Ideas Please for My Empty Backyard Beds

15 years ago

Hi all! Please see a picture of my backyard below (view from my kitchen), which borders on a steep mountainside. Looks a little scary now but looks better when everything comes alive. Hopefully, you can see the 3 empty beds right before the mountainside (not to be confused with the firepit in the making in the forefront of the picture).

I want to fill these 3 beds with some attractive, easy to maintain, simple and hopefully NOT EXPENSIVE plants or bushes. Something that also looks nice in fall and winter. They should also probably not be very high. Any ideas? I am wide open. Note that I planted some holly steeds in front of my house and love them (especially how they look good in fall and winter).

Thanks!

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Comments (10)

houseonhill
15 years ago
where's the pic?
tigernyc
Original Author
15 years ago
Here is pic. Sorry! Don't know why it did not work before.
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Since the deck has quite a bit of grime and crust, I start by pressure washing it down to clean wood. After, you might need to give it a quick light, coarse sanding to knock off the "hairs" (loose wood fibers) if the pressure washer churns them up. Then it could stand 2-3 coats of deck paint (high gloss), which will make it much easier to clean in the future without always needing to pressure wash it. I prefer paint over stain because I don't think deck wood has grain that is particularly beautiful. To me, it looks better covered up. Paint gives many more options in color to choose from. Too, I think it is much more durable and longer lasting than stain. The shady yard is suited for groundcover, not grass. Wherever your property ends at the back lot line, I imagine you want some kind of privacy. That's fine to develop screening near the lot lines. But it is not generally a good idea to be screening near parts of your yard from your own view. Therefore, the yard will look larger and less gloomy if you raise the ceiling of the tree canopy by limbing up the trees. Get rid of all the low and low-hanging branches. The larger trees in a grouping are, the higher you can raise the canopy. I can't see the canopy in the picture, but for the near large tree (closest to deck) you may want to go up 20' or 25'. For the smaller outlying trees, you might go to 15'. You will have to gauge what you do at the perimeter based on local facts and conditions. It could include leaving limbs that hang over the line, low. How you intend to treat the perimeter in the future will have an impact on what you do.
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You can't add enough gravel or soil to flatten the slope enough to make a suitable badminton court without killing trees. If there are small holes, you can fill them to even out the ground a bit to make for easier mowing, but I wouldn't do more than that. It's clear that the ground is getting enough sun for a light layer of shade tolerant grass, but even if the ground was level, this type of grass isn't dense enough IME to stand up to the foot traffic that a sports area gets. If you want a badminton court, I would put it in a spot that is level and has enough sun to grow dense grass. This might require a low retaining wall with proper footings and the removal of more trees or siting elsewhere. The area you showed in the photos will be most easily maintained for now with mowing I think, though as the trees fill in branches to take advantage of the new light and space created by tree removal, it will not continue to support grass, so you may want to plant a groundcover - depending on the type of trees, you may have issues growing many plants since shallow-rooted trees compete for moisture and nutrients with herbaceous plants and shrubs. In my area there are some energetically spreading ferns that make a lovely ground cover in this type of area. At least if you are in the eastern half of North America, you will have weeds, particularly woody weeds (maples, honeysuckle, buckthorn, oaks, etc.) since this area always moves towards forest if left to its own. So to my mind, the woody plants seeding in is a far greater issue than removing leaves from gravel in the fall. Mowing will discourage woody plants from seeding in - that's how we returned our brushy fields back to fields and how we keep the woody plants from becoming reestablished both in the fields and along the sometimes shaded road verges. And you can't mow gravel, so weeds (woody and herbaceous) would need to be removed by hand if you spread gravel since even a weed whacker can throw gravel to a point of being dangerous. Gravel is a fine mulch if you live in a very dry area, but not good in areas with a respectable amount of rain IME.
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You are getting there :-)) You will have an entirely different perspective once you get the black pots elevated. And you can always add more color with flowering plants. What happened to the white/cream colored containers? You could mix them in with the black ones to make more of a statement. The pots in the middle photo (mostly blue tones) are still too lined up. btw, the groupings do not need to be equal in impact or quantity :-)
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I am no expert on landscaping, but I usually choose an area with the best sun for vegetable garden. I like raised beds as another suggested, although I've successfully gardened without. I have always had a big dog, and they seem to like to eat my vegetables, so I often fence the garden area to keep the rascals from eating all of my veggies. I would choose how you best like to use the patio space: lounging or dining. And then buy some furniture so you can sit in your yard and enjoy it. Typically I like to keep a nice long stretch of grass for my dog. It gives her a space to run, chase toys, and do her business. Otherwise I consider the yard a space I share with my dog. Rather than specifying one single area for her, we both enjoy being outside playing or gardening or just relaxing. We've encouraged our dog to use a specific area outside of the primary foot traffic area to leave her solid waste. Other than that, perhaps a landscape designer or maybe even some knowledgeable staff at a local plant nursery could help you design landscaping and help you choose plants that will thrive. Think about how much time you want to spend working in the yard and make sure to communicate that to anyone helping to design the space for you. Personally I like to spend a little time in the vegetable garden, but otherwise I prefer a low maintenance yard. Others find yard work a soothing or enjoyable hobby and might prefer a higher maintenance. Knowing how you want to use the space and how much time you want to spend maintaining it will help make sure you enjoy it.
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tigernyc
Original Author
15 years ago
Not sure what problem is. Here is a link to pic. Thx!

