Roses to replace front landscaping
Lilyfinch z9a Murrieta Ca
9 years ago
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9 years agodublinbay z6 (KS)
9 years agoRelated Discussions
Need help with my front landscaping
Comments (5)If R-of-S only gets 8' ht. there, then no, not tall enough. Need 12' - 15' ... like a compact burning bush would eventually get. A standard would work, but I don't think it would have anywhere near the oomph and presence a nice multi-trunk would offer. Whatever it is, it would be a small tree. Limb it high...9' and you should get enough light below the canopy to grow things well. You can control the canopy size by choice of tree and some pruning, if necessary. Most of the time I see the raised edging, it's because the soil was not reduced in elevation before adding a substantial thickness of mulch, therefore making the edging seem necessary. But if the soil level were first reduced, then mulch would not be spilling over onto the walk. Also, mulch (as I view it) is a temporary condition. There should be some kind of plants/groundcover holding the soil in place once a plan is implemented and grows to completion. Think of how many places you've seen a walk meet a planting, like at the edge of your lawn, for example. There is no raised edging needed there. I think your fears about your plantings looking like your neighbor's garden are unfounded. What you need is some sort of "backdrop" for your space. If you plant a shrub that you expect to have a 5' spread, you might plant it's center 2 1/2' away from the lot line. If a little encroaches onto the neighbor's side, he can just shear it off as he pleases and since, from your point of view, it'll be the plant's back side, it will make no difference to you. He has the right and you shouldn't care. I think if you plant the same size plant right at the lot line, it would be perceived by him as somewhat aggressive, since the space is tight. As far as lining the walk with non-grass plantings, I generally think this defeats the overall goals of landscaping (displaying the entrance and making the approach to it look and seem appealing.) Usually, this is because people tend to fill these spaces with tall plant material so the walk to the front door seems like the corralled path the cows take at the slaughterhouse. Also, plantings that are in thin lines generally do not look good as compared to those that are wide ... proportionate to the structure and space. That said, I think you could plant along the walk if you keep the bed wide and the plantings low. Place the taller plantings closer to the backdrop. And also keep the taller plantings away from directly in front of the entrance space. (Except the tree which is something raised up so it does not block the entrance.) I think the approach to the entrance would be improved if you added another row of paving block to the left side (as viewed from street) of the walk. More spaciousness on the way to the entrance is a good thing. Be careful of subdividing your bed with curved edgings that seem to go with nothing around them. The space is small, tight and defined by large rectangular structures. Find a way to make any subdividing compatible with that. A single curve, for example, might connect two planes. I think I would organize the heights roughly as in the picture. I'm not saying you must come all the way to the public walk, but that if you do, how you might do it....See MoreReplacing all front-yard landscaping with edibles in SE Va.
Comments (7)I'm in the process of gradually doing the same thing in my Northern VA front yard. Your ideas sound like an excellent start. There is a very good Edible Landscaping nursery in Afton, VA near Charlottesville - not too close to you, but likely a reasonably day trip. They are at http://www.ediblelandscapin.com - they do mail order, but if you go yourself you can hand select your plants, save on shipping, and draw on the extensive knowledge of the owner (at least during the week). For fruit trees it depends on what you like to eat the most. Most varieties are available on dwarf root stock, which you should be able to space 8-10' apart. I planted Lingonberry and Wintergreen between my blueberry bushes - they grow slowly, but make pretty groundcover year round, happy in some shade as an understory plant, and are edible, too! I'm also interested in trying some wild ginger, which is native, though I don't have it yet. You can get bush cherries, and bush varieties of filberts (non-native), both grow into fairly large shrubs. Artichokes die back in the winter, but are very attractive in the warmer months, and are perennials you can grow from seed. There are also hardy kiwis which grow on thick, sturdy vines (similar to wisteria, but they don't grab on as aggressively). They take a fair bit of space, heavy pruning, and at least 1 male plant to pollinate up to 5-6 females. I prefer their small, smooth-skinned fruits over the hairy ones in the grocery stores. They fruit prolifically, and yield kiwis the size of large grapes - you can just pop them in your mouth without peeling! So far in my yard I have Sunshine Blue blueberries (tolerate less acidic soil than most blueberries), Hosui Asian pear, a non-astringent Asian persimmon (Shenko?), a contorted filbert, and a bush filbert (don't recall the variety) in my front yard. I will add another small tree (Asian pear or sour cherry, I think), and a pair of hardy kiwi. I'll also start new Artichokes - I let the ones I planted in 2007 get overgrown with grass, and they didn't survive last winter. Sorry for the lengthy post - I hope it helps a bit! Enjoy your project. -Leah...See MoreFront yard landscape with roses...some fall pics..
Comments (13)Thank you all... Melissa, the orange is Livin' easy, and mandarin sunblaze in the front Kate, yes the hedge is knockout I have posted these pics multiple times but I am just amazed that they look so good this time of the year and just wanted to share the pics. I thought the late frost this spring would do everything in and everything looked withered and DEAD, most of them including living easy and carefree wonder died down to the mulch line. It's amazing how quickly the came back up. All the shrub roses made it. I lost my hybrid teas, except ofcourse Love and Peace which is a hardy beast lurking under the HT tag. I am a little dissapointed with the climbers, Rosarium utersen, Eden, Viking rose, no rebloom so far. Ramblin red always has a spray or one..Now all the roses have established themselves, I have stopped being a perfectionist needing spotless leaves and gardening seems easy again!...See MoreNeed to make a quick decision on landscaping front of house...
Comments (10)Thanks - to answer a couple of questions, I am in Z 7 - I think I said that in my original post. DC Metro area. The infected roses have not yet been dug up - that will be done by the same company that will be replacing them, and I'm not sure what the little round evergreen bushes are. Also to clarify - my house is on the tour primarily for the "home" part of "home and garden" - my yard is nice but definitely not the feature, as is the case with most of the other houses as well. I don't know much about gardening, other than raised bed veggie gardening (what I know about rose rosette disease came from googling "what's killing my knockout roses") and have a service come to mow/weed/prune/etc., so I'm not sure I'm the best person to be educating people about anything...I just wanted the house to look as nice as possible curb appeal-wise before hundreds of people come tromping through. That's very helpful about Miss Kim. Maybe given the time crunch I will just have this landscaping co. replace the roses in the back yard which are completely dead and crispy as I think I can find some plants and shrubs I'll be happy with back there, and hold off on making decisions on the front...the roses in the front are not in quite as bad shape as the ones in the back. (this landscaping co. is well regarded locally and offering a 20% discount to houses on the tour, which is why I wanted to use them and do this now if possible)....See MoreLilyfinch z9a Murrieta Ca
9 years agodublinbay z6 (KS)
9 years agoLilyfinch z9a Murrieta Ca
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9 years agodublinbay z6 (KS)
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9 years agoLilyfinch z9a Murrieta Ca
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9 years agodublinbay z6 (KS)
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