Mom's (front yard) garden rehaul

For Mother's Day, my mom asked me to give her a garden makeover. Her garden had a lot of potential - cute rock borders and quite a few good plants, but in great need of organization, weeding and a cohesive look. My dad often finds plants on sale and sticks them wherever he feels like it, and it was starting to show. (No offense, Dad).

While Mom was gone in Tonga, I had the perfect time to conquer the project. The week before she got home my siblings were out of school for the summer, so I enlisted their help (mostly Annie's) and we started digging and weeding. My sister Annie helped me most

Overall, I went for texture and a wildflower/country garden look. We worked with the plants they already had in the front beds, namely lilies, irises, daises and columbine. In the shaded areas, we added more columbine and hosta, plus a few other plants. In the sunny garden between the walk to the house, the street and the driveway we added fuschia pink daises, cosmos, iceland poppies, lots of salvia/russian sage, lavendar, a few grasses and a couple more daylilies. We thinned out the strawberries, which had taken over the entire bed.

 It was all ready to go when mom pulled into the driveway after her long trip home. The verdict: she loves it.

Since she's gotten home, we've mulched them and planted a few more grasses in one of the shade gardens.

Isn't it funny how no matter how much you garden, there's always more work to do? I still don't feel like the front yard is finished. I still need to buy some purple fountain grass for the planters in front of the door and one of the beds, and one of my favorite plants had died and I need to get a replacement. But for now, she is happy with what she has.

Next up: the sides of the house. My parents have this beautiful stone staircase down the east side of the house house that matches the stone borders in the front, and it is covered in junk and weeds. Mom and I want to do some sort of trellis with trumpet vine or wisteria, with groundcovers like thyme on the landings between the steps surrounding some pretty stepping stones. But it will have to wait for a little while while Mom finishes a couple other projects she has planned for the summer.