Project 18: Replacing the Bushes

I really like this project for two reason: 
1) the final product looks great and really makes a difference
2) I didn't have to do any work... my wonderful husband and his brother handled it all

What is the project? Well our ugly bushes out front are now replaced with beautiful new plants!

Let me back up...
When we bought our house it had a pretty normal line of bushes out front:

However, when the foundation guys got started they told me they would be removing the bushes and then putting them back. At the time I thought they meant all the bushes so I told them just to throw the bushes out instead of replacing them. I figured it would just save us some time/energy. But then they finished and I realized that they had only needed to take out every other bush - so the result was a weird line of awkward bushes. And then the one nearest the door got sick (turned a weird light brown) and we chopped it down. The result wasn't pretty. 

So, the week before Christmas I came home to a wonderful surprise.All the bushes on the right side of the house (when facing it) had been removed and replaced with a row of White Azaleas and Pink Autumn Shade. 

Don't know what those are? I'm not a plant person so I had to look them up myself. The Azaleas will become big bushes with white flowers all over them and the Autumn Shade will be a smaller bushy plant with pink flowers covering it (I told you I'm not a plant person... pardon the lame description).

Photo from this site

Photo from this site

I think they will make a really pretty front yard. 

So, like I said, the one side of the house was finished when I got home from work. But, I was there when they worked on the other side so I documented it to share. Here is the 'before' for the left side of the house:

 I was a little surprised to see the method my brother-in-law, Josh, used to remove the bushes... pickax? But it seemed to work great at getting at the roots. Josh works at a landscaping place so he knows the tricks of the trade I guess.

Here he is using a sawzall to chop down the little tree we had.

 We decided not to dig up the roots. They went down really far and would have been a pain in the butt to get out. The Azaleas roots wont be as deep and so we don't think this will get in the way. So now there is just a little stump to be covered up by bushes.

The boys did call me out to help lay out where the Azaleas would be planted. We had eight for this side of the house (the flower bed is about 24' wide here).

 They look great all panted with the new mulch on top. I can't wait to see them get bigger and bigger. They should be pretty hardy, so hopefully I don't kill them on accident...I have many skills, but keeping plants alive is not one of them. Oh, and you may have noticed that there is no Autumn Sage on this side of the house. The plant place didn't have enough, so we're going to have to go back in and add it once they get some more.

All the yard work made fore a lot of trash.

 

I thought the way they bundled it was pretty funny. Duct tape? Why not!

Now that they're done it looks so much better.As LJ says, "Now it actually looks like someone lives here."
 BEFORE:

AFTER:

( We trimmed the trees as well)

Have to give a big thanks to LJ and Josh. They put two solid days of labor into this project and did a great job!

Cost: Honestly, I don't know. They didn't keep track. Sorry! 

Time: 2 full days of labor - so about 20 hours total with two men working

Difficulty: Physically very difficult (need to be able to lift heavy things, swing a pickax, ect) but not mentally difficult. We picked two plants that are easy to take care of since we're not the gardening types.