The "Before" State of the Backyard

My vision for my backyard is far beyond anything I expect to achieve. However, it does give me something to dream about and plan to the best of my ability with our meager budget - that is actually about to be cut again by Mr. Penny Pincher (my husband), who does not see the importance of perennials or any type of "pretty" plants for that matter.

When we moved into our Beowulf house, not only was the inside of the house in dire need, but the backyard was a desolate pile of dirt, dead termite-infested trees, and an abundance of ivy - which was actually pretty, but overwhelming. The prior home owner's dogs had made sure that there was not one blade of grass alive and the back 8 foot fence was so rotten, it was about to fall over.

The 150 sq. foot deck coming off the house was painted a dark red and although was somewhat stable, I disliked the 4 feet of space underneath it that quite possibly harbored skunks, snakes, and rats.

There are quite a few salvageable trees - four very tall Mountain Laurels, three Kumquat trees, a Peach tree, an Oak tree, two Red Buds, and one very tall shady tree that I think may be an Ash (junk tree). I do like the "might be an ash tree" because it provides so much shade on one side of the yard.

The trees that were not salvageable - HUGE Elm tree and three Oak trees - all rotten and eaten out by termites. It killed me not to be able to save them.

As far as plants, there is one salvageable Lantana. Otherwise, there are tons of fallen leaves, a few holes, lots of washed away soil because the yard goes down a slope, and tons of large limestone rocks that will prove useful in the future I am sure (we live on top of limestone and they just pop out of the ground from no-where!).

The yard is home to several squirrels, a few nests of pigeons (that Mr. Penny Pincher threatens to shoot down because of all the white poop on EVERYTHING), a skunk (but that is ok because I don't mind the smell), lots of bees, and our two dogs (Golden Retriever - Kady and Dachshund - Mason).