The OTHER Side of My FRONT YARD Garden & Big WATER Oak

Here is the opposite side of my front yard gardens, with a little boy and bunny statue inside a pot of Mexican petunias, and begonias, and snapdragons.

 I'm a bunny lover.

 These cast iron plants are very unhappy here, as they get too much sun. I need to move them. My husband used caulk to put a blue glass globe on this birdbath base. In the cold it has come loose before, but it is secure again...I think...I haven't tested it lately.

Will do that later.

So I basically have added 7 beds to my front yard, and one around the Cedar tree in the very front.

 Maxine posing as if a Kennel Club judge is around.

My circular bed with Miss garden of Good and Evil statue. It looks very nice in the Spring with yellow flowers on the ground cover and foxgloves. Someone needs to weed this pronto.

Someone also need to prune her azalea bushes behind this, mega-pronto...like last week.

Hey, see the cool black wall plaque on the house..let me show it to you.

I like hanging plaques on brick. Ignore how dirty it is.

More bricks I find and pile up like a little kid finding rocks and stuffing them in their pockets...I stuff them around my yard. Yard pockets here and there.

One of the 4 oleander plants I bought, they did well last year, this year..mostly yellow and dropping leaves. I know they can be poisonous if ingested or if the leaves are burnt, am not doing either and have warned my son to not play with them. These are all over Charleston, SC ( and my neighborhood )so I had to plant some.

Oh ! want to show you my giant water oak tree, stand approx. 120-150 feet tall and is about 70 years old.

See Mrs. Yard-lady's lawnmower, look at the size of my tree next to it.

Big base.

Whew. Every time there is a terrible thunderstorm or ice storm, and this tree starts swaying out front, I'm going , " Holy Moly , please God don't let that tree fall on our house ! " So far, no tree on house, but it had some giant limbs break during an ice storm in 2004 that busted some lights and some bushes.




I am into trees in the last 6-7 years or so. I had an aunt, that I adored, she was 6 feet tall, wore a large winding bun of long hair around her  head, and decorated it with scarfs to match her outfits. She was visiting from Texas, I am a Texan not a South Carolinian , and we were doing a tour near Charleston of Middleton Plantations. She and I were walking around, I was pregnant with my daughter Sarah at-the time, and we were touring the house and grounds. She kept walking outside, looking up at the live oaks, all 6 feet plus bun of her, and I said, " Would you stop looking at trees all the time ? "
She just said how beautiful they were. Miss Sassy-pants here replied, " I'll know I'm old when I look at trees all the time. "
She laughed , she passed away about 7 years ago, and she would laughing more because..I look at trees all the time and so I'm officially old.

Maxine not staying in her own yard when she is out with me.
Typical noisy neighbor dog.

She is very protective of me, my guard dog. She gets in big trouble if she barks at my mailman though , as he is so sweet and always calls me , " Darlin".

Front bed not looking so hot, dries out very quickly.

Another bunny peeking through, too much glare when I took these shots, sorry.

Some of the monkey grass ( lirope ), I planted all across the front brick wall.

Good and Evil statue looking at a bed I planted in front of her. I imagine she is thinking it needs some major watering and added plantings.
She is correct.

One of my front planters , with ivy caressing some cupids. I got these beautiful cement planters at a close-out of them at a garden store for 90.00 for the pair. They are copies of antique ones, and normally sell for 198.00 each. Great detail on them.

Forgot to show a neat idea, that at first my husband said would not work, but then he made it work. We had a vent to the attic here , simple slats , and I said, " Why not put a stained glass window there ? " he huffed at me, stared at it, argued....then, made it work. Talented woodworker.

It is much prettier than this, and he put vents around the edges. I will get a better picture to show the colors another time. I have to run , things to do.

Bless you,
Gina

FRONT Yard Views where SOMEBODY Needs to Do Some WORK

 

When I got back from my morning walk, I glanced over at my front yard...and thought, " Great , SOMEBODY needs to mow these weeds out here. " Then I kept walking down the drive , turned down my headphones a bit, I was listening to a sermon by a preacher on Sluggard Christians...and thought wonderful...I guess that somebody is me who needs to mow.

