My flowerbeds

I have really neglected my front yard for the past several years. I had two weeping pussy-willows that were really cute, but they were extremely top-heavy. When the wind would blow hard enough, they would tip over. I also got afids on them every year, which left behind a sugary substance, which attracted wasps really bad! So some summers, we would just run as fast as we could into the house to avoid being stung. I have tried for several years to get some peonies to bloom, this year I finally had one plant that bloomed beautifully, but the other two look very sickly. I have planted several varieties of mums, and one year they were amazing, but most years they are dismal. I tried hollyhocks, but the grasshoppers eat their leaves and they look more like a weed than a flower. The vegetation that grows best is my garden is weeds, they flourish!!!

A couple of weeks ago I told Steve I was sick of the front flowerbeds and would be happy to just pull out everything and start over. Steve has been saying that for the past couple of years, but we have been busy, and it always took the back seat to whatever else was going on. This time we decided it was time to fix it. I had 3 boxwoods that were in front of my porch, they stayed, and the peony plant. It was given to us by Grandpa Fred, I couldn't get rid of that. My Nauvoo Temple stone and my Manti Temple stone stayed too. Everything else was pulled out, and tilled under.

We put 3 boxwoods on the other side of the porch to try and balance it out, and then just planted some perennials that I think will look pretty. I don't think it will look marvelous until next summer, but it looks 100 times better than it did before. I'm sorry I don't have any before pictures to show. I actually forgot to post this at all. When I was staying with my mom, I got talking about my new front flowerbeds and she asked why she hadn't seen any pictures yet...my bad. So here you go, I'm happy to show you my new front flowerbeds.