From the Archives

The Front Garden in Spring: Before and After

I was looking through some of my photos, and came across some that I took last spring of the front garden, which, as I’ve mentioned before, has been expanded and redesigned. So far, I’m pretty happy with the results:

This is how it looked last spring (before we removed that ugly-ass awning—which was a huge improvement all by itself!)
frontgardenspring08

A decent start. We started that island bed mainly because grubs had made a mess of the lawn and I just didn’t feel like putting in the effort to fix the grass when I’d so much rather have flowers. It was way too small, but it was a huge effort just to dig out the remaining sod and double-dig that little area, battling tree roots the whole way.

This is the bed last fall:
frontgardenfall08

Getting better! My main complaint with the garden at this time of year is that there is absolutely nothing blooming. I’ll have to do something about that this year. You’ll notice that the garden’s been expanded quite a bit, and that awful kidney shape is gone. I went with a large rectangle to mimic the straight lines of the house, and straightened the border on the bed near the porch as well. You see the bit of lawn that surrounds the bed? Unfortunately, we probably have to leave at least that much. Our city ordinances state that every home must maintain a lawn area in the front yard. This is our nod to a “lawn.” Really, it’s a garden path that gives us access to both the bed and the hedge.

And here’s the garden now:
frontgardenviewspring2009

I’m pretty happy with it. I like that it’s pretty packed with blooms right now between the bearded irises, alliums, and shastas. Earlier this spring it was loaded with tulips and daffodils. The Siberian irises are coming on now, and in a bit the coneflowers, hollyhocks, and daylilies will be going full speed. I’ve also put a few zinnias and cosmos in here to fill in some bare spots. I’ll share a few photos once the next wave of blooms come in.

10 comments

10 comments to “The Front Garden in Spring: Before and After”

susie, May 28th, 2009 at 10:57 am:

Great improvment,looks beautiful, love the reduced lawn area, open porch & flower bed.

Blackswampgirl Kim, May 28th, 2009 at 4:16 pm:

You definitely SHOULD be very happy with it, Colleen–it looks great! Much more interesting than just the lawn–and you’re right, the house looks so much more friendly and up-to-date without that awning, too.

You’re a much better citizen than I am, by the way. My nod to a lawn would probably be a 3ft patch of grass about halfway between that birdbath under the tree and the edge of your front porch! *grin*

Chookie, May 29th, 2009 at 2:05 am:

Oh dear, that awning WAS wrong, wasn’t it? I’m intrigued by the absence of eaves and the stone-to-wood change at the side — when was it built?

Love the daft ordinances that your local governments come up with. Ours mainly stick to incompetence.

Anne, May 29th, 2009 at 8:16 am:

Wow, this is looking awesome! I love your way of handling the obligatory lawn, too.

AIM, May 31st, 2009 at 6:40 pm:

Which city requires this? Sounds like an ordinance change is in order.

Colleen Vanderlinden, May 31st, 2009 at 6:43 pm:

Thanks, Susie!

Colleen Vanderlinden, May 31st, 2009 at 6:44 pm:

Kim–Well, I’ll take that compliment, since your awesome front garden was one of the ones that inspired me to start ripping my grass out

Believe me, I want to get rid of all of it. We’ll see how much is left by the time we move in a few years!

Thanks for stopping by!

Colleen Vanderlinden, May 31st, 2009 at 6:47 pm:

Hi Chookie!

Oh, it was terrible. And spiders loved it, so when we stepped out the front door, we were constantly knocking them down out of their webs. Ick. My house was built in 1941. The stone on the front is a veneer. The sides are aluminum siding, though they used to be shingles, which were much prettier, actually–wish the former owner hadn’t installed the aluminum.

Our local gov’t does incompetence well, too, believe me

Colleen Vanderlinden, May 31st, 2009 at 6:47 pm:

Thanks, Anne. I see that you’re totally ripping your lawn out—love it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Colleen Vanderlinden, May 31st, 2009 at 6:48 pm:

I’m in a suburb of Detroit. Ordinance changes don’t happen all that quickly around here, believe me

Thanks for visiting and commenting!

Search ITGO

Canning and Pickling

Please Support My Wonderful Sponsors!

Colleen’s Organic Gardening Blog at About.com

Friends of ITGO

My Favorite Garden Blogs

From the Archives

The Front Garden in Spring: Before and After

10 comments

10 comments to “The Front Garden in Spring: Before and After”

Your comment: