summer_perennialsi have never felt capable of keeping vegetation alive … forget healthy or thriving … i am talking simply not limp or brown or crunchy. yes, my entire adult life i have been enormously intimidated by plant life. if it photosynthesizes, it is a source of fear for me … or, i should say, it WAS a source of fear. the plant world and i have forged a sort of detente that — dare i dream — is threatening to become a successful symbiotic partnership … a mutual admiration society.

specifically, earlier this month, tiring of the vacant-lot look of our front and back yards and knowing that my fear of plants was keeping me from participating in something that steven values (a well-kept landscape), i set a budget, figured a design, bought foliage and equipment, and put together some freakin’ curb appeal!

we had mint and oregano (that steven ill-advisedly planted in the ground) taking over the area in front of our fence. i dug that mess up, which was no easy task, but which was enormously satisfying … almost as satisfying as demo-ing the kitchen last summer. i turned a new, clean planting bed. we have a peony that — god bless it — keeps coming back every year in that area, so in the new bed, i added two more peonies, two more barberries (one green, one red), and four variegated grasses that should fill in nice and fluffy.

no_more_mint_bush

planting that bed definitely took the most out of me, simply for the work involved in taking care of the blasted mint, but the core of my landscape plan involved the walkway to our (rotting-but-soon-to-be-repaired) front porch. we took up the sod on either side of the walkway, making two-foot beds. (we transplanted the sod in the backyard to the bare spot where izzie used to hang from his tree rope, so far it is a success!) we planted lavender, veronica, fernleaf yarrow, and more variegated grasses. i also found some nice looking (and nicely priced) solar garden lamps.

new_yard_work

view_from_the_porch

night_lights

i also gave our existing stuff a good trim …

summer_cut

though the deer were kind enough to obliterate our lilies (hence the lack of beautiful orange blooms in the above photo) as they were also successful in lopping off a big chunk of growth off the top of my new black-eyed susan:

deer_damage

nonetheless, the tide has turned. it’s been nearly three weeks, and i am really enjoying not killing anything.