With a few trips to Home Depot, we were able to figure out our plans for the hardscaping so we selected our stones and put in our orders. If you follow me on instagram, you'll know that these are the stones we ended up going with: the Valestone Range Grey Marseilles Paver in Small, the Decor Precast Shadow Blend Natural Impressions Cap stone, and (not shown) the Valletta Edger in Grey. I really wanted to love the red brick for the walkway but in the end it felt a bit too clean and contemporary when paired with the other stones. So, this more rustic paver won out. I really love the colour variation in the stones, from taupes and creams to greys.

But before we jumped into the dirty work, I wanted to have an idea of what to do with the landscaping. We've already established I'm not great with plants so The Home Depot sent some help my way and put me in touch with Frank Ferragine, AKA "Frankie Flowers". Frankie is arguably Canada’s most popular and trusted gardening expert and weatherman and he had some sage advice for creating curb appeal:

Along with general tips, Frankie had specific ideas for our garden:
- a formal, classic look using only two colours, green and white
- for the urns flanking the door, plant a tropical called Eugenia topiary in the centre and underplant with trailing white bacopa or white million bells
- use Pyramidal yew, boxwood, and a white hydrangea like Little Lamb hydrangea in the garden

I loved Frankie's suggestions! I would have never thought to stick to a green and white palette but I can see how it will work really well with the hardscape plan. I really have my heart set on hydrangea somewhere so I decided to test it out in the urns and see how the plant likes our partial shade conditions.


Luckily, the hydrangea is thriving! My only concern now is that we won't get all the stonework laid before all the good plantings are gone :(

So, back to work! More updates soon.

***

Disclosure: I'm completing this project as a member of The Home Depot #HDBlogSquad. Some materials have been provided for this project.