Creating Curb Appeal in Side Yard

Do you have a side yard that is begging for some enhancements? Consider adding a garden area with stone and mulch to add some amazing curb appeal. We've previously shared the transformation of the front yard on this FSBO senior home in Lakes at Leesburg. Let us show you what we did in the side yard to tie the landscape design all together.

Creating Curb Appeal with a Side Yard Garden
19 Tortuga Way, Leesburg, FL 34788

Initially, we started our side yard project at the back area next to the opening into the carport and then expanded it to the back adjacent to the shed. Along the side, next to the carport, we dug up an area about 18 inches wide to include red stone edgers and red lava rock. We then stopped that portion of the side yard improvement and jumped to the front curb area.

It was a wee bit challenging to decide how to handle the placement of the water meter as it was set a bit lower than the rest of the area. It took a little maneuvering with the stone edgers to create an "indented" area. We think this actually looks like one of the states -- perhaps a little Utah? 

Oh woe is me! This place needs some CURB APPEAL !!!
19 Tortuga Way, Leesburg, FL 34788

Let us remind you of the lack of curb appeal before we got started transforming the exterior of this home! It is kind of amazing to see the finished result especially when you compare it to the before condition.

Creating Curb Appeal with a Side Yard Garden
19 Tortuga Way, Leesburg, FL 34788

The side yard area was handled as mini-projects -- kind of like little puzzle pieces that fit together to create one design. We initially planted Aztec grass and salvia in the front yard side garden. Heading to the back, in that side yard, we did a triangular garden area with more red mulch and red stone edgers. We opted to go triangular so that we could install a stone and rock patio area to connect to the golf cart path along the carport.

Creating Curb Appeal with a Side Yard Garden
19 Tortuga Way, Leesburg, FL 34788

In the triangular side yard garden, we planted sunflowers! For four consecutive years, we maintained sunflower gardens grown from seeds. The first year, in our Jacksonville back yard garden, we used four different variety of seeds -- mostly Burpee. The fourth year, the sunflowers were grown from the seeds of an amazing wine-colored Autumn Beauty sunflower.

After planting the sunflowers, we noticed little brown bunnies in the area. One morning, over half of the sunflower seedlings we had growing in our backyard garden were nibbled to the ground! The remaining seedlings were moved to this triangular garden and then surrounded by wire decorative edging and the red polka dot pinwheel. The bunnies seemed to leave these sunflowers alone ... but then the squirrels found them! What to do? We tried crumbled moth balls that were spread around the area.

Creating Curb Appeal with a Side Yard Garden of Sunflowers
19 Tortuga Way, Leesburg, FL 34788

In the photo above, you can see that the wine-colored Autumn Beauty sunflowers are doing well. Notice on the mulch around them how crumbled moth balls have been sprinkled there. It was a good deterrent to bunnies and squirrels.

Creating Curb Appeal with a Side Yard Garden of Sunflowers
19 Tortuga Way, Leesburg, FL 34788

Of all the sunflowers that I have grown in my four sunflower gardens, the Autumn Beauty variety is my favorite. I also discovered that squirrels in Jacksonville AND Leesburg, Florida LOVE the Autumn Beauty blossoms! I'm not sure what it is about this variety -- perhaps the wine color?

Creating Curb Appeal with a Side Yard Garden of Sunflowers
19 Tortuga Way, Leesburg, FL 34788

Once the Autumn Beauty sunflowers blossomed, the side yard curb appeal was pretty amazing. Neighbors were driving or walking by daily to check out the sunflowers. It is very satisfying to grow sunflowers from seeds ... I'd say my only "regret" -- if you can call it that -- is that sunflowers seem to have a life of little more than 90 days ... and then you need to start over. When the sunflower heads are read to cut from the plant to harvest seeds, I generally take out the plants.

Creating Curb Appeal with Front and Side Yard Gardens
19 Tortuga Way, Leesburg, FL 34788

Here is a view of the property after exterior enhancements -- virtually EVERYTHING has been "touched" with a designer's brush to create a visually-stunning finished piece. Classic Burgundy painted accents draw the eye across the front of this property.

If you love what you see, you can be the new owner of this stunning senior home in Lakes at Leesburg. We are pleased to offer for sale by owner this cute cottage-style, senior home at 19 Tortuga Way in Leesburg, Florida.

