A 4th of July flowerbed

I am a very bad influence.  I convinced hubby that we should skip church this past Sunday and instead finish planting a flowerbed in our front yard.  We dreamed up the idea of a new flowerbed over Father's Day.  Our front yard has horrible grass and consists mostly of weeds - so why not substitute grass for a flowerbed, we thought.

Hubby dug out the space and we selected most of the plants on Father's Day, purchasing the goods from Kiefer Landscaping in Durham.  What a beautiful place!  They have this giant koi pond where kids (and adults) can feed the fish.
But then the empty dirt bed just sat there for 2 weeks looking far from attractive.  I couldn't let it go any longer.  

So we spent Sunday in the blazing hot sun, thanking God for a beautiful day, as hubby and I worked together on the yard project.  Our new bed includes a small Winterberry tree, two types of leafy groundcover, some purple and red azaleas, an ornamental grass, bee balm, dwarf hollies, verbena, among other plants (whose names I have since forgotten).

I think it's funny how different the before and after photos look (yes, I know, that is the point in taking before and after photos).  But one was taken on a dry, dusty day and the other taken the morning after a series of torrential rainstorms.