Taupe house

In 2008 I selected a color named "Artistic Taupe" (Sherwin Williams) for the house, which turned out to be a complicated shade, a soft rose that matched the hellebores in winter. I loved it, but this year I decided that a deeper tone would form a better backdrop for the garden.

 

Before

 

 

 

After

 

The color is "Simple Silhouette" from Behr.  Our neighborhood handiman Bob also beefed up the trim around the windows and door.

The plum purple door is unchanged but now looks more subdued. I thought about repainting it a new shade.  I took the quiz, "What Color Should Your Front Door Be," on Houzz and came up with Black.  No way.

http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/23794956/_trid=Ym1hdDttdHJhdW5lckBkdWtlLmVkdQ/list/Houzz-Quiz--What-Color-Should-Your-Front-Door-Be-


We also removed the shutters on the brick facade.

Before

After

On the East side, I decided to replace the shutters with tall trellises for vines.

Before

 

After

 

The liriope for the base of the trellis is ready to plant and the shade tolerant moonseed vine is on order at a native plant nursery in Kentucky, Shooting Star.

Our neighborhood handyman Bob custom made the trellises for me.  These are perfect for the space and he did not have a picture or pattern to go by.  A thousand images of trellises on Google and not one was even close.

The new taupe house is perfect for the native dogwoods and Japanese maple in Papa's garden.

Spring color

Spring is cold and rainy this year, but as often happens when spring comes late, the colors are spectacular.

These azaleas are in the backyard. Yesterday fat black and yellow bees were working the white ones.

When we bought our house in 1987, these azaleas were already planted, small tight balls of color, except for the yellow one, the Florida flame azalea, a native.  It has a spicy scent, like the perfume Shalimar.

Last year, two oak trees towering over the house were dying and had to be cut down. After the woodcutters left, I emptied the compost pile on the azaleas, hoping to save them. 

It worked.

The maturing red buckeye tree deepens in color every year. The glider below is unsafe for sitting and is now a trellis for ivy and clematis.  Does this work?  We will see.

The gold creeping Jenny is all that remains of my pond plants after Mike's dog Ace took a liking to the water.

At the entrance to the backyard, the native honeysuckle is still coming into bloom for the hummingbirds.  A Carolina chickadee already has a brood of tiny babies in the blue birdhouse.

Spring in the backyard wildlife habitat.