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Landscape Design

Landscape design and planning, plant help!

17 years ago

Hi I am NEW to this gardening stuff. I do have a corner right in front of the porch (right side in picture) that is covered in cedar chips with perennials planted and when in season it is pretty! However if you look at the front of the house what everyone sees when they drive by it's just a plain yard! I want something simple yet elegant. We do have 4 children so i want to leave some room for them to play in front when they like to. I live in zone 6 in Oklahoma. The house faces west and for the most part most of the yard is covered by sunlight. At the very front along the brick it is more shady of course it just depends where the sun is. I have NO clue on what type of plants or shrubs to plant i dont even know where to begin. I dont want to spend anymore than about 1000. I do plan on "planting" myself if i can.

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Comments (3)

annzgw
17 years ago
I don't know what plants to recommend for your area, but I wanted to suggest going to a few of your larger nurseries and ask if they have a designer on staff. They will often come out, draw up a plan and then help you pick out the right plants.

BTW...........can't see any photo
careytearose
16 years ago
My sister and I and our DH's have been working on the landscaping and plants at both of our houses. Their style and ours are very different. My sister and I started walking in the mornings for a 1/2 hour 2 or 3 times a week, right after the kids go to school. One of the things we do is look at all the hardscaping and plantings in the yards we pass by and talk about what we like and don't like. Gives you lots of ideas to determine what you want and what grows well in our area.

The next thing I would do is to interview your kids! Ask THEM if they could design and create that space, what would it be? What activities would they do there, what kind of plants do they like? What kind of furniture or decorations for it? You may get some very interesting answers! There are some good childrens' garden books and children's gardening books out there with lots of ideas.

We did this when we started to plan, design and "imagine" the side yard "Secret Garden" we're creating with and for our two children. Our 10 yo son wants a pond and a rainbow flower garden, our 12 yo daughter wants a vegetable garden. They both want a place to read (they are both avid readers, we have no cable and no video games or nintendo here), and a space to play games like checkers, cards or chess.And a table and chairs so they can enjoy a snack outside in their garden and invite friends over to play in the garden. Both children said they wanted fragrant plants. We put in an arch and a birdbath to also further encourage and attract hummingbirds and butterflies. They want two ducks or a chicken too- we'll see! We already have a dwarf rabbit and a outdoor cat. I want a corgi, so like I said, we'll see!

To see some pics of their Secret Garden in progress, check out my Picture Trail:

careytearose

Here is a link that might be useful: look in the Landscaping Projects 2007 album
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rsingley, I did not say that what one pays is irrelevant. I meant was that if you value a particular designer over other designers the cost of the other designers is irrelevant. It is comparing the price of something that you value (and probably a lot of other people value) to the price of something you don't value and expecting to pay the same price. You don't do that at the grocery store or the car dealership, yet somehow people think it should be different with designers. All designers want to charge a lot of money. Some are valued enough that they can and some are not. It does not mean that one is more talented than another, but that one has positioned him or herself in such a way to be valued more. That could be because they are well known to other professionals and are recommended by people trusted by their potential clients, it could be that they are connected to a well known company, it could be that they advertise enough to be recognizable, and sometimes they sell themselves well in person. In the end, it is a matter of whether you value the designer enough to pay what they charge. There are two variables that are both attached to individuals. One is the designer attached to his/her price tag. The other is you and how much you are willing to pay. It is far more likely that you will adjust what you are willing to pay for a particular designer than it is that the designer is going to adjust what (s)he will charge you. Leaving you with two options - find a different designer, or pay for the one that you like.
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I would plant it diagonally off the corner of the house if possible, and if you don't own enough space, then plant if straight toward the street from the house corner, expanding the bed to accommodate it. It will help break up that large wall next door as well as not blocking the low front window. I would keep the plants in the area of walkway low and far enough from the edge so visitors don't feel like they have to avoid the walk edges. I agree with the previous poster who suggested adding mulch over the pine straw instead of removing it. Just use a brown mulch so it isn't the main feature. For specific plant suggestions (for which I will be no help since I am3- 4 zones colder than you), you want to add the amount of sun this part of the garden receives and your USDA zone - you have already given us your general location. One of the issues I see with your current plants is that they are all fine-textured and of a similar color, so having a bit more variety in general plant appearance will make it look better while still having multiples of each type for visibility from the street. You might want to take photos of your current plants and get them IDed on the Name that Plant forum here on the Garden Web part of Houzz. [Name-that-plant forum[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/name-that-plant-dsbr0-bd~t_29966) It may be that at least some of the plants will be a good choice for that spot if used in combo with some replacement plants. You haven't really explained why you are planning to move all of them.
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Attached are a few pictures of the front yard -
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I can see you have some room to work with, but we're not able to tall exactly how much. You'd need to figure out logistics -- placement, and how things are accessed -- in plan (bird's-eye) view instead of perspective view. The plants are generic, not specific. You'd use what works to make such forms in your climate.
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laurabs
16 years ago
I think you are in Paul James' neck of the woods there. He has a show on HGTV and he has a 5-acre yard he uses in his show. Some real temperature extremes there, but his yard is very lush and green with lots of rock walls and paths.

Gardening By the Yard is the name of his show, I believe. Worth taping.

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