Finishing the front yard!

I started working on the bougainvillea yesterday. I love how they look, but they are so messy! I last this plant down to about 4' tall and 4' wide. Not too big, right? I'm the only one who will go near it because of the thorns. (My nail polish really is that bright.)(For those of you unfamiliar with them each branch is covered in thorns. They cut deep, and are more painful than paper cuts.) The worst thing about them is they drop leaves like crazy. They end up under the plant, and all sorts of other yuck collects there too. Last time I cleaned it out I found the rotted remains of 2 dead birds. Gross! I think I found another one yesterday, but I didn't want to look at the feathery mass again. I decided I've had enough of this plant so instead of trimming it back again I started hacking away. Maybe hacking is too strong a word. I had to be careful of those thorns. (This is after working on it yesterday. That green bush in the bottom right corner is a weed that was almost completely covered by the bougainvillea, and then some of the clippings.) Today I spent another hour cutting it back. I still have more work to do so that it will be small enough that I can poison it and have Kent rip it out. I'm putting a nice, non-messy plant there in its place. (Tina, I might need your help again!) Unless I don't mind getting thorns in my arms, legs and torso I can't get those top branches.

This morning I got out the hose and started watering all the plants we planted yesterday. It was then that I realized that all but 7 of the 24 flowers we planted yesterday were stuck just below the gravel line, and the roots were exposed. I had to have the boys fix this, of course! After working on my bougainvillea, and having been pricked multiple times in each finger, I decided I could stop for the day and help the boys. I looked over at Justin who was "working" on the flowers while I was working on the bougainvillea, (who I had left like this) and realized that he'd not finished replanting even one flower. He was riding bikes with Drew. (Natalie was our photographer for their little ride. And for several shots of my rear and chest. Nice. She was mad when I posed for this picture. Apparently it's not as much fun to take pictures of people when they can see you're snapping away. ) I got down on my hands and knees with the kids and helped them replant the flowers. We got them all planted and watered, and I think they should all survive. This is the only picture I could use for planting flowers. All of Natalie's other pictures prominently featured butt shots of me while I was working. She was giggling giddily the entire time she was snapping away.