Victoria, over at Restoring our 1890 Victorian, really stumped with her Linky party theme, “Made with Love”.  This isn’t because I haven’t put love into nearly everything I do, especially where family and friends are concerned, it’s that I wasn’t sure I had photographs that I could use to document this project  “made with love”.

So at the risk of seeming to be in a landscape/garden rut, the most recent project that seemed viable to the topic, one that I knew I gave a lot of thought, energy and love to, was planning and planting the front yard of our youngest son, Kevin and his wife, Sarah.

I apologize for not taking “before” pictures of the jumble of ivy and juniper…the landscape was so grim it never occurred to me.  This is the yard prior to the final removal of the odd shaped bushes and a struggling ornamental plum (the tree in this picture).

(above & below) the left side of the steps are a garden I planted late last  year, we mirrored the style for the larger portion of the front yard.  The Iceberg roses and Santa Barbara Daisies have doubled in size

The newlyweds recently purchased an older home.  This older home had been owned by an elderly gentleman, whose wife had passed away some time before.  When he passed, his children put the house on the market.  The yard had been “maintained” by a mow, blow and go kind of guy.  Salvageable shrubs had been hedged into misshapen boxes and other odd shapes not natural to the plant world.  Many of the plants were overgrown beyond trimming to any effect.

(above) The plants with the white flowers are the Iceberg roses…they will put on a couple of feet of height over the summer.  There will not be very much ground exposed once the grasses and other plants fill in.

(above) the green on the front of the house is the espaliered apple…it should be very happy in its new home.

The majority of the  front yard is a slope that meets the sidewalk.  It was covered in runaway ivy and low growing juniper and because the slope was neglected the two varieties married and intermingled into a mess, complete with spider webs and weeds.

(above) Sarah and her mom bought some slate stepping stones and we planted Thyme ground cover.  Once that fills in she can cut thyme for cooking and enjoy a lush, green lawn of an herb that has a small purple flower, when in bloom.

Just before the wedding in December, Sarah’s mom paid her gardener to rip out the entire mess.  I began planning for the new yard in February and with the help of Jose (my gardener extraordinaire) we installed the finished plant list in April.

Planning took some time since Sarah and Kevin wanted a California/Santa Barbara look.  Translation:  Olive trees, grasses, lavender, white Iceberg shrub roses, Penstemon and other perennials.  The space at the front of the house was begging for something showy and structured.  We selected an espaliered apple.   We asked Jose to make sure the sprinklers were in good working order, since we didn’t want the hundreds of dollars in plant material to shrivel up in the upcoming warm weather.  That ended up involving hours of work!  He amended the soil and planted.

Next will be some work in the back yard, although we have worked on some areas already…Sarah recently re-planted the herb/vegetable garden we installed last year and the space under the trees has been an inviting respite from hot sun since they first moved in.

Any and all involvement has been made with love. ♥  Check out the linky party at Restoring our 1890 Victorian

I can guarantee, you will be entertained!

~and~ because this garden makes me happy I’m joining Ricki Jill at Art @ Home for her linky party ~and~ Fishtail Cottage for her Garden Party