeah! Love those and it was already there.




BEFORE




AFTER (I know, don't be jealous of my beautiful Hydrangeas. Love. Them.)



Cute Eucalyptus



Some of the pansies which will hopefully fill in with the rain and last of the warm weather.



There are plenty of other projects that I will start in early Spring but since a lot of planting/transplanting does not start until then, I will not be worrying with that before Winter. But we do plan on tackling one really overgrown area in our back yard between us and the neighbors. Hopefully those pictures will turn out better.

Oh, my aching back.

Mood Board Monday

My lovely blogger friend Sarah is doing another Mood Board Monday over at Pewter & Sage. This time our inspiration comes from our choice of some beautiful examples of China. I choose the  Chirp Collection, from Lenox Simply Fine Dinnerware, available at Macy's:



And here is my Mood Board.

NW&TOH MBM 11-14-11 for Pewter & Sage by vcstrader on polyvore.com

This is WAY WAY more rustic than my real style, but that is a huge part of the fun for mood boards for me - stepping out of your comfort zone. Once I felt that rustic vibe from the table, I just let it go - from the hutch to the chandelier to the candelabra on the table. With the china patter, chairs and curtains I tried to pull in a bit of elegance as well. So I guess it is a very eclectic mix of Elegant Rustic. The teal wall is an accent wall with the main wall color being the taupe, pulled from the chairs. The windows are on the taupe walls so I pulled the accent color to those walls with the curtains. I added some trendiness with the chevron rug, ceramic deer head and star burst mirror. I think that covers all decorating styles in one very eclectic room. Hope you enjoy it!