before and after

It's spring clean-up time again, and this year I could hardly wait to get out there and start cutting down the old perennial stalks and gathering up fallen branches - the first step in the gardening process every spring.
Here's my front yard before I got going:

I decided to go really crazy this year and cut down the shrubs as well.  When they are cut way down, they end up branching, staying lower, and spreading horizontally, covering more space.  It's a look I like.
I also cut back the red osier dogwood in the corner, taking out all the older twigs that are no longer bright red.  That guy will come back like wildfire.
Here is the end result, after cutting and trimming:

It looks stark, but once the shrubs leaf out, it will be much improved.

I've decided to add to the plants in my garden that attract butterflies.  Wild milkweed, which grows as a weed all over my native Ontario, is nowhere to be found here on PEI.  It's the principal source of food for Monarch butterfly larvae, and it's where the adults lay their eggs.  My cousins sent me a few pods, and I pulled off the soft tops that help them fly far and wide and planted them in a row in my garden, hoping to have lots to transplant when they pop up.  Hoping for the best!