A funny thing happened on the way to respectability...

Of all the things we've been over our heads on, I have a feeling the yard is going to rank up there. We've always been Those People. Those People who don't mow, Those People who don't rake, Those People who don't weed, don't edge, don't plant, don't DO YARDWORK. Period.

I used to do it when I was young with mother every spring. We planted caladiums and columbines, and a vegetable garden; we put impatiens and petunias in the window boxes, African violets for indoor pots, and herbs. I know plants well-ish; as in, I can identify them better than average. Somewhere along the line, between school, then work and living in apartments and rentals where the landlord refused to paint or roof the house, it stopped being worth it. Either I didn't have a yard, or the yard I had was so marred by the ugly house it surrounded that it hardly would make a dent to do anything to the landscape.

But I'm ready to turn it around. I am! The Bradford pear tree in our front yard is in bloom:


It's pretty. But it's stinky. It's unfortunately the "town tree" and it smells like fish when it blooms. Still pretty.

Wildflowers abound:


And so do the leaves...


Yeah, so...we got started on the leaves way back when. They made it into piles. And then it became so cold and we got in such a hurry to move that the yard was neglected. Above is the Before pic of our front yard's brick-lined flower bed this morning, pre raking and bagging and mowing.

And here's after:


Still need to rip out the remainder of the vinca that had overtaken the bed. I'd like to put some monkey grass and pansies or columbines...Also will likely seed the grass that died underneath the piles and piles of leaves. And who doesn't love a bird bath?

Overall, an improvement. We're new at this! It kind of went over us that the grass would disappear under all those leaves. Live and learn. Or something.

I feel confident that we're well on our way to shaking the Those People stigma.