Artsy Autumn Beauty Sunflower Collage

For the past few days, I have been inspired by the beautiful Autumn Beauty sunflower blossoms emerging on the first sunflower plant of 2015. Thanks to Facebook this morning, not liking my artsy collages, I am taking time to blog about it.

On April 22, 2015, the first Autumn Beauties emerged along the side of my sunflower plant.

FIRST THREE AUTUMN BEAUTIES

There are the early emergers! The three beautiful Autumn Beauty sunflowers. The color is like rich merlot or perhaps a rich shiraz and remind me of a velvet-like fabric.

For the past couple of months, I have been watching that singular sunflower plant as it weathered our freezes. I'd cover it some nights to protect it from the cold. That plant just popped up, out of nowhere, this year ... so I opted to go with it. I was daily wondering, "what color will those blossoms be?"

ARTSY AUTUMN BEAUTY SUNFLOWER COLLAGE

This very morning, I was sharing those three sunflower photos on Facebook when one of my friends, Anna, suggested that I might want to do a collage. Hey, that was a great suggestion as I have done many artsy collages in the past. A collage is a good image to compile when you find it difficult picking just one or a couple photos.

 

So, I started to create my design in PhotoShop. Once I had the first sunflower collage prepared, I thought that I needed to change the background to create a colored mat. I went first with a white background, then black ... and then thought two more ... merlot to reflect the rich color of the blossoms ... and then green, to pick up the pretty colors of the leaves.

I then did a short post and added those photo collages to my post. However, just as soon as I went to submit that post with photos, Facebook told me my post was blocked. And, informed me that I could submit my reason they might have gotten that wrong. Good grief! OK, it was time to get back to my blogging.

Perhaps Facebook was being an art critic? What do you think??

Say, be sure to check out the beautiful line of designer throw pillows on Zazzle. These pillows showcase my authentic and original sunflower blossoms from my very own flower garden in Jacksonville, Florida. And, all those blossoms came from plants that emerged from the humble seed. This year, I am into my third such garden. Enjoy!

Oh, and by ENJOY, I didn't mean STEAL my copyrighted images!

First Sunflower Blossom of 2014

It finally happened! Yesterday, May 14th, we were at 61 days for our second DIY garden of sunflowers. That was quite the day! On May 12th, we wrote about how the bud was emerging into a yellow blossom. Then, two days later, I noticed that the yellow bud had finally opened to reveal itself. It's not one of those mammoth blossoms, but it still is quite pretty!

FIRST SUNFLOWER BLOSSOM OF 2014

The First Sunflower Blossom of 2014 ~ JaguarJulie
Arrived on May 14, 2014

What is really awesome about the location of that first sunflower blossom? Would you believe it is right in line with my view outside my home office window? I mean, when I look to my left, outside the adjacent window, I can see it!! It looks like this ...

The First Sunflower Blossom of 2014 ~ JaguarJulie
Arrived on May 14, 2014

It is really quite thrilling to finally have a blossom appear after nurturing this flower garden for 61 consecutive days! Much love and attention has gone into the garden; probably more attention than I spend on myself.

The other thrilling part about the whole thing happened on May 14th as well. After tending to my garden, I came inside, fixed myself a cup of dark-roasted Costa Rican coffee with my Bella One Cup coffee maker. And, then I came into my home office, opened the window and gazed out at that first sunflower blossom of 2014, and opened my inbox.

SQUIDOO LENS OF THE DAY

Holy Smokes! My DIY Garden of Sunflowers lens was being featured as the Squidoo Lens of the Day on May 14th - the same day I saw my first blossom. We just had a full moon; and the planets had aligned.

SECOND SUNFLOWER BLOSSOM OF 2014

It just keeps on keeping on ... today, May 15th, as I did my walk through of my garden, I spied the second blossom emerging!!

The Second Sunflower Blossom of 2014 ~ JaguarJulie
Arrived on May 15, 2014

This second sunflower blossom just happens to be an Autumn Beauty. You can see the pretty orange and reddish colors.

After all the traffic and attention my DIY Garden of Sunflowers lens received for being the lens of the day, today it jumped to the top spot of all my lenses, knocking out my formerly top page, Stuffed Cabbage : The Best Stuffed Cabbage Rolls Ever!

Last, but not the least, I was thrilled to receive in the mail today, my signed copy of Kelli Ellis's Do I Look Skinny In This House? How to Feel Great In Your Home Using Design Psychology. It arrived in the knick of time for me to hurry up and get my skinny on!

