Then...And Now...

We moved into our home in August 2004. We are nearing 11 years here in Sadieville, Kentucky. 

This year we have both marveled at how much we have done on the yard and how, this year particularly, it feels like the trees are beginning to look like real trees and things are looking and feeling settled. Because of that good feeling of finally getting there on some level in getting our yard like we want it, I kept feeling I wanted to take a look at what we started from and what it looks like now.

This is the front of our home when we bought it. Herb Archer, the builder, planted sod in the front yard and most of the top of the back yard. This is the 'then' picture.

Now for the 'now' pictures. Tiers of flower beds full of perennials along the front of the house, with the middle bed containing peonies from Utah and with the lowest bed full of lilac bushes. The little trees are really getting bigger and fuller. The day lilies in the ditch are growing on down the ditch. These are so pretty growing wild in the ditches in Kentucky this time of year. Claude and I thought we would plant some and see how they did in our ditch. 

This picture shows the little red bush in a bed Claude made.  Like the hosta bed by the back porch, this was a product of making mowing this spot a little easier. You simply drive the tractor along the edged and the part it didn't reach is where you make a flower bed. Then you find the right plant and put it in that spot. Claude did a great job with this one.  This year the little bush seems to be shooting out a lot of new starts. 

What is not in the picture is the ground cover under the mailbox and the seasonal flag Claude added under the mail box. There are trees and bushes marking the edge of the lot our home is on and the empty lot next to the left that we own. The right side of the house has burning bushes that are well established.

This 'then' picture I took of the back of our home the night after we closed on it. It was taken from the hill across the creek. It was one of those ah-ha moments when we clearly saw the steep slope of the lot and knew we had LOTS of work ahead of us. The house came with a concrete patio under the deck from the great room (that is the fancy name for the living room). 

 I went out between rain storms to get this quick picture tonight of the back of the house as it looks now.  Please ignore the need to power wash the one wall. Claude has done the part by the garage and along that part of the house. We still need to do the wall near the patio & deck. This picture does show the nice wooden deck and concrete steps we added along the back and side of the house. Claude grows his tomatoes in the bourbon barrels on this deck. There is a hosta bed where my sewing room extends beyond the patio. It is the shape of what the mower does as it rounds the end of the house to the patio. The flower bed under the sewing room window is full of mint. 

This is a view of the back from the middle of the hill. I love these beds that Claude originally built to be a garden.  The first year we planted corn and tomatoes in them. We had a huge yield of tomatoes.  The corn was doing great. Then one day I saw the crows feasting on our corn as it was starting to get close to picking time. I shooed those crows off and picked all that corn and brought it in for us to eat. Good Grief!!  The deer then figured out there were eatin' maters in that flower bed and that was that. Those rude little creatures will take a bite and waste the rest of the tomato. Again, Good Grief!!  So, tomatoes now grow in bourbon barrels on the deck.  The bed closest to the camera had blackberry bushes on either side of a decorative bush. The double bed closer to the house has irises from Utah and blueberry bushes. 

Lots of work but it is so nice.  And this year...it feels like it is all coming together.