Softening Up the Garden a Bit

Here was the front garden bed last week before my dad unleashed the chainsaw on that large beast of a shrub.

After he was done, we were left with a nice space to fill in. I have 3-4 gardening books I've picked up at Goodwill the past few months, so I looked through them the other day and made a list of plants I liked to fill that space. (I will preface this by saying I plan to move the grasses into some other configuration in the fall, and the red begonias were pre-operation-shrub-removal and don't make as much sense. They'll have to do for now.)

 Looking better already!

Kevin was on stump removal duty one night last week.

After digging it out a little

It ended up taking him about 45 minutes, I think, to get it all out--stubborn and strong, it was.

 Don't mess with this guy and his new pick mattock! :)

Then it was time to plant!! I'd gone to Home Depot with my list of potentials, and I ended up settling on a pair of Butterfly Bushes with a pretty purple flower.

I had to go back to Home Depot to get mulch to finish it off, and next to the checkout, there just happened to be some clearance plants-- including some smaller white Butterfly Bushes for $1 a piece!! I decided to buy 3, unsure if I'd put them all up front or maybe drop a couple in another bed. I laid them out with 2 and then 3, and I decided to go with all 3 to fill it in a bit more. The purples will get 4-5 feet tall and wide, but these whites will only get 2-4 feet tall and wide. Sooo, they might get crazy and I'll have to unclutter next year, but for now, I like what I see.

From behind 

The mulch will fade to match soon, I hope--it's the same stuff as the rest of the bed.

And the front

If these plants were my friends, they'd be soft-spoken and friendly. :)

Much better than the former spiky (and mean) counterpart.

They've been in about a week now, and I really like how they are looking. I know I'm not 'done' done because I feel like the lilies to the right are really heavy, and the grasses, too, so I want to try to get some more balance going on. I am curious to see what it looks like once the butterfly bushes grow to full size, so I won't do anything else until the fall (except weed the horrible crab grass). :)