Yard Work = Major Activity Points!

Sorry it's been a week!  It seems I'm busy with life even when I don't feel that busy.

I was off work Friday for my WONDERFUL Mama, Sissy and Adopted Sissy to come to our home and help Jay and I work our little hineys off re-landscaping our front bed.  I wish I had taken a "before" picture, but, alas, I didn't.  You will have to be satisfied with the "after" photo...

It was an empty bed to begin with so this was some may-ja work (and work out - I got over 20 activity points!).  Here's what we have in there now:
• The bushes in the back are called Compacta Holly and they will eventually grow bigger (around 4 ft' tall and across) and will have to be shaped up each year, but they are a good, low-maintenance shrub other than that.

• The bright green plant in front of those are the only thing that remained in there that we planted last year and they are Nikko Hydrangea bushes, which means they can take partial sun, which this bed gets.  Most hydrangea bushes cannot take sun so make sure if your bed is in partial sun you get the Nikko variety.  Ours bloom purple/blue (I call it Periwinkle).

• The smaller green bushes in front of the Nikko Hydrangeas are good ole fashioned southern Gardenia bushes.  Can't wait for them to bloom in May and smell so good!

• The two tall, slim trees are Arbividae trees.  Pretty basic (they're an evergreen tree) and they won't get much taller than 4'-6'.

• The bush close to the porch steps is called a Cotoneaster and I love it because it is very organic looking (meaning it is very flowy, etc.).

• The flowers in the foreground are scattered throughout and they are perennials so they will come back each year.  The purple ones are Salvia and the pink ones are Columbine.

• The flowers just beside those are Pansies (the purple ones) and Gerbera Daisies (the hot pink ones).

We dug up about a million pounds of rock that was in that bed (HARD WORK) and I am planning on using those rocks as accent stones in the bed...just haven't placed them yet.

However, they were used Monday when TERRIBLE storms blew through the area for several hours that included strong winds (80+ MPH), hail, and rotation in the atmosphere (which produces tornadoes in most cases).  So...I rushed home from work and covered our new investments plants with anything I could find...this included buckets, coolers, wheelbarrows, and even our fire pit.  See here:

All in all, I would say all the hard work really paid off - we have a GREAT looking bed now and I earned LOTS of activity points which meant I enjoyed a delish margarita at Casa Blanca Saturday night!  Hey, I earned all 19 of those points.... :)