Changes in the Yard and Organize Me Pretty

Organizing the yard can be a chore but I love how pretty it looks when it’s all done!

I’ve only shared a few yard updates this year {in June and July}, because honestly, we haven’t done a ton of work. However, a big landscaping change occurred that I feel warrants an updated post – we got a fence and planted some trees!

But first, we cleaned up our large trees in our front and side yard, cleaned all of the flowers out of our planters {always a sad day}. It’s amazing how much fall-ish everything looks when all of the bright flowers have been pulled from the planters.

The majority of the yard work was spent trimming our “dead” oak tree in our front yard. Many of the branches were far too low but we had always been scared to trim them since we knew what a fragile state the tree was in. But, having trimmed those lower branches it now feels slightly cleaner and slightly less Charlie Brown-ish. Maybe we’ll finally get somewhere with it next year!

I also wanted to share some of the progress from the plants I had added in June. You may recall I selected the smallest sizes of plants possible, knowing that they would eventually grow much bigger. I’m really happy with the growing progress they made in three short months. Here were the before and after pictures from June:
And here was the space yesterday afternoon. The plants have definitely grown and by next summer, I’m sure I’ll have to be trimming them back!

You may recall our long-term plans for our backyard and the changes we’ve made recently put us one step closer to where we need to be.

Several weeks back, after the fence posts were installed and curing, we cleaned up the garden bed on the top of the hill. It became overgrown with weeds and I wanted to add some knock-out roses, Russian sage and pretty hydrangea.

The fence we chose was the same the neighbors to the east of us have and we felt it best to continue the same style for consistency. Unfortunately, the fence came with a casualty….a pine tree that was literally planted on the lot line and had grown so large, there was no way we could save it. Thankfully, this also is a type of pine that has been dying regularly in Nebraska {the name is escaping me right now} but we already had to remove a similar one last year that was fully dead. You can see here when the fence posts went up, the line essentially ran right through the trunk of the pine 🙁

But, we did replace it with a new tree, plus one extra one. Now, in order to see our new trees, you have to look very closely.  I labeled them for you but they are still hard to see 😉 They are actually about 6.5 feet tall and when we picked them up at Lowe’s for $29 each a few weeks ago, they felt pretty legit. Now, I worry they just look ridiculous. But, we need a lot trees back here and I figured you have to start somewhere, right? Most the leaves have blown off the large trees so I’m worried come summer time, the difference will be even more obvious, but or now, they will do. The new tree to the left is a Red Sunset Maple and the on to the right {which is where we had to tear down a pine that was over our lot line} is an Autumn Blaze Maple {we’ve had one in every home now, and we still love them}.

 

Although it does close in our backyard, I LOVE that the weeds from the two {formerly three} empty lots can no longer overtake the yard. I also think it makes the yard feel cozier, inviting and more defined – something I have always loved.  We now need to shop for a few larger trees and we should be able to call it a year!

I also want to announce a fun home tour series that I am part of that starts today. Twelve bloggers will be sharing a tour of the home you may have never seen before – how we all organize. This should prove to be an amazing tour full of talented bloggers so be sure to stop at all the stops below! My post will go live on Sunday, October 12th.

Monday, Oct. 6th | Home Made by Carmona

Tuesday, Oct. 7th | A Thoughtful Place

Wednesday, Oct. 8th | Primitive & Proper

Thursday, Oct. 9th | Oh Everything Handmade

Friday, Oct. 10th | Up To Date Interiors

Saturday, Oct. 11th | Delineate Your Dwelling

Sunday, Oct. 12th | Life On Virginia Street

Monday, Oct. 13th | with HEART

Tuesday, Oct. 14th | The Blissful Bee

Wednesday, Oct. 15th | Cuckoo 4 Design

Thursday, Oct. 16th | Place Of My Taste

Friday, Oct. 17th | A Home Full of Color

If you would like to follow along on more of my home decor, DIY, lifestyle and other posts, I’d love to have you follow me on any of the following:

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