The landscapers we hired to maintain our yard while we were in Korea were a little aggressive with the pruning of all of the native plants that were in our yard when we purchased the house (trying to not dwell on what has been done since this is very annoying to think about!), so we are starting over with new plants. We've asked (a different landscaper) for native, low-maintenance plants that will start screening out our neighbors and fill in the empty spots. They're also going to refresh the pathways we built in 2003 and put a fresh layer of mulch in the front yard. I'll be sure to post an after picture when the work is done and again this summer after the plants have grown a bit and everything is green.
