I’ve been changing a few things.

Looks terrible, doesn’t it? All in a couple of hours of work. That’s only the "during" picture.

The before picture is a little better but the after one is going to be really nice. My boyfriend is going to come over tomorrow and bring his buck saw to cut down what’s left of the trees. I was digging weeds and pulling up Lily of the Valley that has overtaken the area around/under the porch and decided to get rid of the trees. A simple trimming and shaping would have been acceptable but the amount that was required would have exposed a ton of dead brown branches inside. And it turns out, in cutting the branches off, that both trees are throughout with tie wraps!

The very small timbered bed that was beside the stairs will be moved to the backyard someplace and house either rhubarb or my two blueberry bushes. The lattice is going to be replaced with newer stuff (my aunt gave me some she had sitting at the cottage) but the front piece is going to be set back against the cement pad, leaving the earth between that and the timber at the front to be dug up and replaced with fresh soil and covered with weed barrier fabric. I’ll plant a couple of small shrubs and then cedar chips will be put down around them. The actual flower bed will extend in a slightly irregular shape from the bottom step, around the front, and then convexly into the south corner (opposite the stairs). The plants themselves are still a mystery but I’d like taller ones (lilies, gladioli, honeysuckle, etc) along the lattice to provide a bit of a backdrop and mask all that wood.

Hopefully I’ll have a better picture to show within the week. I have three shifts starting on Wednesday and then I’m on my second set of five off.