Summer Garden 2013

This spring I felt a little bit of the Keeping up with the Jones in our front yard. While we were by no means crazy overgrown, our front yard was looking a little more au naturale that I would have liked. I have a plan that once a year I'll plant some more permanent perennials and then fill in the rest with pretty annuals. In my mind this means that each year the amount of weeding and planting should get less and less. Of course, when I let the weeds run rampant for a few years, it just means that it takes that much longer to weed later. Sigh...
After a neighbor commented on the slightly-ness of our front yard (not in a mean way I assure you) I felt it was time to start cracking, I mean weeding!
Unfortunately I don't have any good before pictures but just imagine lots of weeds, dandelions, and 2-3ft tall grasses.
And now? Well there are still some weeds but it definitely looks a bit purtier:



A multicolor biddleia that I planted in the spring. I wasn't sure if it would flower this year but it seems to be doing just fine!




The petunias took a hard hit this year as our snail population was a voracious out of control horde. Once weeding commenced our street looking like quite the snail battlefield. I bet I could have gotten a pretty penny from a French restaurant. Escargot anyone?




These petunias near the front door faired better as they were planted post snail massacre. However the one iris bud that emerged was a tasty tasty treat for something.




The lavender flourished and an agapanthus was rescued from a hostile grass takeover.