When I bought my house nine years ago the yard was sadly neglected.  Colorado had just gone through one of the driest summers on record.  And the house had been empty for months.  The only green thing in the yard were the weeds (of which there was an abundance) and the cactus.  All summer we worked and worked one little piece at a time because as my mom was fond of telling me, "Rome wasn't built in a day ya know." That fall my mom and I planted 150 red tulip bulbs on the south side of the driveway.  There wasn't a lot of room to do planting and we were getting rid of the grass for a more xeric landscape anyway.  There are six rows of 25 red tulips.  That first spring they were spectacular.  Then the next fall we planted yellow and yellow/red tulips in between the red ones.  There are some holes that need to be filled in, but I love pulling into the driveway and seeing this ray of spring!