Sprucing up the outside

Well, my parents came to visit in Michigan, and I took the opportunity to put them immediately to work on the garden around the house!

I trimmed up the pine hedges (I don't know what they are, but they look like shrubs with pine needles... what am I supposed to call them?) Since we don't have hedge trimmers, I used scissors.  They did the trick, and I was surprised at how quickly they shaped up and what a difference it made.

You can see a bit of the before here, if you look at the shrubs:

and here:

and now:

Ta da! And now, perhaps we can plant some shade flowers in between the shrubs...

The front garden beds pre mulch and much earlier in the summer:

Now:

I love mulch. 

Also, did you notice our gutter downspout?  Does a post on gutters interest anyone?  We had them put on a while back, and we're waiting for the fancier splayed ground pieces.  I guess they're on order.  In the meanwhile, we still *finally* have gutters, which means that soon the basement will be dry-locked.  

Projects galore!!

By the way, they bloomed....

Peonies, right? 

So now my questions is: 

Now that the blooms have wilted, do I trim them?  Do I prune?  they have definitely overgrown their little structural pieces.... 

Oh I have much to learn about gardening... Soon I'll have to start my sunroom herb garden!