Progress on the courtyard

We have been working little by little on the outside of our house. The courtyard has been Something we have been wanting to tackle ever since we removed the ivy. It has been a bit of an eyesore for a while now. Leaves accumulating in the back corner and we still have some dead ivy vines poking through the fence. It was pretty ugly.

On a cooler saturday morning I decided it was time to tackle this area. I started by removing all the rock and as many dead ivy vines and roots that I could. Geoff did help me with the heavy lifting.

We bought 2 rose bushes that we got on sale, by one get one free from home depot awhile back and planted them there.

Home depot was having another sale on plants, so we bought 3 foxgloves for $10 and 3 vincas for $10. Also grabbed some mulch to give it that finished feeling.

Later during the week I bought some bulbs for half off and Geoffs parents gave us a bunch of vincas that they didn't have room for. I cleaned out the small section next to the house, with a friends help, and got to planting.Thanks Elliot! I wasn't sure what I wanted to put in the middle of that section so I left it blank until I had some idea.

That Idea turned out to be a 4 foot trellis and a flowering vine, which is a Rosemoor Clematis. I also picked up 2 day lilies for $1 each.

I have to say that I am really happy with my decision to put in the trellis and the clematis it was a nice to add some instant height.   

We still have the fence side of the courtyard to finish but we have run out of steam right now. We are waiting for some good deals on more part shade plants, as well as an idea of what we really want that side to look like. We really love how its turning out and we still have a bunch of tweaks to make. Hopefully we can get to it soon.