Olivia and Mei Mei x 2!: Landscaping

We had some big changes made to the side yard and the backyard. They were long overdue. Here are the before and after shots to show the difference. We don't have all the nice finishing touches done because that can wait for cooler weather and less mosquitos!

Our backyard is bordered by a hill. A hill full of scrapy little trees and bramble bushes and stickery junipers. There was no easy way to get up to the bramble bushes, so the area didn't get used for anything except for me to dump grass after mowing the lawn.

Here is is before:

And here it is after: Whoo-hoo!

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Here is the area off the front porch/walk. Nothing remarkable. It's all downhill to the neighbor's driveway and filled with yet more stickery junipers.

Here is the view from the neighbor's driveway, looking up towards the front porch.

This is now the view, downhill, from the front porch!

And the new view, uphill, from the neighbor's driveway. We know the neighbor is happier! Mark cut down the whole huge 2 1/2 story bush that was growing on the corner. It opened up the whole area. Yeah!

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And last, but certainly not least - our old retaining wall, off the neighbor's driveway. (The neighbor planted those awful privet bushes, so Mark left them for him to prune.) The wall was deteriorating, drainage was a problem, and we could never simply walk all the way around our house. Very frustrating. Part of the reason it looks so bad is that we never went down there. We only own about a 10' strip, then comes the neighbor's bushes and driveway. We'd totally forget about it.

And here's the new retaining wall and fence!!!!!! A masterpiece!!!!! The privets are gone, and the neighbor even cut down some that were on his side of the property line. Drainage has drastically improved and we can walk around the house now!!!!!!! We are very happy and I think the neighbor is even happier. (There is a space under the sunroom that isn't blocked by the fence, so we have a dog gate up there for now. It will be replaced by white lattice asap.)

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But don't forget the fence! (I thought I had a better picture, but it's late and I don't, so this is what you get to see today.) No more unknown kids cutting thru our yard!! Now the girls and dogs can play safely and I don't have to stand over them every second. Yeah! We cleared out a TON of brush from the top of the hill for the fence to be installed. We have a little more work to do there (in cooler weather) and then we'll fix it up and maybe put an adult swing and platform there. We'll actually be able to use our property! And, ultimately, if anything happens at Mark's work, the house is more saleable than before. (Hopefully we won't have to deal with that...) I have to say that the steps and retaining wall are as solid as you could want. If a tornado came thru, the house would be gone, but the steps and wall would still be standing! The guys who did the work for us also did some incredible work for our neighbor on the other side, and now they are working for another neighbor as they totally re-landscape their backyard and install a pool and hot tub. The fence guys were fantastic, too. It's nice to have such good work done by professional people at a reasonable price.