Adding Curb Appeal – New Flower Beds

I received several curios glances from joggers and neighbors passing by, as I stood in front home, staring at it, pondering, mentally visualizing and doing some Front Yard Landscape Planning in my head. Then a few shy and amused waves would come my way as they watch me drag, form, and shape orange extension cords all over the yard, to lay out when the new flower beds would go.

“They must think I’m nuts“, I chuckle to myself as I start spray painting and killing the lawn. But now when they drive or jog by, I hear, “Ahhh, so that’s what you were doing! Great curb appeal. The new flower beds look great!”

And guess what? They do!

If you missed it, you can click to see all my Tips for Preparing a New Flower Bed. We killed the grass with Spectracide’s Weed & Grass Killer, waited for the grass to die completely, which took about a full week. Then headed to the garden center and chose perennials for the new beds.

I love hostas. They are perennials, and you can divide them and have new plants. I researched which hosta varieties would do well in our climate and can tolerate a good amount of sun. There weren’t too many out there, because most hostas prefer shade, but I like the ones we chose. They are ‘Golden Tiara’ and ‘Twilight’ hostas. Both will reach a mature size of approximately 36″ wide and reach a height of 18″. Currently, they are only about 9-12″ wide. I look forward to seeing how big they will get next year!

We also chose ‘Victoria White’ and ‘Victoria Blue’ Forget-Me-Nots. They both form low mounds of gray green leaves and have clusters of either bright blue tiny blooms or white blooms, both with yellow centers. They provide a nice contrast of textures next to the large, leafy hostas.

Hubs and (my little man) helped me dig up the dead grass.

Hosta plants love good soil. Unfortunately we are stuck here in the south with clay soil. And I’m telling you, when I say clay, I am meaning I could seriously take up clay pottery sculpting with the abundance of pure clay in my yard. We have to heavily amend our soil with a good organic soil conditioner like compost. After we added the compost, we planted the new perennials and spaced them apart accordingly, so they wouldn’t crowd each other when full maturity.

Then added a thick layer of mulch to help maintain moisture and prevent weeds. But in case a few weeds pop up, we’ll be using Spectracide Weed & Grass Killer with Extended Control (it prevents weeds for up to 3 months and you can get coupons for it on the Spectracide Facebook page).

I love how the new flower beds look and how they break up the sea of grass! Yes, they are a little sparse, but I know next year when they get a bit of size on them, it will look amazing!

I want to thank you all for the support on this project. Be sure to follow the Spectracide Facebook page for giveaways, savings and tips.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Spectracide. The opinions and text are all mine.