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Before/After outside house/yard pics

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Thanks everyone! haha JD and I were looking at the assessor''s pictures last week laughing our asses off!

It feels good to hear compliments on all our hard work! We pretty much do new things to it every year since November 01, even if it''s just adding a small bed or transplanting things. This year was the expanded driveway, front bricking, the hosta bed along the side of the back patio (not sure if you can see it), part of the back bricking, the sweet pea planters. So far anyway haha! We put in a bunch of solar lights too, so at night it''s all lit up!

Most of our landscaping is my idea and JD''s hard work. I supervise. Anymore, he cringes when he calls from work and I say "I was out in the yard today doing some thinking-I''ll show you my plan tomorrow" hehe. We''ve been spending a LOT of time outside just hanging out enjoying everything. It''s so incredibly peaceful and nice on the eyes. Tho..I kinda think JD would be happier if every time we were outside he didn''t have me jumping up "Goh! I''ve got a cool idea, c''mere!"

The tub bed in front, gramma used to give us baths in it outside on their farm. Old old old tub. The wagon wheels behind it and in the back hosta beds are from the covered wagons when my great grandparents or great great (I''m not sure how many greats it is) came over from Sweden and settled here.

I come by it honestly I guess-my parents have an acreage full of flowers and plants!
 
Charbie I would *totally* come do your house! I love love doing that kind of stuff!
 
very nice packrat
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can you come and do my yard now?
 
Packrat.

It looks UNBELIEVABLE, AMAZING- great job. Thanks for sharing these pictures.

I love what you did with the landscaping, particularly that center island bed , and all your beds..
 
Wow big difference it looks very nice, you all did a very good job
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packrat, this is amazing! I have a question--when you guys started doing the landscaping, did you have previous experience? Or did you and JD sort of experiment and learn? It just looks so professional that I''d guess he had 40 years experience with brick work!
 
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I''ll have to have JD read this when he gets home tonight-it will really make him happy!

JD didn''t have any experience w/landscaping-but he used to do construction, so putting up the fence and tearing up concrete etc is old hat for him. When we first got married, mom and dad were here a lot helping us. Mom worked in the greenhouse here in town for a lot of years, and my dad is Mr. Green Thumb. I should find some pictures of their place..when I still lived at home, I worked in the gardens ALL the time. Dad did the planting, but I was the sidekick..and I was also bad then about coming up w/ideas for adding stuff.

Dad used to have a valise he carried w/him everywhere-had all the plant catalogs in it, and he had a lined yellow pad-one of those big legal size ones, and he''d draw scale pictures of the beds and circles for each plant. He used to write articles for the paper about landscaping. People took tours of their yard all the time. We''d come home and find people wandering around the yard.

Since I got married, they didn''t have the extra man power at home to keep up w/everything, so most of it has fallen by the wayside, which is really too bad..back then they had thousands of just daffodils and tulips, not counting all the zillions of other plants. I''ll dig up some pictures. It was amazing.
 
Oh my goodness, Packrat - you guys have completely transformed that house!!!!!! You have tons of curb appeal, and I love how lush your backyard appears to be!

Congrats on a job well done!
 
Wow! It looks like a completely different house. All the work and effort you and your DH put into it is so apparent. I''m sooooo impressed!
 
Packrat, It looks awesome! You seem to have a good eye for scale, I really like the pavers, that is hard work! What is the hedge around the front? Love the color.
 
Packrat, your house looks amazing!!! your and dh''s hard work really shows, you guys have really transformed the place! I love the paver work, makes the yard look so inviting...and the landscaping looks fantastic too! Excellent job!
 
Wow! It doesn''t look like the same house. You must be very proud. love the landscaping.
 
Wow, what a GORGEOUS house you have! Your yard is amazing-all your hard work has definitely paid off! I''m going to bookmark this thread for inspiration! We''re in the midst of a yard transformation ourselves!
 
Thanks everyone! It''s a lot of work but boy is it worth it! It''s very relaxing and soothing to hang out in the front and back, plus we both really enjoy taking care of it.

We have a stock tank in the back at the end of the house that the gutters drain into so we don''t have to use the house water to water the backyard, and one of my favorite things to do is to get the sump pump hooked up and spend the hour it takes to drain the tank and water my plants just zoning out and enjoying the yard. Had a ton of rain this week so I''ve drained it 5 times in the last 7 days-that''s why everything is so incredibly green!

lcom, the bushes along the driveway, the front near the street and in the back along the kids play are are barberries (sp). The ones along the street are mini low growing ones and all the rest are big ones. (tho the ones next to the new driveway are little b/c we cut them way back to move them) I adore them-but the wasps love them, and I don''t care for that at all! We actually put them along the driveway b/c the neighbor on the other side had grandkids that would mess in our yard and tick me off-they ran thru the thorns on the bushes once and that was the end of it. hehe.
 
Thing, that''s sweet and makes me feel good!
 
Packrat, what a gorgeous job you did!!! It is truly beautiful and inviting! I want to come and have a glass of lemonade with you it is so inviting. It looks cool and welcoming and
beautiful! You both did an amazing job, congratulations! Truly, truly lovely!!!
 
How would you and Mr Packy like to come and work for me? Awesome work, really awesome.
 
L2S, come on over!

Thanks for looking Gailey! ha, if you lived here or we lived there, we would both be knocking on your door looking for work!
 
Packrat, see my comments on the other thread.
 
Wow! What a difference. It looks great!
 
Amazing!
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It looks like such a peaceful place to relax, you must be so proud of yourselves. Your comment about supervising made me laugh, because it sounds just like how I am. By the way I love the dog in one of your last pictures...so adorable.
 
WOW packrat, I can''t believe it''s the same house!! It''s GORGEOUS!! LOVE the garden, you guys should be immensely proud! Enjoy!!!
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Gorgeous! Seriously, it looks like a completely different, better, house and yard. Great work!
 
What a great make-over...you should be on HGTV. You definitly have the magic touch!
 
Looks great. And I love the abscence of the "deesh" on the front porch roof, lol.

My only concern, and I don''t know the answer, is will covering up the feeder roots of the tree(s) eventually kill the trees? I know the feeders can extend out to the diameter of the canopy or more, but your brickwork also extends out pretty far.
 
Date: 6/15/2010 10:51:12 AM
Author: HVVS
Looks great. And I love the abscence of the ''deesh'' on the front porch roof, lol.

My only concern, and I don''t know the answer, is will covering up the feeder roots of the tree(s) eventually kill the trees? I know the feeders can extend out to the diameter of the canopy or more, but your brickwork also extends out pretty far.
Click to expand...
It has taken me 10 minutes to work out what a deesh is!!!

The feeder roots on a mature tree are to be found starting at the drip line and extending outwards. Linky

So long as the raised bed does not impede the trunk (as I have explained to Packrat on the other thread) and sits under the canopy of the tree I think it will be ok at the height they are currently at.

tree drip line.jpg
 
Looks great! Well done!
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Wow, what a difference Packrat! It looks gorgeous now.
 
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