Welcome to my virtual lawn/garden/house tour. Have a cool glass of iced tea, garnished with a fresh sprig of mint, and please partake from the tray of cucumber and liver pate' finger sandwiches. As you wander around, feel free to click on the pictures, and you'll get an enlarged version. We'll start here at the front of the house. We've had a lot of rain this Spring, so the snowball bush is full of blooms. Last Fall I painted over the green on my front door with a deep, bright blue. My mother thinks it's a terrible color. I love it. I'm 41, and can paint my door any color I wish. So there. (See how all those years of therapy have paid off?)

I don't really care for the color of my house, but until I accumulate the money to have it painted, it will remain as it is. Three years ago I added the awning over the window (I love it!). It really adds some character to the front of the house and makes it stand out a bit from the rest of the cookie-cutter homes in the subdivision.

Between the front of the house and the sidewalk is a small mound containing a large pine tree, three rose bushes (one yellow, one pink and one red), and a mugho pine. I love the huge pine tree as it provides some privacy and makes me feel a tiny bit secluded. The little ladder trellis going up the side of the garage is for the trumpet vine that I bought. I haven't planted the vine yet, because I don't think that trellis will be strong enough to hold it. So I'll be buying or making one that is more suited to holding up a heavy trumpet vine.

Then there is the sad, sparse side lawn. To the left, are the arbevitae that I planted between my yard and my neighbor's, laying down two layers of landscape fabric first, then placing large river rock over the fabric. I love the forsythia bush that flanks the left side of the gate into the back yard, and the big old cemetery tree (I don't know the real name for it--we just always called them cemetery trees) that is on the right, close to the front door. I'm trying to figure out what to do with this bare n*ked gate that I have going into the back yard. An arbor? A rod-iron welded decorative gate? I'm not sure yet--it'll probably be a project for next summer. Bring your tea, grab another sandwich, and let's venture into the back yard, shall we?

Oops! Unfortunately, it looks like it's going to rain, so we'll have to put off the backyard tour for another day. Don't worry---we'll honor your tickets. But no refunds! Nosirree!

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