need help w/ townhouse backyard backs to parking lot

9 years ago

Hi everyone I need some help please, I have a end unit townhouse that faces south sun rises on the left in the pics, its an end unit with a bump out so the backyard is about 35 feet long by 15 or so wide. There were nothing but 5 foot weeds and a over gown holly tree in the back yard. It was a short sale and they weren't taking care of the back.
I recently planted a few trees. A Japanese Kwanzan, a red rocket crapemyrtle from a nursery and cheap crapemyrtle from HD. I have a second cheap crape from HD that I just put into a larger planter till I decide what Im doing. I have had a double knock out rose bush for about 3 years and other things that have come and gone but no trees until this year.

Could some one offer suggestions to add more privacy and more green and other colors. I am up for removing a lot of brick to put down sod or whatever. there is concrete under that brick that the table sits on. you can kind of see how the brick is level there lol.

The expensive red rocket crape is planted against the fence and has mulch around it and it has multiple trunks.

The small cheaper crape with a single trunk is in the corner on the left side.

The Kwanzan is planted near the deck and ac unit. I pulled up the bricks and dug about a 3.5 foot hole.... it was mostly clay that deep. but there are plenty of trees around here growing in this stuff. IS that a good location?

I have Phyllostarhy spectabilis bamboo that I just received today. Its beatiful! They are in temp planters till my stock tank arrives. The bambo is there to block my neighbors porch.

I would to plant one more thing where you can see the crushed stone from where I pulled the brick in the far right corner.

This post was edited by markjg on Mon, Jul 7, 14 at 21:11

Comments (14)

markjg
Original Author
9 years ago
$23 crapemyrtle from HD and a evergreen shrub I had for a couple years but transplanted next to the tree.

The ground here doesnt get sun till about 10 or 11 am. the tips of the tree gets it around 9 or so. I would like to add some ground cover here with some interesting stuff. I walk by here on the way out

This post was edited by markjg on Wed, Jun 4, 14 at 15:12
markjg
Original Author
9 years ago
west looking east. right side of pic is south

This post was edited by markjg on Wed, Jun 4, 14 at 15:06
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markjg
Original Author
9 years ago
from the 2nd floor window. I would like to plant a tree or some privacy cover in the area where the crushed stone is in the corner. suggestions please?
markjg
Original Author
9 years ago
Kwanzan tree by the ac unit and trash cans. I plan on building a cover screen for the ac. and you can see the porch railing. I can build or have my good buddy build me anyting so any suggestions and your ideas would be really great!

Ive seen some really great ideas on this forum

Mark
markjg
Original Author
9 years ago
Kwanzan

I move that fountain around a lot while working in different parts of the yard hehe

This post was edited by markjg on Mon, Jul 7, 14 at 21:11
markjg
Original Author
9 years ago
from the deck.
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Yardvaark
9 years ago
Before making more changes to the brick patio, I'd commit them to a paper plan. If you later wish you hadn't removed some of it, it's going to be costly and a pain to add it back. If you create a plan first, there will be no wondering when the brick is reconfigured that it is correct and will work out well in the end.

Also, I hope you are stabilizing the edge with new edge restraint where any brick has been removed. Otherwise, the patio will begin a slow but steady process of disintegration.
markjg
Original Author
9 years ago
I think I need to remove the Kwanzan tree I think it's too close to the AC and deck
:(
lazy_gardens
9 years ago
STOP! You are flinging money, plants and pavers at a problem before you know what the problem is. And you can't move plants like you do furniture - every time you dig them up and move them, you set back their growth a few years.

Before you do anything else, draw up a plan of the back yard, to scale and with measurements. See the link below for detailed how-to.
On one copy of it, put is what is already there.
On a second copy, draw up your final plan.

Where do you live (city/state)? All zone 7s are not created equal when it comes to rainfall and summer temps.

The brickwork is GREAT! Don't mess with it unless you absolutely have to.

1 - The fastest way to make the parking lot vanish is with a trellis or two and some vines, or some bamboo in raised bed or beds ... a privacy screen.

2 - Learn to plant trees ... a 3 1/2 foot deep hole in clay soil, filled with the best planting mix in the world, is just a big flower pot. It won't drain and the tree's roots will not leave the hole.

Recommended practice is to dig a hole as deep as the tree's existing root ball and several times wider than the root ball. Do not amend the soil, just put the tree in and backfill, then mulch.

3 - Instead of a magpie collection of plants, repeat plant material ... several repetitions of the bamboo along the fence can block undesireable sights and please the eye.

Part of a landscape plan is to identify the needed plants by what the landscape NEEDS in that area: think function first, not "ooooh look at the purty tree".

If you want all-year blocking of that parking lot, a deciduous tree won't do it as well as something evergreen

4 - Don't use sod in a tiny back yard. It's almost as much work to care for a tiny patch as a whole lawn, and it chops up the area visually, making it smaller.

I'd treat the area like a Manhattan roof garden or a Mexican or New Orleans interior garden, with pavement, raised beds with seating around the edges, using the plants as accessories and problem solvers. treat it like an outdoor great room and entertainment area: cooking and eating zone, lounging and talking zone.

Here is a link that might be useful: DIY Landscape design
markjg
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for the reply! I live right out side of Annapolis Maryland.

I'm really lost at what to do now! I know I need to come up with a plan, I don't think the cherry tree will work in it's current location or in my yard at all...

What do you think of the planted crapes and the bamboo I'm placing by the railing to block the next door deck?

Should I just plant evergreens? How would that look with the crape to the right of the yard. I have a couple leyland cypresses around the front and a couple along the outside of the fence you can see in one of the pics.
I'm feeling pretty bad about the cherry tree and everything else now besides the bamboo and the red rocket crape.

Is there anything I can plant in the far right were the gravel is exposed? There used to be a huge holly tree in that corner.

This post was edited by markjg on Thu, Jun 5, 14 at 19:10
markjg
Original Author
9 years ago
What about this- cypress on the outside of the fence seen in pic 3 and there is a crape in the corner of the inside fence. Then what if I plant another cypress on the right side of the gate and then I have the red rocket crape in line after that.
So it's a cypress - crape - cypress- crape. In that order along the fence.
lazy_gardens
9 years ago
Leyland cypresses are a great screening plant if you have a big estate.

for a normal person - they will eat your yard - they grow fast and get huge!

Draw the plans and post them, then we can think better.

=========
that cherry tree might work. You'll have to shape it as it grows to turn it into a "patio tree" with branches tall enough to walk under.
markjg
Original Author
9 years ago
Ok I will thank you.
I meant Emerald Green Thuja. I have 2 out front and two on the side of the fence. They were there when I moved in. They are about 15 tall and I think they are actually the emerald green ones that have a S word in it, which is the color.

This is becoming stressful when before I was having a blast with it all.
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Yardvaark
9 years ago
"This is becoming stressful when before I was having a blast with it all." ... confirmation that "ignorance is bliss?"

Lazygardens is saying the things I'm thinking. (Saves typing!) Mark, you might think of the Cherry as an espalier, which are woody plants trained on supports in any fashion one wishes. Generally, they're 2-dimensional (as in tandem with a wall or fence ... search Google Images) but there's no reason they can't be 3-dimensional. If you narrow up the branch spread, you could avoid creating future branch obstructions that will be in the way of the steps, deck or patio. You must make the tree be what you want, not what it wants. Think of it as your bondage loving, cherry slave.

... Oh, and if they grow there, you might consider adding Camellia in a tree form in the square in the corner.

This post was edited by Yardvaark on Thu, Jun 5, 14 at 15:18

need help w/ townhouse backyard backs to parking lot

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