During last year’s spring and summer, when many were sequestering or having staycations at home, yards and landscaping received the benefit of those redirected dollars. Perhaps those yard facelifts were already part of the budget along with the planned, and not taken, vacation.
In our neighborhood, at least six yards received extra attention. This translated into landscapers and workers removing the existing ground cover and taking it down to bare soil. We watched the transformation occur with new sod rolled out augmented with the addition of a variety of plants throughout the area. Sprinkler systems were replaced in some areas too.
Columnist Marty Coffin Evans
After complimenting one homeowner about the yard’s new look, I asked him how he liked it. “I just pay the bills,” he responded. In spite of that truthful answer, I believe he was pleased at how those dollars transformed his yard which now has received its first mowing. Others nearby rearranged the look by adding large rocks (make that huge) among other smaller ones and plants. Many huge rocks were marked in blue, red or green noting their placement in the landscaping design.
The grassy area, rather than being curbside, had been rolled out toward the house with the varied contour of rocks and plants first visible from the street. Those new plants, protected under orange buckets, survived the snow and are now blooming. While the yards had it last year for sure, we’re now seeing piles of mulch, bags of top soil, rocks and plants ready for placement appear on different lawns. Large flat slabs whether flagstone, slate or other material, remain in some yards ready to be located in new sidewalks.
Whether designed last year or this, enjoying the result of a newly landscaped front or side yard brings great pleasure. It might be longer-lasting than that vacation which quickly becomes a distant memory.
Martha (Marty) Coffin Evans, Ed.D. is a freelance writer with MACE Associates, LLC. She can be reached at itsmemartee@aol.com.