What a day ... or two, eh?

First Sunflower Blossom Emerging

I am happy to report that I detected my first sunflower blossom peeking out this morning from the bud. We are at 59 days and counting! What's interesting about it is that the plant is only about 35 inches tall. I have many other sunflower plants much taller than that plant, however, I didn't detect any other blossom emerging.

Could you guess what COLOR that blossom is? It rather is like what I saw in last year's garden ... that I had a number of shorter plants that blossomed first and they were all similar in color. The color? Yellow!!

Take a look at the peek-a-boo blossom:

First Sunflower Blossom Emerging at 59 Days : The Color Yellow
Photo Taken: May 12, 2014

I captured the sunflower bud and plant photos early on the morning of May 12th.

First Sunflower Blossom Emerging at 59 Days : The Color Yellow
Photo Taken: May 12, 2014

If you look at the middle of the plant photo and then move your eyes up a bit, you can detect the yellow blossom peeking out from the bud. You also get an idea of the height of that plant in relation to the others around it. In fact, the peek-a-boo blossom was rather hiding. I would have seriously thought I would be seeing a blossom coming out from the taller plants more into the sunlight. This one is actually on the back side of the fourth row nearest the house!

PRETTY SUNFLOWER BUDS

Over the course of the last several days, I have been capturing a lot of photos of buds. Oh my, but I can't wait until they open up and become blossoms because I think those will make more interesting pictures! However, since I have so many bud photos, I decided to run my own contest and try and select two favorites from the last three days of photography. Ready?

In the three rows above, you have two sunflower buds from May 10th, May 11th, and May 12. It would seem my favorites have a bit of red to the leaves. I'm thinking these may be the Autumn Beauty Sunflowers! These were probably the most defined buds, with the bud in the last row, on the left, actually looking much like a rosebud!

SUNFLOWER PLANTS OVER 4 FT.

This morning, I had about three different sunflower plants at 52 inches tall. When I went out to check on my garden this afternoon, it looked like two of those tall plants had grown more!

Here is a photo of the sunflower garden at 59 days with many plants over four feet in height!

My Sunflower Garden at 59 Days ~ JaguarJulie
Photo Taken: May 12, 2014

The blossoms are coming, the blossoms are coming! If you want an idea of what these will look like, check the pictures in the amazon widgets below. Those are for Burpee Sunflower Seeds ... that's what I used!

Gaillardia Pulchella Indian Blanket Flower

I was recently in my local Lowe's garden shop taking a second pass at all the flowering plants. Then, I came upon the Gaillardia plant; more specifically known as Gaillardia Pulchella Indian Blanket Flower. This beautiful flowering plant has a variety of names including Indian Blanket, Indian BlanketFlower, Firewheel, Goblin and Sundance. I'm also thinking it could be an Autumn Beauty like the sunflower!

Thank you for visiting. Might I suggest YOU try growing your own? You will get a lot of joy out of photographing YOUR flowers and sharing those photographs online.

Gaillardia Pulchella Indian Blanket Flower
Photographed September 19, 2013 by JaguarJulie Ann Brady

I was actually looking for a couple of daisy bushes to add to my second garden in the backyard. That second garden is adjacent to my sunflower garden. I asked the cashier if they had any more daisy bushes, but none were to be had.

Gaillardia Pulchella Indian Blanket Flower
Photographed September 19, 2013 by JaguarJulie Ann Brady

The very moment I spotted the Gaillardia plant, I was sold. In that second garden, I've planted several daisy bushes so I wanted a flowering plant of a yellow color.

Looking at the colorful blossom, it does resemble a pinwheel and the colors surely do match up with the Autumn Beauty Sunflower Plant that I grew from seed. I didn't realize that the Gaillardia is in the sunflower family!

I planted four different Gaillardia plants in my garden. Looking at the blossoms, I see a subtle bit of difference between the two plants' flowers. The plant on the left has more vibrant yellow at the outer edges whilst the plant on the right seems to have more pinks and reds.

Gaillardia Plant Features:

The Gaillardia plant tolerates poor soil, heat and drought conditions. It grows best in fertile, well-drained soil. To encourage flowering, remove the faded blooms.

