Everything looks very nice. I love your bricks and gate and travellers palm and bromeliads etc. Some of us seem to be more of a control freak than others...that would include ME. I don't want grass in my beds! Sometimes a weed whacker will do and sometimes it takes Round Up. I'm actually going to have to break down and get an edger because I have ground cover next to the sidewalk and I want a clean cut that a weed whacker won't give.
Aren't gardening projects the greatest?!

The edging battle is never-ending. I don't hire people to do any other maintenance or cleaning chores, but I do use a lawn service and they do edging around all the beds weekly. I'll give up something else to keep my weekly lawn guys! At $18/week I can justify it for the time savings.

I think the work you've done looks great! Very nicely done and beautiful. Anything you plant in those beds will look nice. I know we are all fixated on coleus but that would certainly work here!

Since it's already hot, don't forget to mulch once you've planted, to keep down the watering and the weeds.

Very nice looking yard, tufan (that's your name?) you did a great job! I like the broms in the front bed.

Kate, name your lawn service, please. I pay $160/month with four cuttings at the most and during winter one cutting per month or less. :-/

Evelyn

Thanks for the compliments everyone. I can always count on this group to be supportive.

Abedwolke, its actually Tufa. I only heard about gardenweb because I became interested in hypertufa. So, I wanted a username that I could easily remember.

I have a weed wacker and edger, I guess I will get cracking this saturday, but I notice that everyone has a nice dirt or mulch area just beyond the planting bed so that is the look I am going for, I don't think that merely edging around it will get that look will it?

Any plant suggestions? I going for a tropical cottage look. I did go out and get some coleus. Thank you Solstice98.

Tufa, your beds are coming along very nice! I don't know about you but I just cannot deal with a weed wacker. It just kills my back. I dig trenches around my beds. They are about 4 inches deep and 6 inches wide. That way I am able to mow everything without having to use an edger or weed wacker. A couple of times a year I will take a sharp flat edge shovel and redo them. I've been doing it this way for years and it works for me. Here are a couple of pictures to show you what I mean. This spring I finished widening a bed in the back yard and put down a wide mulched path. I really wanted to use flagstone but it's just not in the budget for this year.

Before:

After:

~Betsy

Betsy, I've never heard of the trench idea, but it sounds great. I've been searching for years for a good, low maintenance edging method. How does the trench work? In the bottom picture you can't see it, so is it filled in with mulch? And does this greatly hamper St. Augustine grass from spreading in? Your yard looks great.

Yes, Please Betsy tell us how it works. Your yard does look great. I can't wait to see your plantings when you put them in. Don't forget to share pics.

Jen & Tufa, the trench is just filled in with mulch that can be easily raked back to where it belongs if needed. It enables me to mow right to the edge of the grass which means I do not have to use an edger or weed wacker to keep it looking neat. In other areas of my yard where I don't have the beds heavily mulched I just keep a bare trench. A couple of times a year (usually in spring and again early winter) I will use my spade shovel and cut out any grass that has crept into the trenches. And yes, it greatly hampers the St. Augustine grass that I have! It's a very simple method but works great for me. BTW, I wanted to have a flagstone path where the mulch is but it just is not in my budget right now. Hopefully next year!
~Betsy