Blank front yard

10 years ago

I'm in over my head here and stuck on a good design to brighten up our house. We cut down a Bradford pear (logs visible in photo) after it started dropping limbs, cracked, and was obviously rotting from the inside out.
I'd like to plant at least two trees: one would be a large shade tree (i.e. oak, eventually growing 50+ ft tall and ~40 wide) near the center of the yard to hide the peak of the house and break up the wall nearest the street. The second would be a specimen tree (Vitex, Mexican plumb, etc) growing ~20 ft wide to hopefully hide some of the roof and wall on the left. The specimen tree would be planted between the logs in the photo and the sidewalk.
This design would leave a clear view to and from the front door. A planting 4' wide bed curved along the driveway to meet the existing bed would create a more welcoming look.

Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.
I've also got plans to repaint the nasty green trim / door and will be cleaning the moldy brick this weekend.

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Comments (12)

agardenstateof_mind
10 years ago
Some good landscaping could certainly make your home appear as welcoming as you clearly wish it to be. I'm sure you'll get lots of suggestions, and this may not be for everyone, but I see an espalier or two against the wall on the left - it could be purely ornamental or a fruit tree (in line with the growing "edible landscaping" and increased self-sufficiency trends).
catkim
10 years ago
You must have a great view toward the back.
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Re: the weight of the foundation plantings, I think you're right. I am not a fan of pointy shrubs, the arbs were here when we moved in. They're leaning out from the house in search of light, and tied to the shutter dogs with rope to keep them from falling right over. I had thought of replacing them with narrower upright evergreens that wouldn't get as wide, or removing them altogether. I was going to photoshop them out as an experiment, but my software is acting up. The view from inside is naked. A fence would be lovely, but expensive. I also thought about a hedge, not a tightly sheared one, but maybe Viburnum or something kept tidy but not too much so. Or Boxwood left fluffy. A hedge would also keep the neighborhood dog walkers from using my front yard as a toilet. Small trees would also make the front feel more enclosed, and screen out the houses across the street a bit. They're not unattractive houses, but I don't need to see my neighbor in his skivvies getting the paper, do I? Here's what it looked like before the trees started falling apart. Not long after this was taken, half the large tree with the white writing on it fell into the road.
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Both the Northwest Perennial Alliance (.org) and The Garden Conservancy (.org) have scheduled open gardens for their members, so you could check into those organizations to see if there are enough gardens in your area to make it worth joining. Touring exceptional gardens is a great source of inspiration. What I love about my garden, which is tailored for me and without any concern about outside opinions, are these features: 1. My tiny lawn is flat so it can be mowed with a push mower in minutes (no grass catcher, no gas, no oil, no sparkplug, no fumes). 2. My small garden is hidden behind a hedge because I'm on a corner lot. I have 6 different places to sit -- 3 different tables of various sizes and shapes. I'm never in the public eye on these benches or at these tables even though I'm only a few feet from a sidewalk. I can have coffee in the morning sun and sit in the shade while I look at back-lit canna leaves in the hot afternoon. There is a hammock hidden in the shade in the back for fabulous naps. 3. I have raised beds which bring plants closer to eye level and make me feel enclosed in a terrium-like jungle of big and colorful leaves. As I get older, I like these raised beds more and more! :> 4. I have some paths that are covered with filbert shells and crunch when I walk and other paths covered with a deep layer of bark (bought at the grocery store in bags) that is very very soft to walk on. 5. I have plants all over the garden that attract hummingbirds and feed them year 'round. When I'm watering in the early morning or evening (by hand), I'm often only inches away from a hummingbird. 6. I have evening-scented plants by the back (screened) doors and winter-scented plants by the front door. 7. When I look out my windows, I look into interesting plants -- they have become my view and at this time of year look like paintings of a tropical landscape on one side and a ferny woodland on the other side. Even though I knew better, 23 years ago I planted several trees too close to my house. It's perfect for my cat who can look out windows and truly get a bird's eye view, but this is going to have to be dealt with. I planted a Colorado Blue Spruce which can grow up to be the ugliest tree in existence because of spruce aphids and that will have to be dealt with. You're pretty close to Cistus Nursery on Sauvie Island -- they have a nice garden and a very interesting plant selection.
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Lisa, actually I learned from one of our published resident experts here, Field Roebuck, our soils are anything but terrible. Our blackland prarie clay soil is actually the second most fertile land in the world, from accounts I've read. Many nutrients and micronutrients, usually a lack of organic material is all that's missing, and a lack of nitrogen. In any event, mix compost with your clay before planting. As for the tropical look, glad to see many peope are into it! I went whole hog into OGRs over the last 3 years, but have mixed in several tropicalesque plants, and overwintered 3 bouganvilleas and a hibiscus and several sago palms and a Chinese palm. Have a few more this year, and added a couple of Mexican fan palms. They will need wrapping in sub 32 degree weather, as I understand it. I also ordered several gingers, as roots, which came up, and 4 crinum lillies. I guess I'll find out how they take our summers and winters this year! The tall in back, medium in between, and short in front may sound common sensical, but is very good advise. And I have 'overplanted" in some areas, but I like having to find new homes for perrenials and other plants, and enjoying the full look that comes with dense planting. Anyway, good luck on your new adventure! Keep us updated on your progress.
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I'll try to play catch up. (Have been travelling for a little more than a month in the past 40 days. Much of that was without Internet so more absent than I thought might happen.) The drawing is pretty basic but hopefully it will convey some ideas. First, I would get rid of the odd angles on the beds. They would look much better to tie in to walks at 90* angles instead of weird wedge shapes. In the lower, right corner I'm illustrating two ways you could make a circular bed around the lamp post. (The lamp post is a primary purpose of the bed so the bed ought to use the post, at least roughly, as the radius point. And a generally circular shape would make more sense than a sprawling asymmetrical wedge shape.) Also, I would re-shape the large front bed. It should swell out to accommodate the tree you intend to plant but does not need to extend outward, around the walk in a grabbing fashion. To explain the planting in the illustration, it is a shrub below each window of the garage, and a small hedge below the pair of windows (right half). None of those should get taller than bottom of the window. There is seasonal color flanking the entrance to the porch and at the left of the porch. A perennial mass wraps the garage corners and right house corner. A low groundcover, solid, links the other plantings together. Can't tell how your existing tree would possibly conflict with the proposed tree. (The third picture you posted was taken from a different position so the existing tree location shown could be seriously misleading.) You might want to consider moving the proposed tree farther back in the scene rather than placing it at a pure diagonal to the house corner. (I wouldn't know because we don't have the information.) A large shade tree is probably not in order. A flowering tree (such as redbud) might be a better size to use so close to the house. As far as what plants to use, gauge the heights and research what plants grow locally that could perform well.
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rosiew
10 years ago
I was thinking espalier also. Would research a lot first. Friends had a home very similar to yours, used pyracantha. It was great until winter temps probably mixed with lots of ice, killed it - several times.

