The before and afters of our front yard makeover is here! Admittedly I had never really had a front yard before we moved into our home a couple of years ago. Before now I had always lived in condos, apartments, or my parent’s house so I had NO idea how much work it takes to landscape a front yard that’s the size of ours. I thought “oh I can do that.” And boy was I wrong. I tried everything.

This was my first attempt. I thought “buy a couple of plants, dig a hole, how hard could it be?” I couldn’t have been more wrong. For starters, I knew nothing about spacing, or planting, or watering. And also didn’t really consider what things would look like in the winter.

Yikes! Stick city. I knew I needed a real professional to come in and save my yard before I wasted any more money playing landscaper so I decided to call in Cross Creek Nursery. They were amazing to work with from start to finish! They came up with a BEAUTIFUL design and best of all they came out and planted it all for me!

I chose Cross Creek because they had planted Boxwoods and Rose bushes in my back yard and they were the only plants still living back there so I knew that they knew what they were doing. I also liked the fact that if for whatever reason I needed to replace a plant, that I could simply go to their nursery and pick up a new one.

Cross Creek was professional from start to finish. They were incredibly timely with email correspondence but the thing I liked the most is that they really listened to what I wanted and didn’t want. Clearly I know nothing about plants as you can tell from the photos above. But I was also pretty picky about what colors I wanted. The landscape architect I worked with went through several iterations of design and we exchanged many emails where he would show me examples of plants and we really came up with something in the end that I was very excited about!

I was absolutely shocked at how long it took the guys to plant everything. Seeing the full two days of labor really made me feel like I got a great deal and their assistance was worth every penny. If I had done it on my own I would still be digging.

Another thing I was really impressed by was their willingness to help me save money. I had a few plants like this hydrangea that by some miracle I managed not to kill and they helped incorporate them into the design so they weren’t just a total waste. Their knowledge and know how on where to transplant them was essential.

We also added stone underneath the porch which really made everything feel so much more polished. They also installed a drip hose and snaked it through under the mulch for easy watering which was genius! It was a fraction of the price of irrigation and saves me so much time.

I really can’t say enough good things about Cross Creek Nursery. If you are local to Richmond I would highly recommend them for your next landscaping project. Or even if you are just looking to grab a couple of plants and do it yourself. Their entire staff has been just so nice to work with. Plus the selection of plants they have is really amazing!