A Garden Party!

Over at A Soft Place to Land, Kimba is having a Garden Party today! Don't miss out on the fun! Get on over there and check it out!

I am very happy with our outside spaces this summer. I feel like I am finally seeing in reality what I envisioned back when we bought our house and the backyard looked like this:

After a patio and landscaping project, and a few years for the plants to mature, our backyard now looks like this:


OK, so all the toys weren't really in my vision, but they fit in just fine!


We bought new cushions for our patio and deck furniture this year, and it has changed the whole feel of the space! They used to be a dark brown, but now they are a fresh green!

We have four large terra cotta pots, all planted alike. They are doing really well with all the rain we have had lately!

We get the morning sun back here, so evenings are wonderful!

Our lavender is doing so well this year! But unfortunately, the coral bells in the back are not. The deer won't leave them alone!

My oldest son made this stepping stone for my husband for Father's Day last year in preschool. He is going to get a matching one from our youngest son this year!

Well, that's our backyard this year! If you would like to see my front porch makeover from this year, click here. As a little preview, here is a Kimba-inspired hanging basket!

Back Yard: Before & After

Darlene over at Our Creative Life is having an I Love Summer party! Get on over there and see why everyone loves this beautiful season! One of my favorite parts of summer is spending time in our backyard. I have two very active boys, ages five and four, and they love to be outside. Thanks to the patio addition we completed in the spring of 2006, I love being out there with them!

I love my backyard. It is not huge, but it is private, and it has just enough green space for my two boys to run around. When we moved in, we had a deck. That was it. And it wasn't in the best shape. And no landscaping. The before picture is two pics that I scanned side by side, to show the entire back yard. Fine, but not much character. So we thought about what would add something more to the area. At the time, both our boys were very young. Barely two and around 10 months. They had trouble with the deck step. So we could not sit on the deck and play without constantly watching for someone to fall off the deck. So, we decided a small patio would be great. it would give us two levels out here, and would be a lot safer as the boys were small and running around out back. We had thought about a plain concrete pad, and we had thought about pavers, but decided to do the stamped concrete. It was in the middle price-wise, and would add some character like pavers, without the price and upkeep of pavers. What a great decision that turned out to be for us!






We also added the landscaping at the same time. The crab apple tree is growing so nicely. It was fairly small when it was planted. The pines and the grass provide a lot of privacy. The deck box holds tons of our outdoor toys. The only problem area was around the air conditioner. The concrete guys left a space around it, and our landscaping guy had a great solution. He filled it with river rocks. Then my husband planted a bunch of ferns. They come back every year, and this summer, they are so full and wonderful! When our air conditioner dies (hopefully not any time soon!), we will probably move it to the side of our house, and plant a smaller tree here. Maybe a weeping cherry tree?

Here are what our terra cotta pots hold this summer. I love the patina they have developed!

And our mini herb garden in our rebar rooster planter!

A view from the deck. We added the landscaping by the fence two summers ago. We intended it for a hammock, but it is a great space for now for the boys' sand table. There is a huge oak tree behind the fence that provides lots of awesome shade for this area and much of the back yard. We get morning sun, so evenings out here are wonderful.