Like your idea of extending the bed, perhaps more than 4'.

Additional views via pics would be good.
designoline6
10 years ago
should soften big the blank brick wall and hard drive road line.need some privacy and appear as welcoming.
deviant-deziner
10 years ago
How about a few windows in lieu of plants ?
I think you would get a greater return on your investment.
yin49
10 years ago
Hi, you could save the stump of pear tree and let it come back as a bush. I think if you add a seating area in the front yard would be nice. Here is a autoCAD drawing to show what I thought.
jcalhoun
10 years ago
Depending on where you are located a red oak would work there. Maybe a redbud for the smaller tree.
mla2ofus
10 years ago
It looks as if there was a door on the solid wall on the left at one time. If so, that could be re-opened, and a window added instead.
missingtheobvious
10 years ago
I'm glad HoundsBreath is painting the front door. Could we see a new photo, please?

Good eyes, mla2ofus, to spot the former single door! And I see signs of a small window to the left of that door, as well as a larger window to the left of the house number.

I agree that the front of the house needs windows. Zero windows facing the street is just too ... well, too far outside our expectations. HoundsBreath, if there's a reason not to have windows, how about fake windows instead? Build a wooden box, 8-12 inches deep; enclosing a window, and attach it to the house. Paint the "indoor" side of the glass to hide the bricks -- or maybe use stained glass; you can include a dim light in the box to give the illusion it's a functional window, if that seems like a good idea.

I would like to see the bed in front of the house extended across that entire side of the house. Adding some shrubs there would be a big help, and would do much more for that side of the house than a tree near the sidewalk. If you really want to break up the roof on that side, perhaps a fastigiate (very narrow) evergreen in the bend of the wall.

How deep is the bed that's currently there? Can you deepen it another foot or two without causing a problem with garage entry? Then add as much bed as you can along the left side of that wall, and link the two areas with a curve.
hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
10 years ago
That is a very small space for a 50' tall tree. That is more than twice the height of the home. Eventually it will dwarf the house and be way out of proportion. Something about as tall as the home, or just slightly taller, is going to look better.

Look at what a huge tree in front of a single story home looks like. Is that the effect you are after? When it comes time to sell, potential buyers will see a big problem.
hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
10 years ago
duplicate post; deleted.

{{!gwi}}

This post was edited by hoovb on Fri, Jan 3, 14 at 19:29
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Yardvaark
10 years ago
I had some comments which I was saving up, but it appears that HoundsBreath has abandoned this thread. Is that the case, HB?

Blank front yard

Comments (12)

agardenstateof_mind

catkim

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rosiew

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hoovb zone 9 sunset 23

hoovb zone 9 sunset 23

Yardvaark

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