Flower Beds

We have been trying to improve the outside look of our house this summer. It's stuff we've been wanting to do since we moved here, but this is the summer we are getting it done. Feels good! One thing that we've talked a lot about is what to do around our screened in porch. The previous owners had white stone around it and planted a couple bushes. I imagine it looked great when they first did it, but I think you'd have to keep adding more stone to keep it looking nice. Plus, I'd rather have flowers/plants to look at instead of little white stones. Another problem was the parking in front of our house. When it would rain we'd get lots of nice mud to drive and walk in. Lovely. We (probably Jeremy's idea) decided to kill two birds with one stone. We dug up the old white stones in the back and filled in the mud hole out front. Jeremy counted something like 12 five gallon buckets of stone that he hauled out. It worked great! Now for the flowerbed in the back. Today Jeremy made a raised bed around the porch. I love it! Now we have to find dirt to fill it in with and then I'm hoping to plant perennials. Is it too late in the year? I hope not. Any suggestions?

We plan to do the same type of thing along our front steps, but Jeremy decided we need new concrete steps soon and it isn't worth building the beds if we're just going to tear them out again. So I'm trying to decide if there is anything I can do to make the front look at least half decent for the summer. I guess I could at least pull the weeds. :( Here is a before and after picture of what Jeremy did today. I can't wait to see it with plants!