If you’ve been following this blog since the fall, you may remember an enthusiastic post about curb appeal. You can read about it here, but I’ll give you the Cliffs Notes if you’re in a time crunch.
Back in October, I planted over 150 (Yes, you read that right - I’m crazy.) bulbs around the yard in anticipation for beautiful spring flowers. Many came up, but many did not. Specifically, I planted a bunch of bulbs around the mailbox to give the curb some color.
In went two different varieties of Anemones, which were supposed to look like this…
I got this…
So yeah, nothing came up. At all.
I’m going to try a few more native bulbs this fall (think Daffodils and Tulips) but in the meantime, I needed to get something done about the lack of color up near the road that gets some decent traffic, especially at commuting times. It’s important to me for the house and yard to look nice from the road.
I decided to leave the space around the mailbox for fall bulbs, and set my sights on a tiny patch of grass near the street (only a few feet to the left of the mailbox when looking at the house).
Okay, okay. I admit it. I can’t really be calling that space a patch of grass. Let’s try again. I set my sights on a tiny curve of gravel/weeds/crab grass/sand. Better?
I cleared the space out by pulling up all of the patchy green stuff and picking out most of the rocks. I stopped at Stew Leonard’s for some annuals throughout the spring, so I loaded up my garden cart with all of my tools, some of the annuals from my haul, a leftover bag of pine bark mulch, and an old, neglected flower pot from behind the garage. I used an old, neglected flower pot because people are funny and I didn’t want anyone seeing a gorgeous ceramic flower pot from the road and popping it in their trunk.*
I went with a velvety red Coleus, (also known as “The Wizard”) because I loved the color and thought it might do well in a spot that’s mostly shady with some strong early afternoon sunshine. I made sure to water them heavily for the first few days while the new roots established themselves. The Coleus is thriving, and I love that you can see it loud and clear from the street. If flowers can be loud and clear. You get my drift. I also popped in some little annuals with tiny white flowers, but they’re not doing so hot. The white flowers you see below are the only ones out of a bunch to re-bloom. They’re green, though, so I’ll take it.
So now, after a few weeks of grow time, here’s the current state of that tiny curve of gravel/weeds/crab grass/sand flowers. Much improved!
I had the tools and mulch on hand, so this little facelift was about $15 and took me about a half hour or so. I’m happy with that.
Did you plant any annuals in your yard this year?
Oh, and hey! It’s nearly the weekend! Have a good one!
*I posted this on SHR’s FB page but not here… While we were tearing apart the kitchen counters, we had our gently used stainless steel sink out in the driveway while we decided where to donate it. One day, we woke up, and it was gone. Yep, someone decided to drive down our driveway, and pilfer our old sink right out from under our living room windows. Ugh. The nerve of some people, I swear.
#Garden #Curb Appeal #DIY #Planting #Annuals