Several years ago, we cut the bottom branches off our pine tree by our driveway so that we could see oncoming traffic. During that time, weeds have collected underneath, adding to the tree’s embarrassment. Even our neighbor across the street was giving us subtle hints about sprucing it up. That’s when I saw an opportunity to turn something bland into something any person walking by can enjoy.

There’s this really cool place near my office called Eagle Creek Nursery. This place has more than 50 acres of natural habitat and a wider variety of locally grown plants than I have seen anywhere else in the area. They also have clearly defined signage to locate perennials vs. annuals and shady vs. full-sun plants. I didn’t have a problem finding what I was looking for!

I bought some flowers and stopped by the landscape store in town on my way home to buy some stones to build my border. It was time for the transformation to begin!

First things first: I needed to get rid of all these pesky weeds accumulating around the pine tree. After I laid out the stone border, I began the weed removal.  Since I’m around a pine tree, I can’t use chemical weed killers. Pine trees are weaker than most trees, so that meant I would need to pull the weeds by hand.

One hour later…

All clean! What a workout! I must’ve pulled about 60-100 dandelions from that little patch of dirt. My hands were ready to fall off. Now I can finally begin the fun part: planting my flowerbed. After laying down potting mix, I spaced out my flowers, keeping them in their containers. This allowed me to get a visual of what I wanted and to adjust accordingly.

I think the end result turned out well. Once the flowers grow in and the ivy starts to wrap around the tree trunk, the beautification will be complete.Everyone who walked by while I was working on it gave me compliments. That really motivated me to add more in the future! For your own inspiration, see these garden landscaping ideas.

This is the beginning stage of this project. I plan to add landscaping stone designs around the rest of the tree this weekend. Come back to see my next blog post on decorative ideas with landscaping stones!