Landscaping is for the Bees: Before and After

07 April 2015

**This post is sponsored. But please don't run away!! It's still me! Kate! Just with (very small) dollar signs for eyes and some lovely new plants from Monrovia.**

So you remember that we bought a house a while back.  A MAJOR fixer upper, and I've stopped talking about it because we stopped working on it right about the time Jacob's winter crazy season started. While we haven't 100% finished a single room, most of the house is mostly done. Except we've done virtually nothing to the exterior.

Friday found us traipsing to Lowes so I could find some plants for the little bit of landscaping in the front yard. 
I'm not good at gardening, but like making traditional sourdough bread, it's not something I'm willing to give up on yet for all its attendant heartache. Baby #3 ruthlessly threw down the gauntlet when it came to any real garden aspirations for 2015, so I've decided to satisfy myself with a little landscaping. Behold my canvas:
The front of the house is not pretty, and life's still too busy to paint it and replace the windows, but I thought maybe some flowers would make it look like somebody loved it because this mound of old stump plus weird grasses was positively haunting.

After our wisteria bloomed in the backyard and brought with it bells and bells of purple blossoms: I knew I needed color. With Monrovia's help, we scored some yellow lantana. Growing up, I loved lantana. In the hottest part of the summer, it would still be blooming. My grandmother insisted that it was a weed, but I always felt kinda sorry for weeds. Monrovia tells me it is not a weed, that it's a match for Houston summers, and that the butterflies love it.

The great planting effort went as you might expect. The kiddos "helped."  
We all looked very cute. 
 Even cuter.
Jake eventually got bored and adopted a snail he named "A-Snailia," and Lucy June tried to eat fertilizer. 

In the end we landed here. It's definitely suffering from some "I just got planted" syndrome - landscaping kinda goes through it's own little funky ugly newborn stage, huh? - but I think it says "someone loves me and her name is Kate and so long as she remembers to water me and keeps her son from overwatering me, things will turn out just fine."
We'll eventually plant some flowers in the empty spot and fill the bowl with a big hunk of Rosemary.

[Unrelated aside and poll: Jacob and I agree - to an unprecedented level of agreeing on anything ever - that Rosemary is one of the loveliest names. But she will inevitably get shortened to Rose - also fine - except for the whole...Rose Rhodes thing. That is my question: Rose Rhodes. Would you do it??]

When we got back from our Easter travels, I noticed that one of the plants I didn't rip out of the landscaping because it looked intentional bloomed and turns out it was a lily. So Happy Easter to you all from my gardening-high.

Thank you again to Monrovia for sponsoring this post and encouraging me to spruce up the yard. Be sure to visit them and learn all about how to keep the bees and butterflies happy in your neck of the woods!


15 comments :

  1. Rosemary (Anne) is my sister's name, and it is so lovely! I think Rosie Rhodes has a nice ring to it. Sometimes alliteration is a no-no; for example, I could never name a child after my mother, sadly, because Joan Johnson is just... no. Consequently, my married name (Ellen Joan Johnson) is kind of a bummer. But, Jimmy or Joe Johnson sounds fun, right? They'd be jocks for sure. I say, go for Rosemary. :)

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  2. Love the alliteration of Rose Rhodes! I agree with previous comment, Tom Thompson is lame but it isn't the same. Rose is such a lovely name and one my husband and I discuss often since it is his moms name. Go for it!

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  3. Hahaha "it's own funky newborn stage." Yes.

    And Rose Rhodes would be darling. Or maybe Reid Rhodes for a gent. I love alliteration with a short last name like yours.

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  4. Another vote for lovely alliteration!

    We've been doing some landscaping makeover at home too and I always have a hard time imagining what plants are going to look like once they mature and bloom. It keeps me from actually getting things in the ground. ;)

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  5. Ok but Rosie Rhodes? Even cuter. Come on, you must. I hope baby 3 has let you up for air? Maybe? Because my baby 3 has me wheezing like I ran a half while I'm literally just sitting here in bed.

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  6. Lovely.

    I would do Rose Rhodes. I think it's a beautiful name and she will likely not have it for life - marriage and convents bring new names. :)

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  7. Oh, man, our yard could use some serious help too. Moss is starting to take over! A problem you only have to worry about in Seattle, ha ha.

    I like Rose Rhodes too. Although I have a friend named Rosemary and she's always just gone by that.

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  8. Rosemary Rhodes is fantastic~ go for it!

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  9. We have a friend with a daughter named Rose. She goes by Rosie. So… Rosie Rhodes? Better? Worse. Not sure.

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    1. …and meant we have a friend with a daughter named Rosemary, not Rose.

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  10. I love Rosemary and would just tell everyone she's Rosemary and not let it be shortened. Rose Rhodes sounds funny to me - too many "same" vowel sounds. But Rosie Rhodes is better!

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  11. The lovely thing about girl's names is that one day they might have a chance to change their last name, so you can pretty much do whatever you want! Or at least that's how I allowed my Maggie Martin to fruition :)

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  12. What about Rose or Rosemary as a middle name? That could be pretty...

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  13. I know you were being sarcastic, but you really do look SO cute working in your yard with your teeny little bump! :) Love.

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