Spring pictures from the Big Blue House

 WHAT'S BLOOMING AT THE BONAM'S SPRING 2012

The hyacinths have come and gone, as did our daffodils.  Thier minature cousins (iris,daffodil, hyacinth and tulips) all bloomed about a month ago, and our crocus have been gone since the beginning of March.  The paperwhites have also bloomed and faded by the time we took these photos. 

Shrub Garden

Backyard Walkway

Since we dove right into projects this spring, we didn't get pictures taken and uploaded to the blog as quickly as we should have.  Sadly, these pictures were taken a few weeks past the tulip's prime. 

None-the-less, they are still beautiful spring pictures of the Big Blue House. 

These pictures are the fruits of our labor (and the cause of our previous November back injuries) 



Berm




Front yard walkway to the drive





Front Birch Bed



Front Peach Tree Bed



Foundation Planting




A few weeks earlier the Rhododendron behind the Azaleas was in bloom as well.  This photo was taken after I had cleaned up the area and snipped quite a few spent tulips.


Foundation Planting



Corner Fence / Paperbark Maple Garden



Corner Fence / Paperbark Maple Garden



It's a pity that we didn't snap a picture of this sooner.  The corner fence had many more hyacinths and tulips a few weeks earlier.  That is an Olga Mezitt Rhodo behind the fence.  Each spring she is STUNNING.  Every passer-by asks about Olga.


Native Garden





The photo to the right is of our Native Praire Garden.  This photo was taken early April...and YES those are coneflower next to the tulips.  They came up REALLY early this year.


Mature Lilac




My mom's nat geo moment




My mom's nat geo moment




Berm




Berm




In just a few weeks, the tulips on the berm will be traded out for Allium.  I cannot wait to see that.  I adore Allium.

Fenceline



Front Peach Tree Bed




Fenceline



Side of house pulling into our Drive



Another of Mom's Nat Geo Moments



A fun day in the garden

Lex couldn't help but snap a picture of our EMPTY driveway.  It is nice to see that the driveway is once again functional. It hasn't looked like this in four years.  Now that this sentimental moment is out of the way...it is time to move on to the walkway to the front yard. 

We started our path... by laying out the stones in an order and size that looked good.  After we had them layed out, we used some spray paint to outline around where each rock will sit.  After the outline was created, it was time to cut out the "circle" and dig out the sod.  After the holes were dug, Lex turned the soil with our mantis so that we could make the rocks lie flat.

 We then went back through and leveled out each rock and backfilled the hole around the stone.  This space around the stone will eventually fill in with grass.    We opted to leave the grass in between to maintain some of our lawn.  You could rip out a larger area/strip of grass, lay down stones and plant a ground cover in between them.  But for us, we felt it would be easier to maintain our yard if we could mow right over them.

This is what the finished project looked like today.

 

 

 

The pathway extends all the way to the clean drive.

We also did some fun & quick finishing touch projects today.  I put this old barnwood bench in one of the front gardens.  It has a few stones leading up to it.  I figure I can put a pot of flowers on top of it.

 Remember last weekend when I mentioned that I had scored some cool items from Big Johns in Joliet...

We hung the windows today, and will get the doors in place tomorrow.  It should give the entryway an instant face lift 

On a side note, a complete stranger drove past our house today and stopped to compliment us.  She said that she drives past our house everyday and just wanted to tell us how nice it looked.  

 It is NICE to hear this, as we have never been that  house.  

For the past four years, we had the dirt mound and broken down suburban in our driveway.  

Tomorrow we will finish off the tree rings in the front, and hang the "side lights" on either side of our front door.

But for today, I will end this entry with a very cute picture of one of our resident birds.

When she got off their nest today, I couldn't help but sneak a peek.    There are at least 2 bright blue eggs in the nest.

Walkways

After an exhausting work week, tomorrow brings a chance to "play" in our garden.  This weekend we will be installing a stone walkway from our driveway to our front door.

A key element in installing an attractive walkways is using materials that will blend with your yards existing decor.  In our case we will be using the large flagstones that we have rescued from the side of the road.

We will be using more of these flat flagstones to extend the walkway from this area to our driveway.  Eventually this will be filled in by creeping thyme.

You can see the use of similar rock in other landscape features on our property.  When possible use local stone/rock, it will give a more natural appearance.

This is the area that our pathway will go down toward our driveway on the left. 

 When using stone: Keep in mind that it will seldom crack when properly installed, but can shift so that your pathway becomes a tripping hazard to pedestrians.  So many homeowners enjoy using this natural material for pathways because of its good looks.  Let's face it...rock is beautiful.