We were busy in the yard this Sunday — put in about four hours of work. We started while Clara napped (which turned into a glorious three-hour nap), then rotated watching her so each of us could finish projects. The goal was simple: replace that enormous weedy planting bed with grass. That bed steals a huge chunk of usable backyard — it’s at least fifteen feet wide, and the towering butterfly bush in it reaches about eight or nine feet tall.
To give you scale: here I am, 5’2″, standing inside that massive butterfly bush. No crouching — I’m completely upright.
Viewed from the other side of the yard, that planting bed looks just as overwhelming. We love attracting butterflies, but transplanting the bush seemed the best way to reclaim a big swath of lawn.
First step: prune everything back hard. It won’t harm the plants — they die back in fall and winter anyway — and cutting them way down makes digging and handling far easier. Less chance of poking an eye with a twig, too.
Once trimmed, we discovered the “one giant bush” was actually several smaller bushes that had merged together over time — kind of like Transformers, but in shrub form. That made the transplant process easier: we dug out individual root balls and moved them to the back of the yard, where there’s a wild, woodsy area we’d like to turn into a butterfly-friendly zone.
Next, we removed all the weeds and roots and worked to level the soil so it would sit flush with the surrounding lawn. That way, when we seed the area, it won’t end up bumpy or raised.
Digging revealed a substantial tree root, which suggests a large tree once occupied this oversized bed — that would have matched the scale better than the current plantings.
John also found a tiny snake on his shovel while we were working. If snakes make you jumpy, fair warning — this one was about as long as a worm and not aggressive, just a little surprise on the shovel blade.
There were a bunch of border stones that used to edge the bed. I hauled them from the backyard to the carport one by one — dreamt of getting Madonna-like arms while I carried them, though I’m not there yet. We’ve sold several to neighbors for a dollar apiece (garden centers charge much more), so hopefully the border-stone sales will help cover grass seed and supplies.
We used flat shovels to level the dirt, scraping and smoothing until the area looked ready for seed. The process involved a lot of raking and tamping to create a consistent surface.
After four hours of trimming, digging, transplanting, hauling, and raking, the result was a clear, even swath of ground ready for grass seed.
We still have a matching oversized butterfly bush on the other side of the liriope-lined path — apparently The Biggest Butterfly Bush in the World comes in pairs — so this was just Part 1. We’re also planning to remove the path-encroaching liriope, which will be a fair bit more digging but should make a dramatic difference once it’s done.
We worked on the backyard intermittently through spring and hope to dedicate some time this fall for a more complete overhaul. It will take time to reach the same polished look as our front yard, but the change already feels significant. It’s motivating to compare the before-and-after shots and see how much opening up that single planting bed improved the space.
How was your weekend? Did you get your hands dirty or encounter any unexpected wildlife?
Psst — John is prepping for his annual hydration challenge, Aquatober. He explains it over on Young House Life.