Making the Garden Beautiful Again

We did it! We finally reclaimed our overgrown and weedy flower beds. It took all day Thursday, all day Friday, all day Saturday, and part of the day on Sunday to knock out our to-do list.

Work in progress on Friday.

Weeds were pulled, roses were pruned, dead plants were replaced, bags of soil and mulch were spread, everything was fertilized, a compost bin was built, the lawn was mowed, the vegetable and herb boxes were planted, and there was even some power washing done. And I can't leave out all those trips back and forth to the garden center.

Pretty Knock Out Roses to replace the ones that died.

I took a few before and after photos to share with you. But let me warn you, the before shots are graphic in nature and may make tidy gardeners gasp in horror.

The Rose Garden Before

The Rose Garden After

Such an improvement! Let's look at one more.

The Butterfly Garden Before

The Butterfly Garden After

We showed those weeds who's boss!

It's amazing how quickly things can fall apart in a garden when you aren't able to keep on top of things. 2015 was not our year for gardening, that's for sure. We hope to do better this year.

Now that the tough garden chores are out of the way, the fun of trying out new flowers and plants begins.

Butterfly Blue Pincushion Flower

On one of our many trips to the garden center my eye was drawn to a pretty lavender blue flower called a pincushion flower. Can you see the pins sticking out? I bought three and planted them in the butterfly garden.

Coleus

I also picked up some coleus to add a pop of color in the shady bed out front. It's tough to grow anything out there, so I hope I have good luck with this plant.

Our garden is starting to look beautiful again and that makes me very happy. However, when next weekend rolls around, I think I'm going to suggest we go fishing