Strachan Landscaping Day!

I have been working on and off on my parents landscaping for their front yard for about a month. As usual, the contractors had no idea what they were planting and it was all kinds of bad. So, this past Saturday, was the installation. Michael got there early and helped my dad rip everything out of the ground. Ella Kate and I showed up at 8:15 and I handed her over to Mimi so that I could help in whatever way I could. Jesus and another amigo showed up at about 9 and we worked our tails off until 4:15 when we finally finished.

Here I am, wondering why on earth anyone would cram a Natchez Crape Myrtle, which gets 25' tall, into a tiny little corner on the east side of a house?

This is the brick edging the contractor installed. It is approximately 3' wide, which doesn't hold many plants at all. They crammed Carissa Holly and Privet into most of the beds. Some of the nastiest plants around.

The contractor planted a pin oak and a silver maple. Pin Oaks are about the only oak that I don't like...the bark is ugly and the tree is diseased prone. The Silver Maple is just no good at all. Roots grow on top of the grass and we get a good wind and that thing will snap into two...like the bradford pear.

This is the new bed I designed. Since we left the brick edging alone, I wanted to add a somewhat bigger bed to bring your eye from the street to the house.

Here is my dad tilling the new sideyard bed. I transplanted the Natchez Crape and 6 of the Boxwoods to this new bed and added 3 Suzanne Loropetalum and some Stellas.

Yours truly, I raked every single bed...twice!

The end product: A Crimson Queen Japanese Maple replaced the Natchez Crape...boxwoods lined the windows and Emerald Green Arborvitaes anchored the corners. I added a border of Variegated Liriope...aka monkey grass along the sidewalk.

The quarter beds contain a backdrop of Snow White Indian Hawthorne which are anchored by two Pinstripe Hameln Grass. Those grasses are variegated and stay about 3'. In front of the Hawthorne are Firepower Dwarf Nandina and some pansies.

We replaced the trees with Autumn Flame Red Maples...





I think we have the motivation to finish our backyard...cept Michael needs to take some time for his foot to heel...I think we are talking about mid winter for our installation!