wonderfully made: Phase 1A yard overhaul

Right before my blogging 'hiatus' in late March, I posted the progress of our first real landscaping job. In the time that I wasn't blogging, I had a lot of people ask me about 'phase 2' of the landscape work. Well, as I said to my sister in law, it's more like phase 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, etc. because we have SO much we want/need to do to bring our yard up to it's full functioning value.

Anyway, I don't want to keep you guys wondering so here is another update on what our yard looks like now. Remember: LOTS more work to be done here!

(disclaimer: WAY too many pictures. You guys don't read this anyway, so enjoy!)

Our grass is finally growing! Right now it's about 40% grass and 60% weeds. If it's green, I'll take it!

I got that stump from a tree at work that fell down in a storm a few weeks ago. Right now it's drying out and I'm going to use it as a table/stool somewhere. I'm still undecided on what to do with it but it's going to be fab!

This girl spends the most time outside out of any of us!

We aren't thrilled with our chain link fences, but when they have heaps of wild honeysuckle growing on them, they aren't too bad!

Our yard feels so big when you stand at the back of it and look towards the house!

This is where we have done the most work. As you can see, we have removed a lattice and some ivy to the right of the doors and added some new lattice. We've also filled in the beds with more planting.

Here are some "before" photos from February:

...and back to present day:

We moved Motley's 'pool' here and we are really liking it! I'm not sure if it will stay in this exact place in the future, but i definitely like it as part of the beds.

I originally wanted to do wisteria up those trellis but I researched it and learned it can be poisonous to dogs.

Anyone know of any non-lame looking climbing ivy that isn't poisonous, looks awesome, and can tolerate full sun and Texas weather? I'm open to suggestions...

Right now we have some shrubs (which will grow to about waist height and help fill out the beds), some liriope, flowering bushes, more perennials (no idea what the names are, sorry!) and a couple of annuals like the marigolds and petunias. I am NOT a master gardener.

This ivy used to be the ground cover throughout this entire bed. The winter, combined with Motley running through it and making it her bed, caused it to look horrible, which is what prompted us to start the landscaping earlier this year. When we tore it out, we didn't put down any plastic OR spray it with Roundup so it's coming back...We could still spray it, but I haven't done it yet. It doesn't really bother me, and I'm almost hoping it climbs up the lattices, just temporarily.

Another recent update was the planting of my FAVORITES: hydrangea. LOVE them. I bought two plants back in March and they've been in the ground, but I'm not so sure they will bloom this year.

Much to my surprise, I found these flowering plants at Lowe's for $14 on Saturday so I scooped them up without thinking and had Mark plant them in the front.