Season: Perennial
USDA Zones: 3 -9
Height: 12 to 24 inches
Sowing Rate: 3 to 4 seeds per plant

Environment: Full Sun ~ 20 degrees to 10 degrees Fahrenheit ~ Semi-Moist Soil

Planting Instructions: Dig a hole that is two times the pot width. Set the root ball into the hole to be even with the ground. Add planting mix and combine with garden soil. Fill to ground level and tamp down soil around plant. Water to settle the soil around the plant. Add a layer of mulch around the plant. Be sure to water daily until the plant is well established. Keep the soil semi-moist to promote healthy growth.

Gaillardia Pulchella Indian Blanket Flower
Photographed September 19, 2013 by JaguarJulie Ann Brady

Love these flowering plants? You too can grow them if you have the right environment. Why not try some Gaillardia pulchella seeds. Look for the subtle variations in the Gaillardia flowering plant! And, don't steal my photographs ... use your own!

Singular Gaillardia Pulchella Indian Blanket Flower

Recommended Resources:

• Gaillardia was named after an M. Gaillard de Merentonneau or perhaps Charentonneau, an 18th-century French magistrate who was a patron of botany.
• Gaillardia pulchella thrives in much of central United States, from northern Mexico to southern Canada. It is the state wildflower of Oklahoma.

Autumn Beauty Sunflower Pictures

I first shared some awesome and colorful Autumn Beauty Sunflower Pictures from my sunflower garden on May 22, 2013. That was just one month ago, and since that time, I have amassed over a thousand pictures of the beautiful blooms and buds growing in that garden!

I think it is important to mention that my original photography is not being shared here in this blog post for YOU to STEAL for your own purposes. This is my original work; you know? Why don't you try and grow your own sunflowers that you can photograph and share online ... stop stealing my work!!

A Majestic Autumn Beauty Sunflower Blossom

I honestly never imagined just how enriching this experience could be. I had spoken about planting sunflower plants for a couple of years, but hadn't tried it yet. Then, it seemed rather out of the blue that I decided I would devote an entire garden to these beautiful flowers ... and even more so, that I would opt to plant them all from seeds.

Three Magnificent Autumn Beauty Sunflower Blossoms

For over one month, I have taken photos of my sunflower blooms in the morning and evening. In all my life, I have not photographed any other flower more than a sunflower!

Aren't these sunflower blossoms fabulous? I have presented them in a mosaic of photos so that you can appreciate all the beautiful characteristics of the blossoms. You can see the vivid array of colors from yellow-orange to orange to red. It is incredible to see so many variations and to think all these came from little Burpee Sunflower Seeds!

Two Vivid Red Autumn Beauty Sunflower Blossoms

If you look at the last picture in my artsy sunflower mosaic above, you will see a red Autumn Beauty sunflower blossom with a bud. Take a look at how pretty those flowers are above. I wanted to share this updated photo so that you could see the bud in bloom. I think it is a bit of art!

A side-by-side comparison of two rather orangy sunflower blossoms. On the left, is more of a reddish color. And, the sunflower blossom on the right has a orange sunburst of colors.

A Buggy Autumn Beauty Sunflower Blossom

Why do I call that a buggy sunflower blossom? Well if you look closely at the top of the flower, you will notice something buggy going on with the petals. I'm not really sure what type of insect that is, but I can see that it has been enjoying the petals of the sunflower.

An Impressive Warm Sunflower Blossom Threesome

It is quite impressive how so many of the blossoms seem to arrange themselves in the garden to make such a beautiful presentation. Like this threesome with the larger blossom placed up against two complementing, smaller blossoms. With a slight variation in orangy colors! Lovely.

Magnificent Autumn Beauty Sunflower Reaching for the Sky

Just when I thought I had seen all the beauty that my sunflower garden can produce ... along comes this magnificent Autumn Beauty sunflower plant that is so vividly red in color. It is from the organic seeds and it is a beauty!

You know, I started The Sunflower Project recently in which I am giving away free sunflower seeds to those who want to grow their own sunflowers. In the project, after your sunflowers have bloomed, you are to harvest the seeds and then pay them forward so that others can grown their own.

Several pretty Autumn Beauty sunflower blossoms

Well, thanks for dropping by to check out my pretty Autumn Beauty Sunflower Pictures!

Several pretty Autumn Beauty sunflower blossoms on a sunny day

It gives me great joy to be able to experience these each and every day, and greater joy to be able to share their beauty with my readers. Thanks for being there!