Wake Up the Neighborhood

"Alligator Alley" was the final color selection. (definately was not the color choice for the faint of heart!) New white paint trim on the steps and porch give it a clean vibe.

The outdoor battery candles are a nice (and automatic!) greeting each evening.

The old porch furniture and lime cushions find new life here.

New plantings out front.  My first attempt did not go well (more below).  These are a new variety of hydrangea called "Phantom" which are supposed to have these huge ball flowers late summer that go from lime green to white and in between is an interesting variety of evergreen.  (I forgot the name of it!) This area is definately for "shade" plants, only a little morning sun.

 These are the original "Pee Wee Oak Leaf" hydrangeas that I planted out front-- relocated to the back yard where they get more sun.

 Yes, believe it or not... you can't believe everything the expert at the nursery tells you.  After a few weeks and looking worse by the day, I couldn't figure out where I went wrong with these guys.  I pulled out the tag and was shocked to see that they like "full sun".  So I dug them up (there was nothing to lose at that point) and moved them to the back.  They have made a great recovery and even survived the hottest July on record.  Moral of the story, no matter what they tell you... read the tag and believe it!

 The infant stage of our future driveway hedge.  We were looking for an evergreen that didn't look piney.  Apparently in our climate, this is probably the only choice:  Prague Viburnum.  36 plants later....

We like them a lot.  With as many as we needed, we couldn't go very large.  So they will be getting regular doses of Miracle Gro!  The good news is they have already doubled or tripled in size after a month.