That was then...

Our old house, which was also our first house, had one thing going for it: it was cheap.

It was also dirty, run-down, and didn't have air conditioning.  The only plants in the front yard were three dead juniper bushes and a mass of vinca major. 

We lived there for eight years, longer than I have ever lived in a single place.  We celebrated my husband's 30th birthday in the backyard and had our 10 year anniversary dinner in the dining room.  When my daughter was born, we brought her to that house.  It was home.

In the course of eight years we completely transformed it, especially the garden.

Looking back now, I can't believe we did so much.  We cut down two trees and planted a new one.  We had a fence installed one year and a patio installed the next.  We edged a half-dozen garden beds with flagstone and filled those beds with shrubs, perennials and bulbs.

My husband built one and then another red cedar shed.  I shovelled wheelbarrows full of leaf compost and mulch year after year.  I planted dozens of annuals year after year.  We were constantly weeding, planting, and planning; in fact, I was still planting up until the week before we listed the house for sale (six knockout roses in a difficult area by the oil tank that always looked shabby).

As much as I miss the plants and the garden we created, the thing I regret most is that we didn't document the before and after.