Perfectly Manicured

Ever since we moved into the house, there has been one side which has been neglected. It wasn't intentional, but turns out that it was not used often. Besides, it is not a very pretty side. Over sized azalea bush, large AC unit, trash can, door to the basement....YUCK!

I told you, not very pretty! Oh and I almost forgot which I'm not sure how that is possible. My dreaded wisteria bush. Honestly, this thing would grow, and grow, and grow these humongous vines with no flowers or anything except long vines. Saying I hated this plant is an understatement.

This past weekend I decided it was time to give it some much needed attention. There was actually landscaping fabric with a metal wiring already down with mulch on top. I moved off the old mulch and cleaned up some of the old roots between the landscaping fabric and metal wiring and then re-mulched. While I was doing this, I decided to permanently remove the wisteria bush too! I was so happy when it was gone.

Sam had won a $50 Lowe's gift card and had given it to me a couple weeks ago. I still had some money left on it (shocker!) so I used it to purchase the mulch. While at Lowe's I looked at their discounted plant rack and came away with a beautiful peony plan to replace the wisteria bush. After a couple hours of hard work, this side of the house is looking pretty fantastic!

Pretty peony on one side and cat grave on another!

I have to say, the peony is my favorite part of the day. Since the season for it to bloom has passed, it was on sale for $3 from an original $34.98. Great way to save on a perennial I thought!

For anyone wondering, the concrete slab in the bottom part of the landscaping is a cat grave. Yep, my faithful cat Leo rest here. Not sure who Leo was, but no joke, the concrete slab is carved and enscripted. That part of the flower bed did not get reworked! If the mulch had not been covering it when I viewed the house, not sure I would have purchased. Ironically, when I was working in the ground where the peony plant is, I found a ceramic cat paw and it was only the paw in the dirt. Imagine two inches of leg and the the paw of a cat just laying in your dirt, knowing that a marked cat grave is only 2 feet away. It caused me a serious pause in work and almost passing out until I realized it was not real. Definitely shaved a few years off my life and caused my heart to skip a couple of beats. I quickly braved myself to pick it up and throw it in the trash bag. I had no intention of taking a photo as a memento. The grave is more than enough.

And in case my parents get some crazy notion; no, Sassy can not come live here since we already have the making of a cat graveyard!