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Landscape Design

Large sloped front yard - help

18 years ago

I am at a loss as to how to landscape this front yard. We would like to eventually put a turn-around from behind where the car is into the middle of the yard. There are large long steps that go from the front door to a small patio in front of the glass doors on the left bottom of the house. They are about 1 foot our from the house so that allows some planting there.

I appreciate any suggestions. I have considered terracing. The front yeard areas is about 1/3 of an acre.

Julie

Here is a link that might be useful: front of house

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Comments (6)

Embothrium
18 years ago
It would be more gracious to not bisect the slope with a wall or terrace cutting across it in a disruptive fashion. Unless the lot is not wide enough there put the turnaround to the right of the drive so it is not in front of the main part of the house, the grade looks like it might be a little more suitable there as well.

Grant, GARDEN DESIGN ILLUSTRATED have pictures of a similar situation showing how sweeping lawn and related planting beds were made to produce an attractive effect.
jjtripletmom
Original Author
18 years ago
We can't go to the left for something permanent because that is where the septic is. Any other suggestion?

Julie
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I would be tempted to add some real vertical elements to the slopes, to give the effect of walking through a grove of trees. Light and airy foliage effects would be more in scale with the small size of the house, so nothing that gets to dense and shady. Bamboos could certainly work, or slender palm species such as Chamaedorea plumosa or palm-like trees such as Cussonia paniculata or C. spicata. I'd want to underplant the slope with lush foliage and texture that looks good from above, while also not needing a lot of water. An underplanting of cycads such as Dioon edule, Encephalartos horrida, Ceratozamia mexicana, along with lots of succulents or drought tolerant bromeliads such as colorful foliaged Dyckia species. I would also be inclined to make the fence more screening, and carry some plantings out to the street strip to unite the two planting areas. Alternatively, if you don't like the idea of slender narrow accents such as palms, slender narrow trees with fragrance such as Hymenosporum flavum, or weeping foliaged accents such as Mayten trees could also be used. The blank walls of the house could also be used for wall accent plants such as staghorn ferns, or pendant plantings of Rhipsalis, bromeliads, etc. Just a few accent plants on the slope could really work wonders, and this slope would be impressive with some rosettes of xMangave 'Mocha Madness', some Portea petropliteana var extensa, or Androlepsis skinneri bromeliads, set within a sea of colorful succulents such as Senecio serpens or Sedum spurium 'Dragon's Blood' or Drosanthemum bicolor or D. speciosa, both of which are virtually everblooming.
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Why are you making more work for yourself? Why do you need a terrace in the front of the house? Build a retaining wall on the end and plant with potentilla to give some color to a dark area then make a curved bed starting at the steps and going down the drive with low growing spreading junipers, plant bulbs in the fall and leave the spruce alone. Sometimes simplicity is the best answer to complexity.
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The small bed out at the end of the driveway is too small to have any impact, given the comparative size of the front lawn and house. Either make it large enough to be seen or forget about it. The bed along the driveway ends abruptly halfway down, and the large round shape at the end seems odd, attracting attention away from the front entry, which should be your focal point. I think I'd rework the shape of the beds to bring the focus to the front entry, and add more shrubs to the plantings, both low and medium height, keeping winter in mind. Large expanses of mulch are not decorative, but thank you for not using red mulch, at least. I think you need to give your trees a chance to mature a bit. You do have a lot of lawn, compared to the planted areas, but additional shrub borders will create more maintenance. You need to decide what you want from your landscape, and how much of your resources you want to put into changes and upkeep. You could also consider hiring a professional designer to help you realize your vision.
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No red line! Some dufus forgot to upload the picture. I will upload it into the previous post ... and speak to the help. You did fine without it, but still could use less overlap. There was enough overlap in the two end pictures that I didn't need the center one. If you want to use plants to create a filtered view, as opposed to completely obscuring it, you could do this with some small, multi-trunk trees with lots of trunks. These would be some type of large shrub. Like a crape. (Speaking of which you should not be pruning them off at thigh height every year. They'll never gain stature. They're supposed to be trees so trimming them off at 9' height would make more sense.) It would probably take a couple of rows. It would be good to cover the ground with a solid groundcover ... NOT mulch and "edging" plants stretched out and placed every 3' along the border. This doesn't look good. Whatever other plants you use, they should be in some kind of blocks or groups that makes sense relative to the overall scheme. Tulips would only work here if you are reserving a spot for them at the nose of the bed where they will get sun for the majority of the day. They're not really considered permanent plants as they diminish over time and need to be replenished.
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jjtripletmom
Original Author
18 years ago
Does anyone have a copy of Garden Design Illustrated that they would be willing to scan & email copies of appropriate pages said above?

thank you
Brent_In_NoVA
18 years ago
I purchased a used copy of "Garden Design Illustrated" off Amazon and it was around $10 including shipping. I don't like it as much as Ron does, but it is a decent book and well worth the $10.

- Brent
karinl
18 years ago
I think I would ask why exactly you want a lot of landscaping (at least the amount suggested by the terracing idea). The house is actually nicely framed and grounded by the surrounding treescape, and the lawn is nice. If you really want to do something you could get away with a couple of nice shrubs in the lawn or a little grouping of conifers out front somewhere. If you want riot of colour or a formal set of boxwood hedges, those would be personal preferences rather than real needs indicated by the site, at least in my opinion. Maybe if you tell us more what look you're after, people would be more able to make suggestions.
jjtripletmom
Original Author
18 years ago
I LOVE to garden. The back yard is VERY small and we will be taking up most of it with a deck some day soon. I need ideas as to where to put some beds so I can flower garden. The style of garden I like best is probably cottage gardening style.

Julie

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