Design Challenge - For fall planting
This is my first time to post on this forum, so I'll thank you all in advance for any advice you can offer!
I wish I had a true "before" photo to show you of the space I'm working on designing - envision a patch of weeds, rocks and 300 concrete pavers and you'll be close).It was a mess. Now it's essentially a blank canvas waiting for the artists' touch. That's where y'all come in!
In the photo below, you're looking at the space from the north. The area I'm hoping to design (or at least design first) is on the east side, at the left of the photo. That side is bordered by one of the most unsightly chain link fences I've ever seen - from the era of weaving green and white strips through the links. Hence, although I know we're not supposed to plant in rows, I've planted a row of lilacs of varying colors, in the hope of completely covering that fence with green.
In this photo, you can get an idea of the planting space.
And in this one, a bit more "context" as to how the space fits into the backyard overall.
What I'm hoping to do here is create a perennial or mixed border/bed, starting from the post/Russian sage area and curving back to the edge of the arbor. If you think the arbor goes nowhere, and that it's tilting forward, you're right. At this point, it's just there as a placeholder while I look at it from various points and decide if this is really where I'd like to have a vine covered arbor as a shady spot for one chair and a very small table. I considered putting it in the middle of the concrete block fence at the south end or the yard (under the trumpet vine), but that looks too symmetrical to me. I also considered putting it on the east side of the space (in a photo below), but that will not give me the view of my entire yard that I'd like to enjoy while sitting there.
The distance from the telephone pole/Russian sage to the concrete wall on the south side is 23'. From the pole to where the arbor is currently sitting is about 16 1/2 feet. The depth of the border will varying (if it curves) from just over 10' from the green/white fence to the black-eyed Susans at the edge of the path, to about 7' from the fence to the edge of the arbor. The space will be in full sun from fairly early in the morning until the sun gets fairly low in the sky in late afternoon. The soil is amended clay...still lots of clay, amended with sand and mulch, and the area has an automatic sprinkler - useless for most of the summer secondary to being behind some really large plants that were behind where the arbor is now sitting. Obviously, with regard to depth of the border, I need to plan for the lilacs to grow out into the border another couple of feet. They're planted on 3 foot centers in an effort to cover the fence more quickly and I planned for keeping them at about 5 1/2 to 6 feet in diameter. It's going to be awhile before that's an issue!
As for blooming times, I'd love to plant a three-season garden here...but, don't know if I have the space. I like primarily cool colors, all kinds of textures, and would like to make this as xeric as possible. Somewhere in the mix I would like a bright contrast area of orange, blue and yellow.
For reference, the west end of the space, directly across from the arbor and directly behind my garage, looks like this....another project in itself.
I know it's hard to envision the whole space from several photos. Looking from the north, I hope to have the curving bed/border described above...then some shade tolerant plants under the trumpet vine (I have a HUGE bleeding heart and some great columbines there now)..curving on around the west end space to the drip line of the apple tree. In thinking about this entire space intially, I had planned to put plants underneath the apple tree, creating a north-south path through the garden....at this point, I'm rethinking that. In the event you're not yet confused enough by all this, I've included below a photo taken from futher north in the yard to give you some perspective on where the apple tree fits into this whole east side/west side discussion.
If no one replies, I'll assume I've overdone it! In addition to suggestions/questions re: design, please don't hesitate to give me feedback about the mechanics of this post...are the photos too large, for example?
Comments (8)
bpgreen
bpgreen
Related Discussions
Taking on Laag's Challenge--Design a 'Scape--Create a View!
Q
TN Fall Plant Swap - Is there a fall AL one?
Q
Garden Design Challenge - Herb
Q
Garden Design Challenge - Fruit
Q
stevation
stevation
sweetmagnoliameOriginal Author
bindersbee
snowdogmama
stevation