Front Yard Landscaping Ideas

newgard

13 years ago

I have lived in my house for 11 years and have updated everything except the front yard.

I would love to paint the shutters and get a new mailbox.

I also need ideas for updating or replacing the plantings in the front yard. The house faces NW.

Does anyone have any ideas????

Thanks

Here is a link that might be useful: http://photos.gardenweb.com/garden/galleries/2010/08/front_of_house_2.html?cat=landscape_design

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Comments (7)

ideasshare
13 years ago
your garden have been nice now.you have some tech and interesting in landscaping.I add some trees,stone to soft the direct sideway(it is draing under the way?)
designing their shape are key.
{{gwi:44803}}

Here is a link that might be useful: if need more shape designing
rlv4
13 years ago
Hard to say for sure with limited information. I have many questions, such as do you prefer evergreens over flowering/deciduous plants? Do you prefer the formal look or more informal? What particularly bugs you about how it looks now?

If it were my house I'd want to frame the view of the house a bit. I would want to block the view of the neighboring houses from the street. I also would try to get rid of some of the symmetry. Even if you prefer the more formal look, you can still have balance with out repetition. Finally, I'd do more out in the yard to break up the monotony of the grass.

The link below is a design that I did to illustrate my ideas. Let me know your thoughts. Cheers!

Bob

{{gwi:44804}}
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newgard
Original Author
13 years ago
Bob,

Thanks for your ideas. I never thought of putting an evergreen in that spot. It looks very nice.
I do like evergreens, but would like a mix of evergreens and flowering shrubs. I need to fill in both sides of the stairs - we pulled two dying evergreens from there three years ago and never replaced them. I couldn't find anything that would work in that spot and I didn't want to go plant the same type of evergreens again.
I definitely want to pull the red barberry because of the thorns - pulling weeds is very painful. My husband wants a japanese maple somewhere in the plan. I would also love to paint the shutters. I was thinking black, but that could be very boring.
lazy_gardens
13 years ago
Where do you live? Zone "5" can be moist, dry or muggy.

NW can be a tricky exposure - too shady some seasons and too hot and sunny others ...

I would:
1 - Remove the teensy black fencing

2 - Remove the flat-topped shrubs under the windows. Someone thought they could have a green foundation hedge there and didn't take proper care of it so it's badly shaped. Whatever you replace it with should have a mature height that is not more than the height of the windows so you don't have to prune.

3 - If the budget allows, widen the walk so it's as wide as the steps (I HATE SKINNY WALKWAYS!)

4 - Although not as exuberantly as ideashare showed, I would use the full front yard ... houses with a flat expanse of grass and a skinny fringe of "foundation plantings" look stand-offish to me. Your "welcome to my house" landscaping should start at the sidewalk.

5 - Consider some sort of arbor or pergola over the front door, with a non-invasive vine on it, to soften the rather boxy front. If zoning permits, of course. It could be as simple as a free-standing post and crossbeam, or a full-up 4-post pergola with roof beams and lattice sides.
temes
13 years ago
I agree with a lot what has been said...I did a little photoshop, it may not be very good or realistic but perhaps gives some idea what I would do. Basically just an evergreen oriented thing lol:

{{gwi:44805}}.
temes
13 years ago
Oh I forgot to add in the pic maybe some clematis climbing the wall somewhere lol.
rlv4
13 years ago
I don't know why this got deleted, so here it is again.

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