We bought our house in 2009. I was so excited to tackle it with full-contact-Brooke attack mode. The house was a bank foreclosure, and the yard was sucky sad with a capital S. I cannot believe that six years have flown by. Holy crap. Can you believe that All Things Thrifty is SIX years old?
Just take a look at this beauty. Lots of dead plants, over grown weeds, and a whole lotta nothin as far as curb appeal goes.
Within a month of moving in, we ripped out the dead grass and laid sod. It changed the look of our house dramatically for the better.
In the winter of 2013, we had a freak snow storm that killed a ton of our plants, palms, trees, and bushes. Our climate rarely gets snow, and it was no good. Well, except that the kids thought it was the coolest thing in the whole world. I didn’t have the heart to tell them how lame I thought it was. I had dollar signs in the back of my mind counting all the plants that would need to be replaced. Oh, the joys, right?
As a result, our front yard needed an overhaul.
We started the project a few months ago. So if you missed Front Yard landscaping Part 1 and Front yard landscaping Part 2, check them out.
We ripped out a bunch of our desert landscaping and put in a flower bed. It has been so fun! Well, besides the shoveling of rocks for an entire day, that wasn’t fun.
I don’t feel like my yard screams desert anymore. I love the colors that the flowers bring into the yard.
The new trees are little, but will hopefully grow fast. We chose two trees that will bloom in the spring: a Bradford Pear on the right which will bloom white and an Eastern Redbud on the left that will bloom pink! {You actually can’t see it in this picture, but trust me, it is there}.
We planted Cana Lilies along the back of the flower bed and they seem to be doing great. Other flowers that we planted are: desert daisies, potato vine, vincas, lantana, supervena, hosts and others that I don’t know their names. 🙂 The hostas aren’t doing great. I’m bummed, but I think it’s too hot for them.
We will be adding some oleanders to the yard soon also.
I’m so excited with the progress. I just had to share! Have you had any projects you have been working on? Tag me with #allthingsthrifty. I would love to check them out! 
I think we are finally getting our curb appeal back! Wahoooo.
If you need tips on how to get that deep dark green lawn, check out our tips here. My hubby is a freak about yard work. He rarely lets me mow the lawn because my lines aren’t straight enough. Can you say OCD!?! HA.
Well, I hope you are having a great summer. Ours is almost over. In fact, my kids start school next week! Summer went by fast.
I’m at the World’s Longest Yard Sale this week, so follow me on Periscope {allthingsthrift} and Instagram for updates! I can’t wait to surprise a deserving family with a furnished/decorated home! It’s going to be a blast!
xoxo,
Brooke
This looks gorgeous! My house I purchased last year was similar to a foreclosure. I think it was called a REO home or something that I had to fix up. It’s all fixed up and I decided to put it on the market last week. Onto my next project!
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Your yard looks great! I love a front flower garden. The reason your hostas are not looking good is that they are shade lovers. It doesn’t look like they much in that location. You can move them to a shadier spot this fall.
It looks wonderful Brooke!nwhat is that beautiful tree you have near the house? Sorry to hear about your Hostas. They generally do better in a damp environment, especially near ponds. Talking of which, that’s the project we’re currently working on. We’re nearing the end of the construction stage and I can’t wait to start planting up. Hostas will most definitely be on my list!
I love love your yard. It looks awesome! any chance of sending me the measurement of your flowers box, the pink one. I would love to do something like that since I live in a condo. Thanks so much.