Front Yard Redo

I finally broke down and called a professional landscaper to overhaul our front yard.  We used to have a huge, gorgeous dogwood tree in our front yard that had the most incredible seasonal changes.  In spring, it would explode with white flowers and looked like a giant snowball.  In fall, its leaves would turn bright red, which is unusual for trees in Texas.  We noticed about two years that it bloomed less and less and had little color change in the fall.  This last spring, there wasn't a single bloom and it only had a few leaves here and there.  By the end of this summer, it was pronounced dead by our lawn service and we had it removed.

Pinspiration:



There are plenty of other things we need to do with our front yard as well.  We have a large crepe myrtle on one side, which is great but it shades part of the yard so much that no grass will grow and we have a HUGE dirt patch that looks awful.  I also have no flower pots on the porch as my last set of pots were stolen in the middle of the night and it made me so mad that I haven't replaced.  I mean, really, who goes around stealing people's flower pots from their front porch?  Our front steps also need to be resurfaced or covered in flagstone.

So, I should be getting drafts of the plans later this week.  We intend to redo all of our beds in front of the house and will bring one bed out much further where the grass doesn't grow under the crepe myrtle and will plant it with shade-loving plants.  We will also redo our front steps and walkway, add new borders and redo the beds by the sidewalk.  I also plan to shop for a new mailbox as well.  Of course, Pinterest has been giving me some great inspiration.  I hope to be able to share the before and after photos in a few weeks.

A few ideas:

Love this simple border

Great idea for the "hellstrip" that is b/w your sidewalk and street