Front yard, mid-July

Front yard, originally uploaded by Hawk3ye.

Thanks to Mr. Brown Thumb for prodding me to make a front garden update! Although now that I have run outside with my camera, edited and uploaded my photos, answered a few emails, and generally goofed around, it is almost time to pick up the Little Guy from daycare. So I will be brief:

First of all, I am very thankful for the grass that was planted on the corner. It looks different in any season, and always a spot of light in the garden! I’m not really sure of the variety.

My least favorite feature – the yews that flank the steps.  I’m fairly sure that I want to keep them to have some evergreens through the winter, but the shaping is not going so well.  I have been looking at some online photos and blogs trying to get ideas for how to tackle them.

The spiraea looked really cute in June, but now are looking quite wild and wooly again. The front burning bush is lovely and graceful, and the favorite napping place of Orange Cat (our neighbors’). The back burning bush has suffered a little in the heat, and you can see some leaves near the bottom have turned red. I wonder if I should take off all the small, bare lower spindles or leave them?

You can’t see it right now, but I have planted a lilac just over the fence. I hope that it will grow up to that horizontal dining room window and add yet another level to the landscape.

Finally, there’s our yellow maple tree in the backyard, down the brick path. I really don’t know what kind it is, but the color is always unusual in any season.