Colors Outside The Lines: The work goes on and on and ....

So, a little update on the never-ending landscaping. I have F I N A L L Y completed replanting and mulching all of the beds up against the house! (Cue applause and celebratory music.) And it about killed me, especially these last 2 weeks as the sunrise temperatures start in the 80s and climb from there.

Let's take a photo tour, shall we? (Just go with it, okay?) We'll start from the left side of the house by the driveway and work our way around the house.

Left side by garage.

Left front.

More left front towards the porch. That tallest shrub is in full bloom, so it was extra special working with a zillion bees buzzing around! I practically needed hearing protection!

The mulch in those photos looks much lighter than in some of the others because of the heat. When I started in the back, the temps were cooler + lots of rain = dark, heavy mulch.

Front porch with canine helper toy visible in the rocks.

Right side from the front.

One side of back porch.

Other side of back porch.

This completes our tour. I know you are impressed!! Okay, maybe not, but I did do all by myself except for the day my farm hand came to help me.

This is all that's left of the mulch pile. I have some areas that need the mulch refreshed, but that already have weed barrier down. Then there are more areas that have neither barrier, mulch or many still-living plants. So the work continues, but I decided to take a bit of a break and get out to see the world.

Yesterday, I went off in the truck to take trash to the dump (one of the perks of country living is you get to drive your own garbage around town) and to check out some stores for discounted shrubs. We have 2 Walmarts, 2 Lowes stores and 1 Home Depot in "the big town." I hit one of each store yesterday with no luck. In fact, I don't think the Home Depot is still watering their plants, but they still want full price for the extra crispy ones.

Today, I went to the farmer's market (still no luck) and then headed for the larger Walmart further north. And I hit pay dirt! It took me two trips to the car with my purchases, but I got: