Simple-But-Cute Mailbox Flower Bed

I've recently gotten back into taking ~2 mile walks/jogs around our neighborhood a few evenings a week, just to stretch my legs, but not do anything too strenuous in the heat of summer. And while on one of my jaunts around the neighborhood, I was inspired by a neighbor's simple-but-cute mailbox flower bed. So I made my own in our yard!

 House numbers blurred for privacy

When we moved in a little over a year ago, we didn't do much to our front yard, and we still haven't, other than working with a landscape designer to get a landscaping plan put together. We haven't pulled the trigger on actually getting the landscaping done for a lot of reasons, partly because it's a lot better to plant in fall when you don't have to water as much, partly because my husband still wants to DIY some or all of it, and also because it's a lot of money that we might prioritize to spend on getting a new roof instead, since we'll need a new roof in a couple of years, but need gutters and some fascia boards (boards at the edge of your roof you attach the gutters to) to be replaced now.

But in the meantime, while we're still marinating on when we'll move forward with our overall landscaping plans, I figured the least I could do was to spruce up our mailbox area a little. It was looking pretty boring, with no landscaping but our mix of grass and weeds around it.

Taken last May when we replaced the original rusty and broken mailbox

 But as of Sunday afternoon, now it is looking like this:

We already had some retaining wall blocks left over from building our fire pit terrace in the backyard, so it was just a matter of picking up a few more at Home Depot, along with some garden soil, weed blocking landscape fabric and some flowers. Oh, and a watering can, because our hose wasn't going to reach all the way out to the street, and with my typically black thumb, we didn't already own one.

I had to do a bit of building up some soil on the back side of the new flower bed to make things level, as well as dig out the existing grass so it wouldn't grow through the new soil. And getting a nice and circular circle took a few tries, with getting the paver blocks spaced evenly. But once those steps were done, it was a quick job to pin down the landscaping fabric, add soil, plant the flowers and sprinkle some bark on top. Overall it took me about three hours to complete (and as per usual, it was longer than I thought it would take, since I was sure I would be done in an hour!)

But look how pretty it is now!

It is pretty simple, but a step in the right direction to make it look like we actually care about our front yard. I just have to hope I'm able to keep the flowers alive for a few months at least. Although my husband placed his bet that they will live exactly 41 days, if I'm the one taking care of them!

 

Eventually I'm thinking I might want to paint the mailbox post white, just to give a little more contrast. And I'm still wishing we'd gotten a fancy copper mailbox when we replaced the old one, like this one or this one. Although I suppose I could try spray painting the one we have with some metallic paint, to look more like this Photoshopped version....

Or, if I ever decide to paint our front door a bright blue, like this example that I love, it might look nice to make the mailbox match?

 via On Sutton Place

Decisions, decisions. But I'll take this tiny bit of front landscaping progress for now! My black thumb is so proud.

Anyone else doing any landscaping this summer? Or been inspired by your neighbor's yards to spruce up you own?