Somewhere to Start: Somewhere to Start in the Yard...

One of the biggest surprises/challenges that I have been working with since we moved in to our house is actually outside of our house - in the yard. The previous owners (and the owners before them, it seems) LOVED PLANTS. I have more plants and flowers growing on my postage stamp of a lot than I can even count. I mean, folks, it's a jungle out there!

Now, don't get me wrong, I love flowers. I love trees. I even love many of the bushes around the yard (except for the a certain unidentified evergreen bush that is the bane of my existence - but I digress). I just don't love the wild and woolly growth that I am faced with taming each spring and fall.

We are blessed with very rich (slightly sandy) black dirt here in Indiana... a far cry from the red clay that I made mud pies out of while growing up in North Carolina. The dirt (soil?) here is so great, however, that the plants (including the weeds) grow out of their little pollenated minds! I have never seen dandelions so big in my life! (They're practically roaring at me - ha ha ha! - too much? ok, sorry). Ahem.

Anyway - here are some of the gorgeous spring bulbs growing in our yard... and some before pictures of "the Jungle". We are hoping to get things in order this spring (and on a budget!) so I'll be sharing more photos as things progress.

Forsythia - LOTS OF FORSYTHIA!