The Outdoor Planters Get a Small Makeover

By the size of the overgrown shurbs, we can assume they were part of the original landscaping after completion of the house in 1959. On the northside of the house (top photos), they actually had the shrubs inside the planter, which, after years and years of them growing larger, put some stress on the stone and make it bow out a bit. My dad gifted us some of his time to us last Fall and spent hours upon hours of digging these out for us, roots and all.

Greg recently moved a bunch of hostas around to make way for grass in the yard, and I asked him to replant some of the hostas in here. Yes, I know they will continue to get larger as well, but at least they are easier to maintain (split, as needed) than shrubs! I love the look of this, and the easy-to-maintain aspect of this as well.

The bottom photos are of the largest patio area, and the southside planer. This had sedum in it when we moved in, and the giant, overgrown shrubs were planted to the direct south of the planter. When we started cleaning up leaves, we found so much debris & trash under them, we knew they had to go.

Lo and behold, our yard had enough hostas to plant in this planter too - it's the width of the entire house, so pretty big, and I LOVE the look of this. Again, easy-to-maintain, and very natural for this part of the U.S.A.

Grass is coming this fall - we missed our opportunity to plant before summer, and since we don't have underground sprinkling, feared it wouldn't grow well anyway. Now we're the neighbors with a bunch of dirt for a lawn; hey, at least we don't have to mow it! HA!