Bye Bye Evergreen Bushes

Welcome to our home. Prior to this past weekend, if you tried to approach our front door, you might not be able to make it up the front steps because evergreen bushes would overtake you. My sincere apologies.

What bushes you ask? These bushes. 

Two giant evergreen type monsters that kept growing out of control, with no pretty way to shape them. 

The more I looked at them, the more they reminded me of Oscar the grouch. It's very possible that a trash can could have been hidden in them. Andrew hated them and has wanted to rip them out for a long time. We both were ready to see them go. 

Our weapons of choice: pruning shears, a knife, "lucky machete" (name that movie), a shovel and a giant crowbar.

Who needs a chainsaw when your husband has muscles like these? He did most of the work. I just helped.

The roots/stumps were the most difficult part. We dug, chopped and hacked them loose. Sweet victory! 

We couldn't believe the difference! Those unsightly bushes were taking up SO MUCH space. 

Now, we can actually see the front of our house (and the steps). We can invest in some more landscaping and hopefully make the existing beds look better. 

We haven't paid much attention to this part of the house, but we would like to. We haven't decided if we want to extend landscaping in front of the walkway, where the new empty patch of dirt is. Or if we want to plant grass and concentrate on the beds that are currently in place against the house.

We also have plans to paint the front door and possibly the shutters, along with staining the deck. What we really want, is to have "Yard Crashers" come help us, but I have a feeling that won't happen. 

Here's a look at the before and after, sans bushes. What an improvement! Now to figure out what to do with the rest of the space...