I went inside, pulled my headphones off my head, got some more water, looked at Maxine on the floor,  lounging in air-conditioned comfort.. and went out to the garage to get the mower.  I usually mow, but it has been so atrociously hot and humid this Summer, and my body has decided after many decades of being OK with heat...to rebel...and put it's foot down. I cannot take the heat like I used to be able to , of course being in the high 90's and 100's this Summer with humidity added in makes it dangerous for most people to be out full throttle doing anything outside. 

But makes me feel pretty gimpy after being able to ' take it ' for some many years.

Alright, enough of me being wimpy about the heat...let me show you a few things in the front yard.

 

Here is Ms. Maxine checking out the yard to see if any intruders have left their scent overnight.

This front yard , by the way, used to be a normal front yard, with only yard and some azalea bushes to the base of the house. I went to work in the front yard first, about 9 1/2 years ago , I would bring my little son out in his playpen, work planting monkey grass ( lirope ), all down the side walk, down the front of the house, and bordering the beds.

Here it borders a bed I created by digging up my yard, planting privets on the surround , a rose bush is tucked in that mess somewhere, and you see the very large lantana that comes back every year to the far right.

Oh, I also planted that pink crape myrtle.

Gee, SOMEBODY needs to take better pictures and weed this bed.

I  have a gardening friend who hates lantana, I love it..it comes back every year...and this one is located outside my computer-office-waste time area so I can look out and see butterflies and hummingbirds.

I have very poor soil, these privets ( below ) should be huge, but the soil is so poor they don't grow but maybe a few inches , instead of feet a year. I like the  wispiness of a privet. Plus they have fragrant , pretty white flowers in the Spring.

Wispy. Planted them and down below you see the lirope in bloom . Planted it all with ' found ' or borrowed plants.  I'm boring you with privets, so I'll show you something else. 

 

I made this walkway last Summer, somebody needs to weed around it.  I  love to use pebble pavers, they are impossible to find anymore around here, and then some vintage clay bricks in between , almost always found on my walks.

The bare spot to the front is Maxine's spinning spot-take-off pad where she spins in circles before I take her for her walk. This little path leads to a sitting area that I made about 7 years ago, that is not used very much because of MOSQUITOES that are rampant in the city this year.

Every year, the mosquito- mafia invades the Deep South . Ignore the weeds please.

This is the little ' sitting room ' out front.

We painted the big urns black, I painted the lattice accent in the back black, the flowers on the little stand I made with an old birdbath base from the 1940's, and then my husband caulked a round paver on top. Flowers are pitiful on top as someone forgets they are there. Birdbath or fountain bases can still be useful.

Then I put two of my black iron chairs here. Tried to create a little privacy , as we are on a busier street during the morning and evening commutes.

I just dug up this part of the yard, back when I did this little sitting area my older son helped with the digging , since he's into lifting weights bigtime...I deduced he could work faster than me anyway.

To the left of this area is a iron trellis with Carolina Jessamine vine that will take over next Spring, and I made the little border beds in front with hollies ( boxwoods )and , lirope, and bricks.

On this side of the front is the lovely pink crape myrtle ...

I'm just such a fan of these blossom-generous trees. Fluffy pink .

And to the back of the sitting area is a giant white crape myrtle that the squirrels love to scamper up on top of our house from everyday.

Here is the side statue of Spring , tucked in the bushes.

I enjoy finding statues tucked into secret places in yards and gardens.

The picture above was when the hydrangea was in bloom a few months ago.

Lastly I will show you the side to this area I made a few years ago, and then have been blending them together.

I love my front entry fountain, and the Mexican petunias are coming back veeerrryyyy slowly in the front blue container. I have not weeded here or done much in about two months.

Slack gardener/yard-lady.

I will stop here, this is too long, but will show you the other side tomorrow.

I hope you have a peaceful day, evening...wherever you are,

Gina