demolition days- landscaping

I can do lots of things, but landscaping just isn't one of them. I'd like to think that one day I'll enjoy planting, but at the moment I've been leaving the trimming, mowing and cutting up to Ben.. and as far as I know there have been no complaints.

Literally as soon as we pulled up to the house and unloaded Ben and his father began working on the yard. It was so horribly overgrown- a sure sign of years of neglect. We had joked when we were in contract that just a few days of yard work alone would bring up the value of the house significantly. And really in truly, as soon as the first trees were trimmed, neighbors started pulling up and commenting on the progress of the house..

before

after

Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of the complete pile of brush but below is what they took off from the bushes next to the house..
Now picture that times four and you'll have an idea of what we ended up with- and we aren't even done!

Most of the yard was just overgrown with weeds and old flowers (like the area below)..

ignore the radiator cover- this must have been taken before the dumpster arrived!

We decided that instead of trying to salvage what we had we'd start fresh in the spring. So we opted to go over everything with the lawn mower to help clean it up..
It really worked wonders.. now we just have to plant grass seed.

And I must admit the wedding present "we" received from his co-workers (that I wasn't too happy about at the time) did come in handy..
Maybe they knew something I didn't- I mean who really needs a chainsaw in a New York City apartment?!? Especially one with such little storage space.

But Ben had lots of fun trimming trees..
And with a little bit of my help he eventually moved to cutting whole (and unnecessary) trees down..
Wish we had a picture of me pulling the trees by a rope to make sure they didn't fall on the house. I'm pretty sure our insurance agent wouldn't have appreciated a claim two days into the coverage (right Dad?)

Eventually a lot of the brush was loaded into the dumpster, but there wasn't room for all of it.
In an effort to keep a "clean" lawn, Ben moved the leftover brush/trees to the back side of the house. So neighbors, if you're reading, feel free to take what you need- it would make excellent mulch!

Just a little note: due to the very long and very cold winters, we had decided to pretty much clear out what we could and then just call it a day. We'll really tackle the landscaping once the spring comes.. in the meantime any planting tips would be greatly appreciated!!