April Landscaping: Back Yard

Surprise!  It seems as though the last day of April would be the perfect day to finish up our landscaping.  In this case, the back yard.

Before:

 

This is directly behind the master bedroom.  It has never looked any better than this, and seemed like a blank canvas for plants.  I decided on plants that are already around the house, Hawaiian Ti, purple fountain grass, and Azaleas.  

After:

 

So there it is, landscaping month is over.  I'm sure next year we will have more landscaping to do, but for 2013 we are done. 

AFI Top 100 Update: We watched #62, American Graffiti.  13 down, 87 to go.

April Landscaping: North Front Yard

Yep, we're still landscaping.  Probably until the last day of April.  This weekend was a lazy weekend, because we watched the NFL draft (Go Pack!) on Saturday, which left only Sunday to plant.  I quickly planted the north front yard.

Before:

 

 

As you can see, it's pretty boring.  I had plans though.  I needed to move the Hawaiian Ti plant from around the air conditioner because they were getting sun burnt.  Too much sun on the south side of the house.  I also love Mexican Petunias which were outside our apartment when we first moved here.  I love the purple color of the flowers, that will match the purple in the Bird of Paradise flowers.

 

 After:

 

The Mexican Petunias will get to be 4 feet tall, or about the height of the fence.  I have heard the these can spread as they grow, so I left some room for growth.  If they don't spread, I will be able to add different plants between them in the future. 

So the air conditioner looks different now.  Take a look:

 This wasn't my first option, but the plants will handle the full sun that this side of the house gets.

There is one more spot for landscaping this month, which will be done in the next couple days.  You may see this transformation as a mid-week post.

AFI Top 100 Update: We watched #66, Raiders of the Lost Ark.  12 down, 88 to go.

April Landscaping: North Side Yard

As part of landscaping month, we decided that the north side yard need some attention.  It is a shady spot with the sun blocked by the house and a large tree.  It leads to a difficult time for me to find the right plants.  I believe I have figured it out with a lot of research.

BEFORE:

The front half of the north side yard:

The back half of the north side yard:

 

AFTER: 

The front half of the north side yard:

 

The back half of the north side yard:

Details:

I don't know if it was The Masters Championship, but I had to have Azaleas.  Happy Days Azaleas, to be exact.  

I love the texture of these foxtail ferns.  They are simple, delicate, beautiful.

The color of the Persian shield is fantastic.  The purple is great against the green of all the other plants. 

The California Elephant Ear has beautiful, big leaves.  I'm looking forward to watching this grow.

Azalea's pretty flowers ready to open. 

Next weekend is the NFL draft, so I will have to sneak in the last landscaping projects when the draft isn't on.

Pinning and Pining: April 2013

This is the inaugural "Pinning and Pining" post.  In this series (the first series at ZVH), I will show some of the things I have been pinning at Pinterest, and things I have been pining after.

Pinning:

 

Pinterest

 A little research one night, and I found out this was in a Martha Stewart Magazine.  I should have known this was from Martha.  I think this would be nice for Nick and I.

 Pinterest

The recipe looks so flavorful.  This may be a future side dish with chicken tacos, or something for the NFL  Draft later this month. 

Pinterest

This is inspiration for our future kitchen.  We love dark, chocolate cabinets, and stainless steel tiles for the backsplash.  We are also considering putting up shelves, but at this point it's on the optional list.

Pining:

The Champions Ring

I ran into these prints a couple weeks ago.  There are championship prints for the 4 major leagues (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL) and NCAA Men's Basketball, Olympic, MLS, World Cup, EURO, and UEFA CL.  Nick loves the Arkansas NCAA BB championship from 1994, and I love the most recent Packers Superbowl Championship.

Tweak

I have loved this necklace and dozens of other pieces of jewelry from Tweak, for years now.  I check out this website a couple times a year, but I have never pulled the trigger, and bought any of the pieces I adore.

I have been thinking about making a quilt, which I haven't done since I was in high school.  I need a large lap quilt to cuddle under and watch TV.  This is my idea right now.  Need some motivation to get going and finish this project, though.

So there you go, the first of the Pinning and Pining series.  I hope you enjoy it.

April Landscaping: Finishing the South Side Yard

       

April is landscaping month here at Zoo View Home.  Last week, we added some plants around the air conditioner, and this week we finished up the rest of the south side yard.
I decided we need a little height to landscaping on the side yard, so I decided another Hibiscus tree would be perfect.  It has a non-invasive root system, which is perfect since the tree will be close to the house, and the underground plumbing.  

This pink Hibiscus matches the pink Hibiscus from the front yard.  This Hibiscus tree will double in height, and will provide some shade to the Hawaiian Ti.  

We also wanted to hide the plumbing access points along this side of the house.  Since the grasses were not appropriate around the AC unit, I decided that they would be good to hide the plumbing access points.

I

These fountain grasses were transplanted from the front yard.  When they get a little fuller they should help hide the plumbing access points.  

BEFORE AND AFTER:

 

There is definitely an improvement to this side of the house.  I am quite pleased with the outcome.

 

What do you think?  Better, huh?                        

10,000+ Page Views

So today I hit 10,000 page views.  YEAH!!!  I started this blog for my family to keep up with us, since they live far away.  I know they aren't the only ones to visit my blog.  A BIG thank you to all of those who have visited Zoo View Home. 
 Here are some statistics from the first 10,000 views:

I would like to thank I Heart Organizing who posted our master closet makeover last summer.  About a third of my page views are because of her.

I'm looking forward to the next 10,000 page views!

April Landscaping: Hiding an Air Conditioner

April is our Landscaping Month, so we worked on, of course, landscaping.  This week, we tackled hiding our air conditioner.  It's ugly and, in our case, it's exposed for the world to see. 

Before:

Not very attractive, huh?  It's in desperate need to be beautified.  I had a plan to move some of the grasses from the front yard, but after some research, grasses are not the best option.  The long, little blades of grass can get caught in unit, and reduce it's capabilities.  I went back to the drawing board, and headed out to my local Home Depot to get some plants.

After:

The Goods:

We planted 2 Hawaiian Ti-Red Sisters, 2 Japanese Boxwoods, and 1 African Iris.  We had top soil, and mulch on hand, so we only had to pick up the plants and perimeter barrier.  We used our Sunday paper in place landscape fabric as a more green alternative.

Cost:

Perimeter Barrier:      $14.50
Hawaiian Ti:              $20.00 for both
Japanese Boxwood:  $10.00 for both
African Iris:               $  5.00
Top Soil:                   On Hand
Sunday Newspaper:  On Hand
Mulch:                      On Hand

Total:                        $49.50 plus tax

So for less than $50, we were able to make the air conditioner a little more attractive, and with a little time, hide it.

Next week we will be moving the grasses from the front yard to North side yard, and adding a new plant to the front yard.