Simplify...

I begin with my first project: turning the front yard into a more manageable space. The extensive gardens that came with the house had become quite unruly due to inattention over the last 4 years...


In order to simplify the chaos, drastic measures had to be employed!!!

this is the front garden in early June - a hodge-podge of perennials and shrubs that were once tended by a retired couple (wife's grandparents). Notice the several large invasive Buckthorn, and even a Black Cherry sapling that I had left to flourish due to ignorance and denial...

over the next month, we prepared for these drastic measures, and after giving as many perennials away to friends and family, the garden still looked full! By this time in July, everything was looking quite dry during the mini-drought we had here...

my wife and I decided that as much as possible along the front should be turned into grass in order to simply the landscape. A lot of shrubs and perennials still had to be moved or destroyed!

this area is to become my xeriscape garden, with native grasses and drought tolerant perennials...