Landscaping Phase #3

Last I showed you our backyard was looking pretty good…

Look at all that pretty green grass.

Anywho, there were a few more things Justin wanted to accomplish out here since the new drainage and landscaping were finished.  A few of the solar lights we had previously installed were broken.  So, Justin purchased some new outdoor lights for the garden beds back here.  He decided to go with regular electric lights.  He moved the remaining solar lights that were still trucking along to the front yard.  He purchased the new lights from lowes.  Once he got home he started installing them…

Since the sod was freshly laid, Justin was able to run the cords from one garden to another right under the top layer….

While he was burying the new cords he came across this little guy…

He was just sleeping under the mulch and Justin dug up his bedding!  So he buried the cord and then buried him under the mulch again.  We saw him later the same night once the sun went down, we’re all friends now.  Once Justin had finished installing all the lighting he added new mulch to all of the garden beds…

Charlie also helped…

This guy showed up too…

Isn’t he handsome?  Love these little lizards.

After hanging out with the lizard I got some photos of the freshly finished backyard…

And you know I can’t help but give you some before, middle and after photos…

Check out how much the plants by the patio have grown!

I don’t have a before photo from this angle, but here is the mid way point and after…

We also got to see the new lights in action that night…

Aren’t they pretty?

Char man also hung out to check out the lighting…

It was already past Zack’s bed time.

We are thrilled with our backyard now.  We may have some other ideas for the the fence and possibly another little garden. For now we are just happy to sit on the porch and enjoy the unflooded yard!  It’s a far cry from this…

Don’t you think?  PS the drainage works.   Here is a photo I took immediately after a down pour…

BOOM! Do you see a drainage issue?  I think not!

Landscaping Phase #2

Last I showed you our backyard was lookin like this…

I had told you about the installation of the new drainage and the removal of the hedges.  We were left with a yard o’ dirt.  Then I came home the other day and I walked outside to this…

Ahhh! New magnolias and sod!  I can’t explain our excitement.  Let me show you around…

Take it all in people!

This grass is soft, like the grass we had in NY.  It is awesome to have something that is pleasant to walk on barefoot!

As I mentioned before we used Horizon Landscaping and they did an amazing job!

They were actually still working when I got home around 7pm.  They did such an amazing job, and they even stuck around to tell me how we should be taking care of the new trees and sod.  They were such polite guys and we are really impressed with their work!

We love that we still have lots of space in the yard with the new trees, yet they still block the neighbors in the back.  We will soon have some other updates back here, stay tuned!

Oh and of course some before and afters…

Lanscaping Phase #1

It has all begun. Brian from Horizon Landscaping chose a couple companies to complete some of the backyard projects that need to be finished before he gets going on the landscaping.  So last week, during the hottest week this year we had four guys out in our yard digging up trees and also digging trenches for the new irrigation.  I swear the heat index was like 110 degrees, poor guys.  They were here for about 7 hours and this is what we are left with…

They basically removed all of the hedges including all of their roots.  Also they added the much needed irrigation, including three drains that will remove the water from our backyard and let it drain out to the sewage system at the street.

Here is drain #1.

Here is #2 that Char man is checking out.

and #3.

Our yard is basically a big dirt pit right now, nothing pretty to look at.  It has to get a little worse before it gets better though!

Our yard does seems a lot bigger now without all of the hedges.

This is where the new magnolia trees will go.  We don’t necessarily want something so big in the yard, but we want the privacy from the neighbors, so the magnolias will be perfect.

We can’t wait for Brian to come out on Tuesday to plant the new trees and re-sod the yard.  We also are thinking about putting a garden in one of the corners back here and giving the fence a face lift.  Don’t worry we will keep you updated!

Backyard Issues

As I have previously mentioned we have some problems with flooding in our backyard when it rains heavily.  Justin has done a few things to try to fix the issue already, but we just aren’t winning the battle at this point.  Shall we take a look at what happens when it rains? Okay then!

Here was one time it flooded pretty bad.  Our whole patio floods about 2-3 inches when it rains pretty heavily.  Here is the other side of the patio…

Yup, those are floating dog toys! Good times!

Poor little plants, they drown in the lake our backyard becomes.

Here is the actual yard.  Char man loves it(he’s a big fan of water).

So, as you can see we are having quite the time here when it rains.  We are basically sitting inside crossing our fingers that the water doesn’t get one inch higher because it may actually seep under the patio doors.

So far we have had the gutters replaced/added to the back of the house, which has helped keep the water from pouring into our patio, but we still have major flooding issues.  From there Justin installed french drains, which helped slightly but they were still not quite doing the trick. These photos were taken after the french drains and gutters were installed, looking good right?

At this point we have had enough, sometimes there is a point when you just have to throw in the towel and call the professionals in.  We figured we were there, so Justin called a few landscaping companies and had them come out to our house to get some estimates.  We were looking for someone who can level the yard a bit, re-sod with a more durable grass(Charlie is tearing up the grass like mad), remove the hedges in the back and side of the yard, install a drainage system that drains to the street and plant new trees/hedges for privacy against the back fence.  It’s a tall order huh?  We would like to remove the holly bushes because they drop so many berries in the backyard and they are poisonous to the dogs, safety first people!  After receiving a few estimates we decided to go with  Horizon Landscaping.  They were not the least expensive, but they were fairly priced and they gave a proposal where they were going to complete everything the best way, not necessarily the cheapest way.  We figure if we are going to have this done we want it done right! Plus, Brian(the owner) is a pretty down to earth guy and he seems to know his stuff. If you need a landscaper in Jax check them out. I know what you’re thinking, get to the point Vanessa.  Well we headed to a nursery this weekend with Brian to pick out some new privacy solutions for the back fence.  Once we remove those back hedges we will be looking directly into the neighbors yard, not something I am looking forward to.  The nursery we went to was Williams Plant Nursery. Let me tell you, I fell in love with this place.  I guess I can just show you…

Look at all that green, so beautiful.

It had tons of huge, probably 200 year old oak trees all over the property.  They were gorgeous.

I would love to have a property with trees like this, maybe one day…

I love that ferns grow all over the huge branches.

Anyhow, we were there to check out some of our options, which I would like to share with you. Brian showed us a few choices, but everything seemed a little to small, we really wanted to have something that was already taller than our fence.  We looked at some bottle brush trees and Japanese blueberry trees, but ended up settling on a few 15-20 foot tall Chloe Magnolia trees.

Pretty huh?

They bloom beautiful flowers that are bigger than my head…

So that’s where were at with this backyard reno.  I will share more as we go, but we have plenty of time since the changes wont start until the end of this month.  Here’s one more oak tree before you go…

Can’t wait to see the results and have less of this…

and more of this…

Just kidding we don’t have room for all of this, were just hoping for some pretty grass and less flooding. Wish us luck!