Planting Has Started A Little

We have started planting and I must say it has been harder than we anticipated because of all the rain. I had to wear gumboots with all the mud that is in our yard. Hubby had to use a cardboard as a floating device wile planting, that is how bad it has been. To add to the wrinkle, Greenscapes just sent me a text telling me that they won't be able to do any work today because of rain. It will be Thursday before they can do the front beds and anything we have requested they fix; sigh!
We still have a long way to go. After we are done planting, we have tons of mulching to do. Anyways, I took some pictures in the meanwhile.

Crape Myrtle, hope for some colorful privacy and shade here during summer

Mexican Anise. Please tell hubby to pickup those bags behind my plants. Mexican anise are really good performers, they can tolerate a lot.

Blueberry bush. It is supposed to turn red in fall; I am looking forward to it.

My shade garden is finally in. I transplanted those hostas and fans from my front yard.

ligustrum! This is supposed to be the star of my front yard, can't till it grows full. I have a total of four.

Picture above and below are Mexican Anise.

Flowering plum, thundercloud: Spring should be colorful at my house.

Oh, front yard, will look beautiful in the future. I have Firepower Nandina, Rheingold, bloodgood Japanese maple, knockout roses and razzleberry crape myrtle. Lining the path are wintergem boxwoods

Firepower Nandina

Rheingold

Coral bark Japanese Maple

Augusta Beauty Gardenia

Deodor Cedar, Carissa holly and my other august beauty gardenias

View from y front door

Red Rooster Crape Myrtlle

Double Knockout

Loropetalum 

We transplanted this from the other side of the house. Because space is so narrow on this side of the house, we thought it would be perfect for here.

Music To My Ears!

Rain must stop except when it does rain my drycreek comes alive with water. Yesterday, I could not plant as I planned to because of pouring rain. I am sick of this rain because it is preventing me from planting. Anyways, after watching rain through the window, I decided to walk outside and as I was crossing the bridge, I could not believe the scene of water gushing down the creek under the bridge. It took me back to my childhood in the rural village of eHlobo! I loved it so much that my next project will be to put a water pump so I can always have water running down the creek. I can wait for next spring when it is all green.

Day 15 - Pouring Rain - No Finish!

Today was the day Greenscapes was supposed to finish but they could not because of a few glitches. First the front yard tree was not planted because Greenscapes did not ship it! Also, we finally agreed to put a border on the path which today's pouring  rain was a good test for it. It still did not completely eliminate the problem but it came very close so I am ok with it. 

As you can see the path is no longer muddy as it was before but there is still a water that I hope will drain off as soon as the rain stops. Once we plant and mulch most of the problem will eliminated.

My purple flowering plum tree was planted today! It is much bigger than I anticipated and for the first time Greenscapes under-promised and over-delivered. I am looking forward to spring next year when it is full of flowers and I can view them from my kitchen! No complaints here at all. Greenscapes seeded our lawn after they ravaged it.
This weekend hubby and I are gonna be planting our plants that have been sitting in pots for the last three month. Greenscapes is supposed to compensate for the plants that died since they started this Friday. So, I will wait for them with much anticipation.

Our basket ball hoop will be adorned with shrubs as soon as we are finished with planting.

My shade garden finally got cleaned today and I am grateful for that. That is the part I am looking forward to the most because I've never had a shade garden before. 

I like the color of the stones when they are wet more than when they are dry! I guess I will have to wet them somehow or perform some rain dance to bring rain over my yard! Below is the picture of the rocks when they are wet. I wish they would stay that color rain or shine. Overall, great things were accomplished today!

Day 14 - Arbor Is Fixed!

Arbor is fixed for a small price! He did more than I expected and I am happy with that. I would have like not to pay anything but I had to give in! Anyways, I am very happy with the way it turned out.  

Dry creeks still have problems! It has standing water. I was out there this evening and boy did mosquitoes bite me. This dry creek was supposed to solve this problem. Something is up here. My house slopes down and there should be no standing water but guess what,there is. This is a problem. Tomorrow is the last day for them to fix any problem and I am not signing anything until I am satisfied. Anyways, it is substantial and can be seen from the street. I was expecting it to be thinner than it is but, I am okay with the scale even though it means I have to make a lot of changes in my planting plans.

Below is a new picture of the bridge and the updated arbor. I love standing in that bridge already, it feels like I am not in my yard! I can't wait to plant around it.

My son had fun helping me take pictures of the yard! He is ready to enjoy it and is very excited with the whole thing. He is ready to make fire at any moment.

One problem with him: he is Mr. Spill the beans to neighbors! He even told them how much the budget is! I had to have a stern talk about that with him! He does not understand that family business is family business. It is my fault though because I should not be telling him everything at such a young age.

