DIY Network

The Smiths: Their Plans, Costs and Products From "Garden Sense" episode DGAR-209

Meet Dave and Sharon Smith. Dave, who is originally from Jamaica, works for Coca-Cola, traveling to aluminum mines and smelters throughout the world and evaluating them for supplying Coca-Cola bottlers. Sharon, a former elementary-school principal, now home-schools their two boys, Jordan and Jacob. Jordan and Jacob are into soccer; Jacob especially loves the outdoors, building forts and planting things. Both boys take piano lessons, and they have two red-eared slider turtles as pets.

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The Smith home is beautiful, but it was poorly landscaped. It has a typical and boring builder's landscape filled with the same plants as other homes on the street. Sharon would like flowerbeds to be beautiful and functional. "[The landscape plan] didn't come with a manual," she says. "It's very difficult to work with."

The Georgia clay soil--not to mention the hot weather and numerous bugs--has dampened Sharon's passion for gardening, and certain shrubs have become a problem. The couple would also like some help pruning their crape myrtles.

Gardening Challenge

Before

After

Required Project Time

The project to battle a boring landscape took a full day to complete.

Project Details

• We made a major design statement with the planting of 13 gumpo azaleas, which have beautiful pink blooms in the spring.

• We added color to the front of the home with such plants as heuchera (this cultivar has plum-colored foliage), 'Bath's Pink' dianthus, blue fescue grass and Endless Summer Hydrangea, which blooms spring, summer and fall.

• With a beautiful camellia, we created an espalier, which is defined as training a tree or a shrub to grow against a flat surface. In this case, it's a wall in the front of the home. (The technique has been used in France for centuries.)

• The crew replanted many Lingustra hollies down the hill on the side of the house; they were removed from the front gardens.

• We taught the couple how to prune a crape myrtle.

Gardening by Zip Code If you're looking to start a gardening projectbut don't know your gardening zone—visit the National Gardening Associations's USDA Hardiness Zone Finder. Enter your Zip Code to identify the proper zone.

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