Front Yard Work In Progress... Need Suggestions

15 years ago

I bought this house last July when it looked like this:

This is what it looks like today:

Clearly, I still have a lot of work left to do to give my cottage house a cottage front yard. My plan still for this year is to connect the bed along the house with the bed that lines the sidewalk from this corner.

I planted Weigela and Karley Rose grass in front. To the right of the front door beneath the windowI planted a Huldine clematis and a Moondance rose . In front of that, I have 3 Gruss an Aachen roses, daylilies and creeping thyme I need to plant. I am going to connect the two beds and plant some more low rose bushes.

I don't like all of the hosta in front. I like hosta, just not the right look to make this more cottage like. I salvaged all of it from a bed that was going to be trampled during renovations last year and just moved it to the front to try to save it for somewhere else or someone else.

I am thinking about moving the coral bells under the evergreen? I planted some liriope there last summer and it survived so I can add to that.

So, my main questions:

1. Suggestions of what to plant under the tree considering the evergreen and limited sun issues?

2. Suggestions on what to plant along the front of the walkway where the hosta is now that is still going to be low? That area gets about 3 hours of morning sun.

3. Any other suggestions?

I really appreciate the help. I have hit a mental block.

(By the way, I know the shrubs on the far right that hide the bay window are hideous looking. Next spring's project is to take out the viburnum and evergreen shrubs, put in an arbor next to the little piece of house that juts out and then add a flagstone path to the backyard and a shade garden)

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Comments (5)

keesha2006
15 years ago
WOWWWWWWWW!!!! Wonderful transformation...especially is such a short time. I like the hosta personally...just add around them.

The stone is a wonderful addition and soo cottagey.....and I love the blue...you brought that house out of the 50/60's to today.

The first thing I noticed tho when looking at both the before and after pictures is the lopsided issue with that pretty front window. The house is so off balanced. What about some kind of trellis with clemetis or rose on it on that empty corner to balance? Or a large flowering sprawling tree even? Something to balance out the window weight? That is really my only suggestion, everything looks great. You should be proud of your accomplishments and I am sure your neighbors were excited too!
estreya
15 years ago
Wow. This is an amazing transformation. Congratulations!

I so admire people who have your vision, and the skills to back it up!

Gorgeous job ...
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Well, let me start by saying that I don't have a mailbox like that, so my opinions are exactly that - opinions - and no more. I think you have a point when you say they don't look great growing out of the grass. But they don't make really convincing flowers either :-) What a mailbox garden in an otherwise plain yard says to me is "I couldn't think of anywhere else to put a flowerbed." That said, if having a mailbox garden is important to your wife, it doesn't seem worth having a war over. They can be cute, and they are actually a bit of an American cultural icon :-) An image search brings up lots of ideas for them by the way, including a charming row of mailboxes springing up out of the grass - but it seems to me that mailboxes have a function. I would think that function is best served if you have a brick pad around/beside it to stand on, which would also make mowing around it easier. Maybe a brick or paver pad, or even a 24" x 24" slab, with the flowers adjacent and good edging in a nicely shaped bed would be the best of all worlds. For my taste, a bed without hardscape always looks a bit accidental (unless it has really crisp edges). I always say that landscape design is for people, and so what constitutes good design in each place depends on who lives there. We, and the renegade gardener, can only give some objective guidelines, which if followed slavishly in all cases would create their own kind of undesirable outcome. So your landscape should definitely reflect your preferences. I'm also not a foundation planting guru - I prefer no foundation planting in the vast majority of cases - but let me take a stab at the problem with yours. I remember in an old thread, our guru Laag saying that a dark-foliaged plant reads in the landscape as a dark hole, or something to that effect, and gave as a solution something about backing it with something green. So one possibility is that the purple foliage is itself the problem. Only in this case, maybe if you put something bright green in front of it, using the barberries as a background, they might look better - deepening the bed to accommodate another layer of planting. You could also consider extending the foundation planting as far to the left as an antidote. Maybe move a barberry beyond the house corner. It looks on the aerial view as if you have some space there. But if you do that I would actually shift the planting weight away from the front door. The other general idea I was hoping you might pick up from those threads I linked earlier was about creating space in front of a recessed doorway instead of shutting it in. You have a fair bit going on there - I don't like what's in the middle either. But somehow what really bugs me here is that you have two uneven sections of your house, the garage one and the one to the left of the door. The one to the left of the door is smaller already, and your planting is hiding more of it; your tree will later do more of the same. That's why I would rather be able to see (or at least discern) the foundation of that section. And in contrast, the plantings on the garage side do such an inadequate job of hiding any of its mass that they look a bit... incongruous. They have no hope. They do not begin to address the blank mass over the garage door, which I think is what needs... screening, disguising, balancing... things that plants may not be able to do here (your tree on the right will maybe do it later). I don't know all the things that a person can do with that wall. Perhaps a little rooflet to match the one over the window on the right? A section of grey siding? Out of my realm there, but you get the idea. But in pursuit of having plants help with it, I would draw the bed on the right up toward the house instead of down to the driveway entrance. That will also maintain better sightlines for driveway egress. KarinL
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If you want beds at the end of the driveway, make them large enough to fit the shrubs you plan to plant there (kept low enough to see over, for safety) and think about the shape of the adjacent lawn rather than the shape of the beds. In particular, pay attention to how you will mow along the edge of the beds without leaving awkward corners or bits that have to be trimmed by hand. Think of the position and placement of the tree and any shrub plantings in relation to the house. You want to use them to enhance the appearance of the house, while using them to make the transition from tall house to flat lawn seem less abrupt. Make the house "nestle" into the lot. You don't neccesarily need beds out at the end of the driveway, and may be planning them because other people have them, but without a real purpose. They do "dress up" the driveway entrance, but you want to call attention to the house/entry, not the driveway. Unless your border continues up the driveway on the right side and curves around to lead you and your eye to the entry, it only distracts from the house. As they are, they are too small to make a "grand entrance" and may only serve to increase your maintenance chores. If you use the juniper to hide your trash cans, try to use a couple more elsewhere in the planting plan. A one-off plant can tend to call attention to itself, defeating your purpose.
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kailleanm
15 years ago
You've done a ton of work! It looks great. What a transformation.

