Things I LOVE in My Front Yard

In the four years we've been home-owners, I've really grown to love gardening. Honestly, before that, I didn't think much about it. My Mom and Grandma loved it too, and I'd always listen to them talk about their yards [I hate to admit this] with a half-hearted interest.


With embarrassment, I remember when we first moved into this house and Tiffany came to visit, I remained a clueless about anything to do with yards. It was the dead of summer and Tiffany kindly ran and bought a ton of flowers for me, planted them in our front yard [and lost about 10 lbs by sweating to death]. I said a simple "thanks" and a few months later I mumbled something about pulling some of the flowers out after they died....only to hear her horrified response of "But those were perrenials!". Oh...shoot.


From that point on, I have been much more in touch with my gardening-self. I genuinely love it, and see it as a form of art and expressing myself. I don't do it as often as I'd like to, but what I HAVE done to my yard I take great pride in.


Here are a few of the little things that make me happy every time I walk up my front sidewalk....

Here are some of the flowers I planted around my new stone walk-way. They are getting fuller by the day and its like a little present waiting for me each time I look!

Another view of the flowers. I always try to include a variety of flower colors - even white. White adds a crisp touch. And "blue" flowers (which usually look more periwinkle or purple) are a necessary part of the whole color scheme. These flowers will all triple in size and fill in nicely in the next few weeks.

This is one of my favorite. I think this is a Blue Larkspur. This is my third summer with these. They are perennials (which means I cut them down when they die, and they come back each spring! Love that!)

This one is extra special. A few years ago, I was visiting my Grandma Anderson in Anaheim, and she was telling me about her geraniums. Then she said, "you want to take some home? Here take this branch home and plant it and it'll grow!". She was right! Now I have a beautiful geranium bush, and I think of her each time I see it.

My mother-in-law Jeannine let me pick this out for my birthday while she was here visiting, and it is a perfect little touch to my yard! I love it!

Finally, I love this Japanese Maple tree. We planted it a year ago and it has been the perfect ornamental tree for this flower bed. Everytime I drive up to my house, it makes me smile!