Azaleas in bloom

Azaleas on the driveway in bloom - at least one is...

Fence complete

I am so happy to have our old fence out and the new one in.  Unfortunately I am not too fond of how they assembled the posts in relationship to the panels.  I wanted the posts to be 6' tall and the panels to sit between the posts (not have the fence panels run continuous on one side of the posts).  The posts were cut short (which probably looks great for the OTHER side) but looks pretty dopey on our side. Anyway, it is still a darn nice fence.
The big question now is how to deal with the tangled mess that was left on the neighbor's side of the fence that we eliminated.  Honestly, I'm kind of scared to start the cleanup.  That heap of twigs and old vines looks like it could be a fox den.

Oh, but what a difference:

view from deck before

view from deck after (but still before cleanup and new planting)

Proposed Veg Garden

Before

Here is a rough sketch showing the proposed location of an enlarged fenced vegetable garden and driveway courtyard.  I'm thinking of adding a trellis pergola entrance into the garden and maybe lining the courtyard edge with some beds. 

Proposed

Brush Clearing by Hugh

Hugh spent hours this past weekend clearing out the shrub honeysuckle and brush from the "woodland" on the North side of the house.  Our neighbors also decided to clear out their side.  It is looking SOO much better.  Next step - hire tree company to take out the ivy covered trees and chip up all that rubbish!

Before

After

Woodland Hyacinths

Lilacs and Magnolias

Some of our sweetest smelling plants and trees are in bloom this week- pink magnolia, star magnolia, pear tree,  hyacinth, wild hyacinth, grape hyacinth, and best of all, the lilac shrub! 

Lilac

L to R: Star Magnolia, Pear tree, and Lilac

 Love the foliage combo of the red maple, pink magnolia, and the Chinese Maple beyond

Hyacinths in bed B6

But of all the sweet smelling blooms, I am really loving the Viburnam collection of our neighbors.  It has such a sweet delicious smell which reminds me of white tic tacs. Yum.