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If you don’t need door coverings for privacy or light control, consider keeping them uncovered.
There isn't a lot of wall space on the left side of the door for a drape stack. I personally dislike a stack on the right side if it encroaches on the door handle.
It would be great to see a daylight photo of the view of your balcony. Do your condo rules allow balcony plants and seating? A good-looking balcony vista will enhance your view when inside your condo.
My Bali vertical cellulars stack on the right or the left and I can stack them only in the middle. Nice and flexible!
What is it about the chairs that you want to change?
Your current chairs fit into your home design. Have you considered spray painting the legs black?
Would the wood walnut version be a no? It’s 35% off…
A friend of mine just sent me this link and I kind of like them…
We got these in leather. All of the chairs have removable covers, very comfortable! https://www.kingliving.ca/shop/dining/dining-chairs/quay-indoor-dining/quay-din-chair-armless-wtx
@ellatiarella (SW Mich 6a) that is so funny as I had the same issue 2 years ago when my spouse weeded all the transplanted foxglove thinking they were weeds!
@floraluk2 thank you! With slope and ledge, my landscaping has a lot of large rocks incorporated into it.
My spouse, pulled out newly planted small blueberry bushes once and threw them away! I was horror struck. I have gotten over it and I can laugh about it now, but I still remember how I felt. lol So sorry about your Hydrangea.
Deer really do limit plant choices. In my area they chow down on hydrangeas so I can only have them in my fenced-in backyard.
Talk with a local nursery to see what they recommend that deer are less likely to browse. In my area, andromedas, viburnum, boxwood and weigela are fairly deer proof. With the wall gone, it also gives you space to plant perennials and bulbs too that will be visible from the road. I have good luck (i.e., limited deer browsing) with astilbe, irises, salvia, catmint, hellebores, alliums, coneflowers, daffodils, snowdrops.
Choosing shrubs and plants that deer prefer less will help keep your yard maintenance down. Deer spray is available but it can get old fast having to spray /re-spray large planting areas.
Since you're back to the design stage, can we consider your downspouts? At a home improvement store you can purchase a plastic extender tube that you slide/shove over the end of the downspout. They are like six feet long - it should be as long as the bed is wide so that the edging is built up over it. Then cut the plastic extender tube flush with the outside of the edging. This will ensure that rainwater isn't trapped behind the edging. Thanks.
I'm a blue/purple lover and my neighborhood has a very high deer population. Plants that work for me are as follows:
allium Millennium (August bloomer)
agastache Blue Fortune (summer bloomer)
aquilegia (columbine) (spring bloomer)
aster October Skies (aromatic aster has stinky foliage so deer don't browse it - other asters are deer candy) blooms in October
baptisia (spring bloomer)
iris (both bearded iris and siberian iris)
lavender (summer bloomer)
nepeta Walker's Low (spring to fall blooms if trimmed back between flushes)
perovskia (summer bloom)
salvia (late spring into summer bloom)
verbena bonariensis (summer to fall bloom)
veronica (summer bloom)
Hope this is helpful.
Boxwoods are subject to diseases and also to boxwood moths, whose caterpillars eat them up. In Toronto where I live, everybody is pulling out their boxwoods after the last few years of defoliation. You can spray but who needs the expense, fuss and exposure to chemicals when you can just plant something else.
My sister recently moved into a house where the same owner lived from 1955 until she moved out last year. Same as your case, the shrubs were unsalvageable after decades of neglect.
If you give us a little more information about your location (e.g. closest big city) people can give better advice about specific plants. You've said you're in Zone 6a but that covers a lot of ground (pun intended.)
I'm slowly switching out many of my plants to native shrubs and flowering plants. They need less care, and attract pollinators which I love. Your state's extension service will have information about native plants for your area. For example, I'm putting in a lot of black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) which takes no care and blooms for a long time.
GG, that is great info about stemmed/stemless. Thanks so much for that hellebore lesson.
I've been thinking about dividing my stemmed hellebores, but didn't realize they're not fans........
For fun, every few years I grab one of each of my hellebore flowers and put them on a platter. I enjoy studying the flowers up close (as opposed to my laying on the ground. LOL!)
The caulescent hellebores seem to have much "simpler" flowers, but I find the plants are much more robust with many more flowers so form quite a show when in bloom.
Zone 7a:
Tulip ”Queen of Night”
Tulip ”White Triumphator”
Tulip ”Purple Dream”
@mazerolm_3a The taller ones are beautiful purple siberian irises. The shorter ones are liatris.
Yes, same issue with 'Jantar' it fares even worse in my harsher climate that I have decided out they must come. 'Yellow Ribbon' has always proven rock hardy reliable, though large and fast growing, of course though takes well to pruning. I don't know why I haven't gotten around to sowing a large number of YR seedlings to possibly obtain a more compact form!