I agree with Keesha that the left corner needs more oomph to complement your lovely stone entry. Is that one of your weigelas planted there? If so, that will eventually fill that space nicely, but a climber would be a good temporary addition. Another suggestion would be to use wider shutters, if the budget allows.

If you don't like all the hostas in front, you might try moving some of them under the evergreen. The continuity throughout the two beds would be an added bonus. My hostas are planted with Coral bells and it looks nice. Also Brunnera goes nicely with hosta. Mine tolerant relatively dry conditions once established.

I would really focus on the two beds you want to join. You will be amazed how much your new plantings will grow in the next year or two and then you can divide and move things around as you please. In the meantime, you'll have built the structure and bones of your garden.

I know it's hard to be patient. I'm living in a new to me house too, and I want everything done now! But I'm just blown away by how much my plantings from last year have taken off. It's giving me all new ideas about where to move things to and shape new beds.

One thing I am glad I did was to visit the nursery often last year. I was kicking myself at the time for all those impulsive purchases of lovely blooming things I really didn't need. But now, I'm patting myself on the back. It's making for a lovely succession of bloom. As one thing fades, another is coming in to its glory. So that worked well. Even though I ignored all the common wisdom about having a plan and limiting my choices. :-)

Enjoy creating your garden - you're off to a lovely start!
msscarlet
15 years ago
You have done a wonderful job transforming your home into a warm inviting looking cottage! Love the stone! It adds so much warmth to the facade of your home!

I agree that you need to balance off the front window and the weight of the stone. Not sure how well clmbing roses would do with only 3 hours of morning sun there. What about a big Sweet Autumn Clematis billowing up there. With only 3 hours sun it woul not get crazy big but should still fill up that area. I also like the thought that it would be white so not too "showy" so it would not compete with your stone "focal" point.

I would also put some flowery thing on the door. Perhaps a basket of silk flowers or even a bag of live impatiens. The door is very dark and I think you need to highlight it without painting it.

I would add some astilbes either under your tree or in with the hostas. I think their feathery flowers would soften the hardness of stone and the straight corners of your house and still be low growing. I also like the idea of lirope under the tree.

You have done a great job so far. I am sure whatever you put in will look wonderful. Make sure to take photos and post them for us!
diana_noil
Original Author
15 years ago
Thank you so much for all of your kind praise! This has been a real labor of love for me and it is nice to share it with people that appreciate the effort. (In addition to my neighbors)

I love all of the suggestions and please keep them coming! I'm starting to get a vision in my head as I am reading through all of your posts of the things I can do.

There is one thing I should mention. When you look at the 2nd picture, all the way to the left you can see my mailbox. The wall that you can't see that faces south has a trellis that I had built that completely covers that wall (it's 6x10 maybe?). I planted a New Dawn climber and a Ramona clematis so my hope is that wall is eventually covered in bloom. I thought I would wait to add anything to the front wall the house of that nature until I saw the Weigela grow to full height which will be to the height of the window all the way across.

Thank you again so much!

Front Yard Work In Progress... Need Suggestions

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