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/tigernyc/utf-8BSU1HMDAwNzUtMjAwOTAzMzEtMTgyN.jpg
drtygrl
15 years ago
What zone are you in?
Pretty backyard!
tigernyc
Original Author
15 years ago
I am in northern New Jersey, and we are right by a lake. Thanks!
nycynthias
15 years ago
What a lovely back yard! First off, here is your photo:

{{gwi:17580}}
nycynthias
15 years ago
OK now that we are all looking at the pic in this window, I have some thoughts to share. To me this sort of very woodsy/foresty setting lends itself beautifully to a naturalistic rock garden/alpine garden sort of feel, heavier on the foliage and structure than color. For instance, a cottage garden would look really out of place in that spot to me.

I might consider using a beautiful focal point dwarf evergreen as the major element--I can envision it being wider than it is tall; my current kick is the Globosa dwarf blue spruce, which I seem to mention in every post, LOL! I'd position that right about in the center of the photo or slightly to the right. Then fill in around it with other dwarf evergreens or loose-habit shrubs that can take some shade since it appears that this is at least semi-shady/understory. For deciduous plants with lovely early-season blooms, I'd like to see viburnums; to me, a white blooming variety would look more natural here than pinks but either would be lovely. Some evergreen azaleas might work as well since they're low maintenance but can be pruned to keep them in scale. Then I'd underplant with hostas and maybe some astilbe set off-center and hellebores mixed in. If you'd like to do a groundcover, maybe purple wintercreeper or even lily of the valley (which can become invasive, though I never consider that a problem since they smell like heaven to me and I have the room!).

Note: I do know that the dwarf evergreens are pricy, but you'd be using only one of them so to me it would be worth spending the chunk of money on it since it could form the entire backbone of the garden and become such a focal point.
nycynthias
15 years ago
I just love this thing! This is the Globosa dwarf blue spruce:
{{gwi:17583}}
tigernyc
Original Author
15 years ago
Thank you so much for your ideas. I need to consult my plant dictionary :)
nandina
15 years ago
Interesting site! Appears to be the back end tailings of a discontinued granite quarry which are common to your area. How much sun do the three beds receive in the summer? Do you know the soil pH, something best considered in this growing situation when choosing plants? Several directions that you can go with the design, once light conditions and soil pH are known.

Ideas Please for My Empty Backyard Beds

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houseonhill

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Ideas Please for My Empty Backyard Beds

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houseonhill

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