sprucing up the backyard

i know we are all over the place with our house projects.  but since the weather has been pretty decent, we've been working on the backyard.  well, hubby has been doing most of it, but me and z help a little, too.  we have plans to make the backyard look less of a coldweather rainforest and a little more organized and pretty.  hubby spent a lot of time and effort pulling up a bunch of vines and ivy and ugly bushes behind the deck so that we could sort of get a clean slate back there and start over.  he built and stained some planter boxes and we are starting to fill them in with dirt and plant some stuff.  we also spent some time and planted some pretty flowering perennials like lilac, bleeding hearts, peonies and something else i can't remember the name of.  but anyway, hopefully the squirrels won't eat the bulbs and they will grow well.  we also plan on making a small pathway through the back, maybe like a stepping stone path.  here is what the yard looked like when we bought the place, not bad but definitely some wildness:

 then after we started ripping out all the vines and overgrown bushes, also this was mid winter so things were looking bare and sparse:

and after starting to plant and get things going:

there are some of the planter boxes, and closer to the deck there is a row of rose bushes and some other flowering plants

the flowering bushes and rose bushes

so where the bark ends is where we will put the stepping stone path, and there are more flowering plants on the other side of where the path will be

a little ways back from the grass line we planted a row of lilac bushes, which are one of my favorites.  we will probably add something to line the edge of the grass as well, like some stones or bricks or something

on the left side we have a row of rose bushes along the side of the house and on the right hand side we will put some more planter boxes

this is the front, it is still looking a little rough from winter but the spring bulbs are starting to sprout!

and just for fun, here are some inspiration photos.  i hope to incorporate some of these ideas into our yard:

so, we have lots of work to do still, but it's fun and we get to be outside!  we still have to make the path, add some edging stones or something around the yard, repaint the deck, get some patio furniture, plant some more flowers, cut down a rhody or two, and on and on.  what about you?  been working in the yard?