This will be our 4th summer in our house, and every spring since we moved in, we have replaced the landscaping in our front yard. To say that Portman and I know nothing about planting shrubs is a massive understatement. We have managed to kill hundreds of dollars in shrubs every spring/summer, so this year like most other families in Northern VA, we decided to hire a landscaper to do the job the right way. The added bonus is that they warranty their landscaping for a year, so if it dies this summer we get it replaced for free! So yesterday they showed up and within an hour had completely transformed our front yard. I didn't take a "before" picture, but I found some that my mom took when Harper was born, and they show a pretty accurate "before."

And, drumroll, here is what professional landscaping can do!