Next picture is the front yard view of the flower beds. These guys are really cutting corners. Their idea of flower beds is to till the grass, put some top soil, till a little and voila! I am not passing judgement but I do expect them to do professional work, so I will wait and see.

It would have been nice if I've had the new flower bed make a heart shape but I changed my mind and I regret it. I won't tell my husband though! My hope is that when it is done, that will all be unimportant detail.

This stepping stone path is too close to the wall. Again, specs were not followed to the T here. Dry creek bed is wider than 36 inches and that meant that the stepping stone had to be pushed against the wall. It did not help  that they were not even close to the dry creek as I envisioned. I can see all plants growing on top or it which will render it useless.

Below, the little pieces of stepping stones were removed and replaced with real stepping stones, thanks God!

Day 13 - Dry Creek And Drama!

Today was a crazy day as far as everything really! First I had a back and forth between the arbor guy who wanted to charge me an arm and a leg for a small change in the arbor. I am supposed to meet with him but I am not paying anymore so I am settling for it the way it is. Those spiky planks at the top of the arbor are my problem. They are too small in scale compared to the rest of the arbor. But I am not going to sweat it any more. If he won't fix them at the current price, then oh well!

Bridge on the other hand is AWESOME! I love how it has turned out. I can't complain. I just imagine it when it is stained. We will do this part ourselves.It is sturdy and very inviting. I can't imagine the landscaping without it. it is more than the plan but I am okay with that  as everything else is big and having it be the size has worked out perfectly.

Then there is the stepping stones! Gosh, I could have done this myself I would have saved over $1000! Greenscapes guys were taking their time in the beginning of the project and now they just want to finish and cutting corners has become their thing. For example, dry creek is supposed to be 36 inches and some areas are clearly more than that. I don't have a problem with that per se but I need to be able to plant next to the creek.

The rest of the photos show the progress has been made on the dry creek. The side of the house is unrecognizable.

Day 12 - Scary, sort off!

Okay, arbor, bridge and the dry creek are finally in though not finished. Because of rain from yesterday, Greenscapes men had to leave early which meant that there was not much done on their side. Arbor is more or less finished and bridge needs railing and will be set on the ground firmly once it is completed.

I have a lot of reservations about how things are at the moment but I am trying to keep a positive attitude. I believe when it is all said and done everything will come together nicely. So, know that even as I write my fears down, I think at the end I will be happy with everything.

Today I am more scared than anything. First, arbor is not facing quite the direction I thought it would. It is facing more to the fire pit than I would have liked. I wanted it to face more to the patio next tot he house. But, I know I can live with it, but I wish it was facing more to the house, I don't know if it can be moved; fingers crossed!

Dry creek is another story! I did not expect the color to be so light that I feel it clashes with the color of the pavers. It is almost white not even gray. I knew this when I chose it but thought it would work, big mistake. I should have taken the pavers with me or picture of my house at least and I think I would have ended up choosing a color that was more beige than this. But, I think planting around it will make it work. My goal is to have it sort of disappear But, as I said, I think it will work in the end.

Then 

Day 11 - Buckets Of Water From The Sky

Day 11 was Thursday and it coincided with my son's PEP/PTA meeting so by the time I came home it was very dark to take pictures or see anything for that matter. Another thing it was raining so much that we could not even get out of the car without an umbrella. But, I am glad it rained because without it I would not have known the flaws I feared would happen in the installation. It turns out that the beds next to the path were more elevated than the path itself such that all the soil washed onto the path.
I had warned the salesman of this and apparently it did not get propagated to the employees. Anyways, they should fix it and I am glad it happened before I approved the work.

I emailed these pictures to the salesman but he won't come back to me until Monday. I have a permanent solution for this and this that they might not want to consider but I am hopefully that they will and even if i have to pay I will do it.
Below is the picture. As you can see, soil is washing from the side of the house and if we put a border there that will prevent any soil from washing over the path.

Day 10 - Light At The End Of The Tunnel

Okay, the path finally looks like a path and I like how it has turned out.It is not quite like the plan but I am okay with that. It has more curves than I expected even as it is narrower than I expected. I have to say that they cut to close to the corner as a result we are very limited to what we can plant there. If we plant anything it will have to be a climbing plant and I don't like that; but I will have to make it work.

Above is the view of the path from our driveway.

When I got home a neighbor's kid was playing on the pah and throwing sand it, I thought it was cute in a cringing way LOL.

The trashcan pad ended up being nice. And leaving that much space will allow us to shield trash cans from our neighbor and from the street.

It looks much narrow than it actually is.
Also, some beds have been made but I need to make sure that they are at least creating beds that are tilled deep enough for us to plant rather than just covering clay soil with top soil.

I am looking forward to this weekend!