Let's play in the dirt again

And let's have a 3yr old track mud into the house and down the stairs.

Our neighbor, Matt, was over yesterday venting about the drama known as getting a fence built within the city of Fairfax. They bought their house about a year before we moved into ours. During the year, trees have been cut down, poison ivy dug up, mulch thrown down and one blue spruce planted. Their yard has a long ways to go which brought up the issues we have in our yard.

There are bushes surrounding the house. I've wrangled 5 of them down: 3 in the front, one on each side. Matt came over this morning for help in digging up the roots from the 3 in front.

My plans for this area are building up a small retaining wall for leveling purposes before planting galore. While I don't think I'll have everything planted this year I want a foundation. I'll be getting a trellis or two for sweetpea growth underneath the front window. I'm not quite sure what else I'll plant. Perhaps some dwarf dahlias in front.

The last time I planted anything was back in Rock Island. I had dahlias, tiger lilies, dwarf asters, sweet peas, phlox, liatris and poppy anemones. We didn't stay there long enough to see how everything grew in but I might considering planting some of the same here. We're still dealing with partial shade issues as we did back in Rock Island.

I'll be buying baby plants or bulbs since I'm not concerned about everything looking full from the get go. I'm fine with things growing a few years before spreading or filling out properly. We'll be here long enough where the fruits of our labors can be enjoyed.