What's missing?

See this long planting bed? 

It runs along the side of our yard, for about 75 feet.  Right now it’s looking very barren. 

Until last fall, there used to be five huge pine trees that were each at least 75 feet tall. 

Last summer, one of those tall pine trees behind the house came down and crushed a few sections of our fence. 

Had that pine tree landed just a few inches to the left, it would have demolished the roof over our master bedroom, bathroom and the garage.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to wake up to the roof crashing in and a pine tree sticking through the ceiling!  So we called in an arborist who recommended we remove 10 of the pine trees around the house – not every pine tree, but ten that he thought would land on the house if they fell.

As you can see, there are still quite a few trees behind the house:

but that planting bed on the side is nearly empty.  We’re going to rectify that in the next few weeks.

We hired a landscaper who will be adding 2 large maple trees that will have brilliant red foliage in the fall.  He’ll also add a stepping stone pathway and a dry stream bed to catch runoff.  The little Japanese maple (a Mother’s Day gift from 2 years ago) and some of the hostas will have to be moved.  The landscaper will take care of that for us.  After that, any additional plants will be purchased and planted by moi!

I can’t wait to see what it looks like when it’s all done!  In the meantime, the spirea and the roses are blooming!