04043 Vanilla Farm: & outside we go!

Naturally the house being complete inside, the weather being beautiful....we have begun working outside. I am thankful for having a "mature" property...although it has been years since anyone has cared for the property, we are blessed with having a lot of "established plantings" to work with, it just involves lots of digging and dragging...(ha-who needs the gym!)
One of my first goals was to complete the front entry...which is really the side entry I guess, but the main entry for the house....the right side of the door is a very well established large bed of white hydrangea, we got to see this late last summer, and the blossoms were HUGE! This bed needs some edging, new dirt/nourishment and has already been trimmed back drastically last fall to protect them for men walking all over the plantings while insulating, siding, plumbing and the like...

The left side was all new bare ground from the addition...so handy to have 3 Rhododendrons (not my fav, but readily available!), the fact is these were planted (ALL 3) on top of the azalea shrub in front of house- why in the world anyone would plant 4 shrubs even when small sprigs that close together is beyond me...but I have given up spending too much time wondering these things about the past residents of 64 High St...we moved these Rhodys when the ground was "just" unfrozen...really we had no business moving them that early, but we did, and they are hardy gals, and took!

We chose to have no grass in this area, so have planted about 50 small Pachysandra (Japanese Spurge) plantings which will over the next 2-3 years fill the ground, along with 3 hostas that will grow to be 2' x 2' so now its water & wait for a few more years....the landscaping of this area has unfortunately made it that much more evident that our driveway will perhaps sooner than later, need some attention.

I wanted something tall by the doors in the fab pots I had scored at Marshalls late winter...I finally got to a garden center I had been wanting to visit, Focal Point, in Arundel and the gent kindly helped me select 2 white Mandevillas...I created a couple tee pees w/ branches from the yard & we'll see what happens! While there I spotted some good looking "hens and chicks" which Scott had mentioned to me he loved...(of course) and had been thinking about "reclaiming" from the yard at Gendron Dr. where he grew up, because he had planted some of his Gram McNeff's there years ago...I purchased 2 of them without knowing where exactly I'd put them, just hoping this would appease Scott to not "reclaim" the others....although he does love a late night "mission".....!
I used some large stones I had purchased in Dover NH for stepping stones, which hadn't come to fruition, and beach stones we had left from our shower floor! He was surprised when arriving home late from work to be greeted by hens & chicks at the door! :)