Today we started a new client and a new spring project. Spring tidy is the plan and we will move one Hosta at our homeowners request, to create a border/anchor between our client and their neighbor. 

The left side bed is pretty low growing natives and the right side bed was just full of weeds, so we tidied the bed up leveled all the soil and filled a fairly large area in the corner with soil, once we removed a square brick area that had been placed in this bed, by a former owner to accommodate a grill. We took all that out today. Our homeowner wants shade tolerant and low maintenance plants in the bed toward the back and some slate and two chairs more towards the front. A little “oasis” for them to sit and visit and enjoy the new common ground area that has been recently created by the PFX crews. Three (3) hours today. 

We will be going back tomorrow to remove most of the slate and then see what kind of condition the soil is in under it. This will give us an indicator as to what kind of plants might be possible considering a lot of shade, the soils condition and low maintenance as our guide for success.

With the hope that the soil might be conducive to plants or shrubs, we will then visit the nursery on Sun morning to make a selection along with our client.

Now that it’s pretty much cleaned up, they have more of a feel for how much space they really have and after our digging up of some of the soil to see it’s condition, we will be better able to advise them on what to plant in the back one-third of this fairly nice sized bed. This area will hopefully become their “living” backdrop. 

Hours going forward are at present undetermined until after tomorrows digging excavation. We just aren’t clear yet on how planting is going to be, and certainly no point in further planning until we complete the work.

So we’ll report back tomorrow.

“Contessa” says…it’s all part of the fun of our project!

(REVSED) Tuesday – 5/9/34 – 8:00 pm

Oh look at what we have unearthed!

We were asked to dig to survey for good soil that might be suitable for planting.This is what we found. A stone patio, each three inches thick and closely and precisely positioned to create a very nice small patio.

A trusted neighbor two doors down told us that the prior owners had hired a company to build it. Unfortunately our community association had not approved it and creating patios in your front yard is prohibited. So they were told it must come out. But the homeowner instead, after so much work and expense, simply covered it with mulch. The next owner covered it with dirt about two inches thick. So today we unearthed it. Now the decision is what to do about it.

Our primary goal today was to determine if our new homeowner can plant some bushes in this bed. And the answer is yes. Because the back third of the bed is just soil. And in fact a steel embedded border is deeply placed at the back of the stone creation.


We had begun at the front of the bed removing stones to see if they were continuous. And indeed they were. Our client decided to have us clear the whole patio of all the dirt so we placed it in the back to create a nice bed for planting. And this soil is marvelous to use for just this purpose.

It is now up to the homeowner as to what they want to do.  Take all the stone out and sod the area, or plant the area or attempt to get an approval to keep the stone patio “as is.”

In the interim of decisions, we are meeting our client at the nursery on Sunday morning at 9:30 to select some shade tolerant flowering bushes, specifically for the back section.

Our client is excited about picking bushes and getting them planted, and we are happy to follow through on this part of their project, if indeed she finds what she wants.

About an hour ago we billed at 6 hours for the project, to this point. Let’s see what our next steps will be. We are here to follow it to conclusion, but into next week.  Because tomorrow through Friday we are booked on another project about four blocks away. We are pretty sure it will all come together. Please do come back and visit us….to see how we finish up.

“CONTESSA” says…..it’s all very good!