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Or rather, been removed completely.
On one hand, I certainly intended to get rid of some of these plants. On the other, I was kind of hoping to keep the ones that flower in the spring. Unfortunately, the Forsythia plants look totally dead this time of year, so my father probably didn’t realize that these plants were still alive.
Also, I think my dad must have had trouble with getting the gate to the back yard open, because I noticed that the gate latch… well, no longer had anything to latch to.
I guess I’m posting this today to reveal that DIYing can sometimes leave you with an unexpected surprise. I’m very VERY grateful from the help I got, so accidentally getting rid of a plant I’m not convinced I could even have kept alive after replanting is nothing compared to the months it would have taken me to paint the house by myself. Plus, that gate latch was on the outside of the back yard, which always left me thinking it could eventually be a security issue (if it locks, shouldn’t it lock from the inside of the back yard to keep people out?).
So, you learn to roll with it, and see the good (or even great) news that came as a result:
1. The removal of the plants meant that the paint could reach the rest of the side of the house that was previously hidden by the plants, saving me time later on and lets me concentrate solely on painting the trim work.
2. The gate latch breaking means I have to replace it. And as we’ve seen with the mailbox replacement, this offers an opportunity for an improvement over what was.
3. Losing these plants left me looking at what was left behind.
And I realized that this small, neglected area could actually look phenomenal with the right resources.
So, the plan after I finish painting the exterior is to redo this small spot into a much nicer walkway area. Which makes item number five hundred on the to-do list, so estimated completion… um, three years?
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I think it's pretty awesome your dad is helping you!
I love the inspiration pic for the redo-ing of that space!
Yes, it is AWESOME that he is helping me! Be jealous, I'll wait ;)
I could see a simple flagstone walkway over to the gate. I have an area on the side of my house that just became an oasis of weeks because it was almost always wet and got little sunlight so I got the little black lave type rocks (black gray star or something?) and then gray flagstone for the walkway. Keep up with the weeds every once in a while and it is pretty much maintenance free and the drainage is no problem!