Beautifying the Backyard

We've been doing a little work in our backyard so I thought I'd show it to you.
We (as in Mr. Welder) made this bed narrower than we originally had it.

Most everything we planted in the spring is no longer with us except the purple stuff and the shrub in the back on the left.  My uncle gave us the Crape Myrtle.  I like those.
My mom started us more shrubs like the lone survivor, which are the other green twigs you see.

And in the other back corner we went with Texas Sage since everyone else we know has had luck with it.  Plus it is known to get tall and bushy, and Mr. Welder thinks that will keep him from having to paint the electrical pole and boxes that stick out like a sore thumb.  I think a nice coat of stone white paint would do the trick much quicker than waiting for a bush to grow, but since I have other things needing my attention lately, we'll just see if it makes it to the top of the list before the bush reaches the top of the box.

Mr. Welder also put in another bed on the other side.  We planted more starter shrubs from my mom and another Texas Sage.

We also added a few new things on the porch.

The plant on the green stand is an ornamental pepper plant.  It has little purple peppers.  The yellow mums looked pretty bad when I got them and even worse now.  The light purple/pink ones did perk back up.  I'll probably replace the yellow ones.

These mums I bought full price instead of trying to shop the clearance rack.
I don't know why I thought I could bring those others back to life.

Hasn't the cooler, fall temperatures been nice this week?
Daisy is not a fan of any type of cool/cold weather.

Do you see her trying to warm up in the sun?

The shop is mostly finished too.  I kind of just left you hanging on that project.  The rock was finished, the doors are up in this picture but are installed.  And we have lights under the awning.

And lights inside.  Maybe this weekend we'll start working on the front yard.  A dirty house, stacks of laundry, and a couple craft projects are also on my "unprioritized" list.  I'll let you know what ends up being accomplished :)

What are your weekend plans?