The front and back yards of the soon-to-be-ours house was like a blank canvas just calling for some landscaping. Like most things thus far, I wasn’t content to go with the original plan of some mulch and a few shrubs. If we’re going to do this, let’s do it right. Sooooooo…
In the front, after adding soil and mulch, we planted boxwood shrubs next to the house, with Agapanthus filling the beds and lantana and 1 gallon hybiscus as a border. We put a jasmine vine around our two trees because the roots are so high that not much else will grow there. Going toward the backyard along the driveway, we lined our new fence with white rock to prevent weeds. In the back against the fence are 3 gallon hybiscus, more Agapanthus (Agapanthi?), and day lillies. There’s also some knock out roses around an area of water pumps at the back of the house. We filled in the rest of the lawn with grass and eventually, when our small fountain arrives, we’ll have a flower bed around that as well, just off the master bedroom. It’s all very beautiful and makes a big difference.
The backyard fence is a different story entirely. We originally decided not to do anything to it, but as it got very close to today’s appraisal (insert nervous jitters here), we noticed that it was leaning quite a bit and didn’t look very attractive. If we tried powerwashing it, it might have even fallen over. So after learning from the neighbor who shares the fence that she didn’t have any interest in splitting the cost of a new fence with us, we looked into whether we should repair the existing fence or start anew. We decided to leave that fence in place and build a completely new fence on our side.
It’s gorgeous and very solid; the posts are three feet into the ground and secured with quite a bit of concrete. Interestingly enough, the neighbor asked our workers if they’d go ahead and tear that original fence down, which took little effort since it was practically rotted through. It wouldn’t have lasted a year. Still, did she offer to pay for half of the new fence? Nope. (Sigh.)
