Rick & Julie’s Garden on Pung’s Lake

Rick & I have been married since 1994.  We lived in a couple  apartments  before we finally were able to purchase our first home in 1997.Oakmont…A cute little house that needed lots of love.

Oakmont holds a special place in our hearts even though we don’t live there anymore because our children were born there and because we worked hard fixing it up.   This is where all of my “decorating” bloomed so to speak.  I began to really notice my passion for homemaking there.

Before the girls were born (“BK”), we would spend lots of our evenings in the yard when weather allowed us.

Today…in our present home…we enjoy the same!

There is so much to be said for a married couple to experience the comfort, joy, and pride in working together in making your home
beautiful.

Wether you have $25 for some seeds and soil, or $300 for a full make over, it doesn’t matter.  As long as you work together and have the same goals, I guarantee it will feed your relationship.  It beats dinner & a movie by far.

…it’s good for the soul & the thighs!

Rick is the one behind all of the hard labor-ie. mulch laying, grass seed spreading, and serious weed pulling in these pics.  I am the flower planter 🙂

These are some of the prettiest pictures I have taken…I hope you enjoy them!

Happy Memorial Day and God bless all of our fellow Americans who have fought for our freedom, and to those that presently serve.

Happy 46th to my handsome husband as well!

There are lots of photos…Our yard was a mess when we bought the house, but underneath the mess was lots of treasures that the previous owners had to let go.Unfortunately due to private circumstances, the previous owners could not maintain the yard as they had wished.

We are happy that we could preserve most of it.  What’s really beautiful, is that they knew how to plant so that something is blooming every couple weeks.

It’s truly a gift to be a gardener at that level…I can plant a flower, but most of this is due to their knowledge as gardeners and they deserved to be mentioned in this post.

Hostas are great the way they come back year after year…You can split them too which is nice.  We have lots of deer, so I have to spray these with “Deer Off” which works great!

If you look closely on the brick you will see a dragon fly that stopped by for chat 🙂

Got tired of changing the water…and I never noticed a bird bathing, so…you can see we have more mulching to do, but I think leaving it natural is fine too (Rick is obsessed w/ mulch shhh!)

This is where Rick pulled lots of weeds (I mean knee deep)…but the Hosta’s come back like champs!We had an estimate done once, and they actually advised us to pull out these rock steps…wrong!

This star is from the $1 store this year…score!Also, if you like the leaded glass look…check out my stained glass post on my side bar.

There were lots of weeds on these stone steps too, that I pulled, and the small rocks were our project last year.That was tough on the back!

This is where we like to rest and look out at the swans on Pung’s Lake…

Valerie was just telling me about a frog she learned about at school that looks just like a lilly pad…hmmmm???See any???I find lilly pads fascinating!

I find this chipmunk fascinating too…except when he gets into my flowers!!!scoot you rascal!!!

I think I may turn some of these pictures into cards…so pretty!  These purple “weeds” are gorgeous…they sprouted up from us throwing weeds in there last year.Not sure what they are…do you?

Ahhhh…beautiful Peonies about ready to bloom…that ant is part of the process!Peonies make me think of my Mom…

I planted some chives & basil outside my kitchen window!Woot Woot!Little lights $1 store!

Ivy is hardy, and grows fast…it also brings luck.

Daphne and Valerie have almost outgrown this…but I still catch them on it occasionally.  My Dad may paint it for us this year…I will donate this eventually to a family in need 🙂

Prettiest photo…

Lets party guys!

This was a disaster area…Rick salvaged the brick patio that was in horrible shape, but had such character. Still have sand to lay in it, but I think Rick did a great job.There use to be trees here in front of the window, but they were way too big now.

Everything you see here we had, except the mulch.  We just cleaned it up.

Here is a quick before shot I wanted to throw in!We are getting there!Nice job Rick!!!

This use to be dirt under the deck…We decided to lay some patio bricks and stone to eliminate all the mud.Dude our lab has a private little “litter box” area over to the left.  Very convenient, and he doesn’t get muddy.

The new grass is finally growing, so we need to let it be for a while.

This will grow lots in the shade…

Love,
Julie