Three years ago, Paul and I moved into our cute little Cape Cod in Poughkeepsie.

There were so many things that needed to be done … taking down horrendous wallpaper, painting over horrible primer-grade white paint, installing air conditioning, and more recently, remodeling our kitchen.

All of that left little time and money to improve the outside of the house, although we did have one tree taken down (leaving 8 mature growth trees on the property), and Paul has diligently fertilized the lawn, which has made for a greatly improved look to the house.

Last fall, we laid out planting beds around the house, and had a nice delivery of beautiful black mulch to fill them. Now, with spring arrived, Luis and I made a trip to Manza Farm in Montgomery, NY, to pick up the plants!

Over a couple of weekends we’ve added to the beds, and it’s really looking great! If you’d like, keep up with the progress on our photo gallery.

Here’s a rundown of everything in the beds:

1. Dwarf Alberta spruce - no blooms, sun to shade
2. Tete-a-tete daffodil - early spring bloom, full sun to part shade
3. Elijah Blue fescue (Festuca ovina glauca ‘Elijah Blue’) - no bloom, full sun
4. Purple fountain grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides setaceum ‘Rubrum’) - plumes mid-summer to frost, full sun
5. Becky Shasta daisy (Chrysanthemum ‘Becky’) - mid-summer to frost bloom, sun to part shade
6. Hyacinth in blue/purple - spring bloom, part sun
7. Tulips in purple, yellow, and a couple of special ones in red/yellow - spring bloom, part sun
8. Knockout rose in blood red - summer bloom, part sun
9. Moonbeam tickseed coreopsis (Coreopsis verticillata ‘Moonbeam’) - summer bloom, full sun
10. Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida ‘Goldsturm’) - mid-summer to frost bloom, full sun
11. Cabaret maiden grass (Miscanthus sinensis ‘Cabaret’) - plumes fall to winter, full sun
12. Moonlight Scotchbroom (Cytisus scoparius ‘Moonlight’) - late spring bloom, full sun
13. Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea ‘Magnus’) - mid- to late summer bloom, full sun
14. Impatiens in violet and white - spring to fall bloom, part sun or shade
15. Blue star juniper (Juniperus squamata ‘Blue Star’) - no bloom, sun or part shade
16. Littleleaf boxwood (Buxus ‘Wintergreen’) - no bloom, tolerates sun and shade
17. Tamukeyama laceleaf maple (Acer palmatum diss. ‘Tamukeyama’) - no bloom, tolerates sun and shade
18. Endless Summer original hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Bailmer’) - summer bloom, partial shade … blooms pink in alkaline soil, blue in acidic soil (what happens in neutral soil?)
19. French hybrid lilac in purple - blooms late spring through fall, part sun to shade