I did all that yesterday. Today I tackled the small gravel "patio", the back corner, and part way along the fence. Again, there are no "before" pictures, so you'll just have to use your imagination. Picture this: the ivy was out of control! It had totally spread over everything and had completely taken over. I actually didn't take too much out because I do like the look of the spreading ivy, but I cleaned out a lot of the dry, dead leaves, and trimmed back some of the branches. Then I pulled a ton of weeds, cleaned up some of the other plants, and killed two big, juicy snails.

Back in this little corner we have our little tree (I think it's a Japanese maple, or something like that. I don't really know. We got the shoot from my grandparent's yard when we moved in.) and the yellow flower bush. This has been a problem for some time. The yellow flower bush is always overgrown, but doesn't always bloom. Earlier this spring I cut it way back, and now it's just covered with blossoms and buds! I'm really happy to see it doing so well! The little tree, however, needed some work. I cut of a couple of the lower branches, and removed several dead branches further up. This tree is almost completely overwhelmed by our neighbour's tree, which is beautiful, but huge! Part of our little red tree is lost up in the branches of the other tree. Still, I think it looks much better now that it's been trimmed up a bit.

Along the back fence I tackled more bushes and weeds, and trimmed back the rosemary and lavender, although I left the rosemary climbing up the fence because I like the look of it. I left the wild rose bush for now as well since it's still covered in roses and buds. This bush and the other one further down the fence were "suckers" in the rose tree I bought when I first moved in here. That little tree died, but mom and I replanted the suckers, and the just took off like mad! They only bloom once a year, so when they're done blooming, I'll cut them way, way back.