Of Books and Blooms: Then & Now

Showing posts with label Then & Now. Show all posts

September 20, 2020

Utah Home, Then and Now

As we're getting ready to move to Oregon (by the way, we're moving to Oregon!), I thought it would be fun to do the same Before and After series that I did for our Pullman home.

When we moved in, everything was brown, dead, and dry. There were very few flowers, and a lot more fruit trees. Our outbuildings have changed quite a bit. Are you ready? Here we go!

Front of House

THEN

NOW

Not a huge difference, except the lawn and the little maple tree are both alive and green.

For those with very sharp eyes, you may notice that the swamp cooler is also no longer on the roof--we switched to central air!

Front Flowerbeds

NOW

Admittedly, this bed is chock full of bindweed.

I should have taken a picture after the last time we weeded it!

It has a couple of rose bushes, a peony, some irises, and lots of spring bulbs.

I do enjoy this front corner bed. It's got all kinds of things in it these days: sedum, daylilies, asters, roses, peonies, irises, scabiosa. It makes me happy all summer long.

We also added these front flowerbeds all the way down the fence on either side.

I still feel like I was just getting started with those, but what's in there is pretty.

Front Shade Beds

THEN

NOW

A little more greenery in there.

I meant to put matching hydrangeas on each side, but ended up only getting the left side planted with those. I also added lady's mantle, feverfew, heuchera, and hostas.

Back Yard

THEN

Garden spot, orchard, and the woodshed there on the right.

Woodshed, fire pit, garden shed

Looking back towards the house.

Far back corner

NOW

Garden with greenhouse

A much more sparse orchard, unfortunately.

Chicken Palace in the background.

Our fruit trees have died off like crazy!

Our new fire pit area, and the shed we put in.

Woodshed and garden tool storage add-ons to the shed.

The inside essentially became my husband's workshop.

Garden area, from the back deck.

Looking back at the house. New deck.

Toward the far corner.

Back Flowerbeds

THEN

NOW

This bed doesn't look all that different than before, but the surroundings are much nicer! :)

We did finally get this corner flowerbed put in.

This is another flowerbed full of good stuff, and also full of bindweed.

It has been a losing fight on my end with the bindweed here.

This bed also holds 5 peonies, coreopsis, yarrow, daisies, a couple of sickly rosebushes, and several spring bulbs.

Oval Flowerbed

THEN

NOW

Well, this is not the glamour shot by any means!

Also, I had this bed completely weeded a month ago and now it's full of grass and bindweed again.

Sigh.

So from 6 lonely rose bushes, it now has a pie cherry tree, several roses, a peony, lots of spring bulbs, 2 ninebark bushes, bachelor's buttons, asters, phlox, and coreopsis.

Here was this bed back in May:

A little better representation of the goodness!

I am proud of what we accomplished in the 3 years we've been here.

Now we're headed off to a rental home, with a tiny little yard, and no landscaping duties at all.

I wonder what we're going to do with our time?

June 12, 2017

West Corner of the Backyard: Then & Now

Last but not least, let's talk about the far corner of the backyard.

When we moved in, there was a basketball hoop set in concrete on the slope, along with a rickety set of monkey bars along the fence.

What was missing was a garden shed.

As it was, all gardening implements had to be stored in the garage, which if you might recall, was down quite a steep hill from the backyard.

Pretty quickly, we decided that there had to be a shed in the backyard for functionality.

THEN

This was from 2011--so, the next summer after we moved in.

Already getting started on the shed.

Shed-raising! You can see the monkey bars there on the right.

NOW

The shed was awesome!

There's a loft that the kids used for a clubhouse, and plenty of space down below to store all the lawn and gardening stuff, including lawnmower, hoses, tools, etc.

Awhile back I wrote a whole post about the joys of the porch swing.

The flowerbed in front of the shed was the newest addition.

As for this section, we took down the unstable monkey bar set one of the first years.

Then, a few years later, we moved the raspberries over to the fence-line, into their own space.

The nice little wall enclosing the raspberry bed was put in just a few years ago.

Since we moved the berries from the back flowerbed, spread them out, and actually you know--watered them and stuff--our harvest has gone up every year.

* * * * *

Yes, I am going to miss this yard!

It was good for me to do this series and remember that it has taken several years to get to this point. For a long time we had dead weeds and dirt in the back, due to all the heavy equipment coming in and out. Planting areas and seating areas have gradually expanded as well. The actual lawn was one of the last things to go in.

I hope the next one doesn't take as long to become enjoyable. :)

* * * * *

Want to see the rest of our landscaping projects?

You can find the other posts in this series here:

Front Yard: Then & Now

Sides of the House: Then & Now

Back Flowerbed & Deck: Then & Now

Vegetable Garden & Back Slope: Then & Now

June 9, 2017

Back Flowerbed & Deck: Then & Now

Reclaiming half of the slope as a vegetable garden wasn't the only change we made to the backyard.

(Ha! Are you kidding me?)

There was a flowerbed, of sorts, next to the house, along with a deck.

THEN

In need of some serious TLC.

That tree was one of the first things to come out.

It was wasp central, it was way too close to the house, it blocked the water spigot and hose reel, and I just didn't like how it looked.

Crispy irises.

Hey! A raspberry patch!

Growing out of control, blocking the fence, and producing tiny seedy berries due to lack of water, but it was something, anyway. Another project, among other things.

Other than general cleanup of this flowerbed, I knew I wanted to add some height and variety to it.

I love irises, but by mid-June they're pretty much done blooming. Then all you have are a bunch of green leaves all the same height.

This bed was definitely a progression over several years.

There's not anything left in it from the original. Everything has been pulled out completely or moved elsewhere. The irises live on out front and in the East-side terrace, and the raspberries have a dedicated patch of their own these days.

NOW

Perhaps it's not fair to compare the lushness of spring with August, so here's a couple of pictures from last fall, for a little perspective:

August 2016

September 2016

I think there's still more to do with this bed, but that's Not My Problem anymore, is it?

Also, please note the air conditioning unit in the NOW pictures.

We installed that after the first year, because we are wimps.

No regrets.

* * * * *

The back deck was another project on the list.

THEN

This was from March 2013.

I didn't get a picture of the deck when we first moved in, but this was the original.

There used to be a maple tree on the right-hand side, which came down fairly early on, as it was literally 2 feet from house, taking off shingles.

It's funny how I can date this picture mentally based on what has been done and what hasn't.

Post-lawn grading, pre-grass/sprinklers, with more wall to build (blocks in front).

Anyway, this deck was just too small to really be used.

With the big sliding glass doors there, it was all walkway.

Once we fixed the steep side slope problem, it just made sense to extend it all the way to the corner of the house. Also, my husband wasn't about to stain those boards every year either, and you can see how badly they needed it.

NOW