Swan Garden
In addition to the Corner Garden in the front yard is our Swan Garden, so named because, look, a swan!
When we first moved in, there was a weird planting bed in the front yard, but nothing was growing in it--just red lava rock. It was too empty then, and it's too full now! My roses refuse to grow the size stated on Helpmefind. My pink Knock Outs dwarf the Caldwell Pinks behind them. And Jane magnolia looks like Cousin It. We had her pruned earlier this spring by a tree surgeon, but I'm going to have to work on her some more to shape her a bit. Right behind the swan is a Belinda's Dream rose. The rose world seems to be over the moon about her, but she is a wimp in my garden. This is the second one I've had, and I'm convinced she is happier in a warmer climate. She barely makes it through our winters. I'll post a photo of her blooms when she complies.
There's our home before we bought it. Still has the "for sale" sign in the front yard. If the garage door looks saggy--it was.
It was jury-rigged together. Looking at all the rock and black plastic in the yard, I'm so glad we've gotten rid of the majority of it! I had never gardened much until we moved here. I had to garden in order to rid ourselves of all the ugly!
Last year, we had our floor guy lay new carpet in the two upstairs bedrooms (finally got rid of that '70s brown carpet!). When he came through the front door, he grunted and said, "I thought you were going to replace your door." Well, yes. It was cracked and broken when we moved in--12 years ago. So was everything on the property, so it was pretty low on the list! Anyway, his little jibe made us get serious about doing something with the door, and we finally replaced it. Isn't it a glorious purple? It makes me happy every time I see it.