i have alot to tell, i've just have to have time to put it into words, no, we are not egnoring you, will get back later...mom

here i am again, i hope some other people hop in too. i have a 1927 medium brown brick 4 square. when we moved in in 1982, we found 2 sets of the original blueprints in the basement. it was designed by a local indianapolis architectual firm but it could of just as well been a kit house. we have painted the trim a beighy yellow with accents of dark green on the shutters, porch floor, doors and window boxes. the roofing is cottage shingle shape in a light tan. my biggest challenge is adding color to a big brown brick house. i like to use pink as an accent color as in porch pillows and glider cover. as for planting, i like to use pinks, purples and lavenders. years back, i researched 1920's gardens, reading period garden and landscaping books. i have planted arborvite, day lillies, hostas, bishops weed, daisys, purple cone flower, dames rocket, love in a mist, love in a puff, love lies bleeding, cockscomb, purple flox, astible, turtle head, coral bells, lily of the valley, seven sister rose, bleeding heart, iris, fall aster, lemon mint, black eye susan, hollyhocks,mostly cottage flowers. my next choices are shrubs that have winter interest since my yard is a national wildlife habitat yard. cotteneater and holly, old fashioned shrubs like snowball, hydrangia, pussywillow and lilac. i also like a japanese influence. the rear of my yard hosts a pergola and pond with a japanese snow catcher lantern. around this shady area i have planted ivy sweet woodruff, creeping jenny, anemome, hosta, tiger lilly, surprise lilly, lung wort and lambs ear.

My 1911 Craftsman is a wood shingle Four Square with lots of Craftsman style in the wrap around porch, eaves and porch pillars.The body color is a deep maroon/red color with cream colored trim. The house has beautiful leaded glass windows and doors and built in cabinets. All interior woodwork is a deep mahogany that has not been painted. The house faces south so gets full force of sun and rain. The foundation and driveway were planted many years ago with yew, camellia and yucca. Definitely hard to keep up with! I have planted native evergreen and deciduous shrubs and perennials in reds, oranges, yellows, creams and deep purple blues to complement the deep brick red of the house in the front lawn area. These natives have been planted on a low berm/raised area along the sidewalk in hopes of creating a nice screen from the street. I am also thinking of putting in an open square lattice fence as I've seen in other Craftsman style gardens.

In the back garden, I have planted shrubs and perennials for winter interest but am moving to a hardy tropical plant scheme again in bright vibrant colors. I have arisaema, ferns, lilies, dahlias, banana, kniphofia, euphorbia, day lily, calla lily, iris, spirea, barberry, bamboo and nandina along with assorted veggies. There are two plum trees and a large Lebanon cedar from the neighbors yard that shades the north facing lot.

Neat thread! How about yourself, treehug. Do you have a Craftsman?

Wow momcat, you're so lucky to have blue prints. What a great find.

Thank you JeanneK, I do have a craftsman.

It's a 1924, very small house with a big yard. We painted last year (what a job, the house was so neglected). The body is "Squirrel" (just what you'd imagine, a brown/gray color). The trim and eves are painted "Hilltop" (emerald green), the details are brick red, and the windows are new and we left them stark white.

Just getting into the plantings. We've inherited lots of older trees, a large lawn, a sweeping garden beds with very few plantings.

Looking forward to try some of your suggestions.

Hi All,

I'm enjoing this thread. We just restored and moved (3 months ago) into a 1914 craftsman on 1/2 acre in the San Francisco Bay area. I managed to get in a vegetable garden and herb garden and am looking forward to the fall to do more planting. We live on a very busy road so will be planting native plants that get very full and high to shield us. As for the rest of the gardens, I'm going with heirlooms and plan to make the vegetable garden a victory garden. We'll see how much gets done but it's been fun so far.

Mtpander, I have the same problem with a very busy road. I too have planted natives in hopes of quieting the noise, keeping garbage out of the garden etc and have realized that plants can't do the job effectively. Even though the plants are beautiful and I love them, it's not enough.Only a fence can really buffer the house from street noise in a small front garden. The more solid the better.How much space do you have in front of the house? Is the 1/2 acre in front or back of the house?

I am in momcat's neighborhood (whose house and yard are FABULOUS!) and also have a big ol' horse of a foursquare - born in 1904.

I have gone w/ some whimsical plantings in the front like a 20' weeping purple fastigiate beech but have tried to keep most of the back very naturalistic. I have a 16,000 gallon koi pond that looks very mountainous w/ big boulders, etc and have many conifers, oak leaf hydrangea, hosta and a bazillion other shade plants. :)

I have many woodland plants and native plants also.

Then I have a sun garden w/ various tough-as-nails perennials.

I don't hedge or trim anything into squares or circles...just keep arching shapes on bushes and natural shapes on trees. It seems to work well w/ the house.

I also built a natural cedar garden shed that mimics the house.

Only thing I want to change (well, not the ONLY thing lol) is the front yard fence. It's picket style w/ copper post caps but I would like to replace the pickets with a "meatier" style cut short wood fence...probably cedar.

The house itself is some sort of light brownish beigish mochaish....I dunno. Taupe maybe? lol Cream trim.

I didn't paint it but it's working so far. It has the original shakes on top and matching siding on the bottom. Not too impactful but a great neutral pallette to show off plants. I hope to do a two color trim in harvestish-buttery yellow and either terra cotta or sage in the next year or so.