Unsimplify

In the process of cutting every corner to simplify our lives, Doug and I not so accidentally got ourselves into a big project. I blame it on the bushes.

They were big. So big. And dead everywhere except the very outer layer of green making pruning an ugly task. But we were simplifying. 'We don't have time or energy for gardening this year,' we'd tell ourselves. So rather than think about how much we really really wanted to just take out the bushes and completely relandscape, Doug went out one day to tackle the pruning challenge.

He made one cut. And then another. We stared at the bush before us- slightly smaller yes, but looking oh so much more dead- and Doug promptly walked to the garage to get the saw. They were chopped down before either of us was able to reconsider and so our life of simplicity was slightly less simple for a couple weeks.

Less simple, but definitely more pretty. Here's a before and after-

Before.
Our personal favorite is the random sunflower growing on the side of the house.

Middle.
Ok, I don't have a middle picture but I wish I did. In addition to big, ugly bushes our front flower bed also had a big fat sprinkler leak and a really ugly drip system and some other sprinkler problems that I don't understand because, hey- I just learned that the big aisle in Home Depot with all the white pipes was the sprinkler aisle (oh to live where it rains...) so after Doug took out the bushes he took the opportunity to dig a HUGE hole to be able to fix all the sprinkler problems, then he mixed all the soil with compost before replacing it for planting. Probably the biggest part of the job.

After.
I'm so excited for the plants to get bigger- there are 2 hydrangea bushes, lots of hostas and a couple rhododendrons. We also included a bird bath and bird feeders which can be clearly seen from our living room couch- giving me something much more fun to stare at than a wall on my sick days. I'm really excited about that part.

Oh, and you might be thinking to yourself, wow- there's a LOT of room in that flower bed. They must have really added a lot of space to make room for that bench with a bunch of plants behind it. Nope. That was all bushes two weeks ago. Very very big bushes.