Sprucing for Spring

Here at the Mull Mansion we are getting ready for spring! It's not often (have I ever?) that I blog about the projects going on outside of our house, but we've got a long list of things we'd like to accomplish on the exterior of our money pit home over the next few years. This winter we have been pruning things back, as noone lived here for 2 years before we bought the house and our yard had become a little overgrown. After a neighbor came over and asked if we would mind her trimming back some of our tree limbs that were hanging into the road (embarrassing), I told Stuart we better jump on it. So here are some pictures of what's going on so far. We're no pruning experts, by any means, so we watched some YouTube videos to learn how to properly cut things back--you can really hurt your bushes and trees if you don't do it correctly.

My mom and I tackled this bed over Christmas. We uncovered some old limestone rocks that we suppose used to enclose the bed. Stuart and I plan to redefine the bed with flat stones, plant grass outside the bed where there is soil, and plant some low bushes and flowers in front of the crepe myrtle.

We also trimmed back these little ladies. (I know they look pitiful now, but they will come back healthier and more full in the summer!)

Stuart completely took out this brush over the weekend. While it's pretty in the summer (above pic), it don't like too purty in the winter. And was WAY overgrown. We are going to rent some equipment (Stuart tried to explain what we need, but I just don't get it) and kill the root systems so that we can completely start over here.

With the help of my family, we also took out this entire bed of brush (see below). Sorry--don't have before pics but imagine extrememly thick, overgrown brush that was the first thing you saw when turning into our drive. Now there is a great view of the house! We are going to use the same equipment here to kill the roots and then plant grass so that this area will be a part of the rest of our front yard.

And here are some signs of spring in our yard:

We are looking forward to warmer weather--Smyth is on her way to becoming an outdoor dog once it warms up and we set up her wireless fence. Until then, our yard is hole and poop-free.