Front Yard Landscaping - need all the help I can get!

9 years ago

Hi Everyone,

My husband and I recently moved into our first house and are trying to slowly fix it up. It was previously a rental home and the yard was completely ignored. We recently laid down sod and now we're trying to come up with a plan for the front flower bed. I planted a few flowers around the tree but we would like to rip out the shrubs and replace them with something else. We plan on removing all of the shrubs in front of the house, including the one next to the garage. Please help - we have NO idea what we're doing and need ideas! I've attached a picture of our front yard - please keep in mind that this was taken about a month ago, the day that we laid down the sod (it's green and lush now). Thank you so much in advance!!

Comments (4)

mrs.wiggley
9 years ago
Just a quick impression and thought - I don't know about you but many people never actually use their front lawns. My guess is that it's because there's no sense of privacy. So I might actually consider enclosing that space with tall plants or a wall creating a courtyard feeling. Also would make sure that the view from the front window was really attractive and inviting looking since that window is so prominent I'm sure from the inside. And I'd like to see some tall narrow evergreen along that left corner of the house to obscure/soften the hard edge as well as elongate the front plane of the house.
Don't forget that you don't have to let the current shape of the front yard dictate the outcome. And consider creating levels rather than sticking to a flat ground plan.
Enjoy your new home!
I've attached a link for inspiration.

Here is a link that might be useful: Courtyards

This post was edited by mrs.wiggley on Fri, May 23, 14 at 11:37
Vulture61
9 years ago
Congrats for your new and beautiful house, glb!
I assume you have a steady source of water since you went for the sod. I would certainly cut those bushes in front of the window but I wouldn't get rid of them because they would be the only source of green during winter, when chances are that everything else would be dormant. I actually like the topiary-like bush between the garage and the main entrance.
I would also make just one big and long flowerbed that would include the front of the window and some of the area under the tree that would extend towards the driveway. You would have to kill the grass in that area and ammend the soil with compost and mulch.
I would plant a collection of honeysuckles against the fence (maybe you could place a bench in that area?). Depending on the quality of the soil, water availability and the type of garden you want, you could plant miniature roses, oxalys, variegated liriope, Asiatic lillies(behind the short evergreen bushes), impatiens (in front of the evergreen bushes),agapanthus,plumbago, asparagus densiflorus, carex sp or others...

Omar
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I think the bed is a nice shape as it is; if you put separate circles around everything on the property it will look like you have a case of circle-itis, or perimeteritis as we used to call it around here. A disorder that drives you to compulsively make circles of plants around everything, leaving you devoid of other ideas. A shape that is even more independent of the pole and tree might be even better, but given what you have, especially with that cute little elf standing in front of it, I would leave well enough alone. As for the growing conditions, I too am skeptical that the tree roots, at that size, are really at fault. More likely, or at least an aggravating factor, is that rain is just not getting to the ground under the tree in summer, so watering would be required. Or, you could thin the tree canopy with some pruning which would also help to ensure the tree is developing an attractive basic shape as it grows. What kind of tree is it? Some have more aggressive roots than others. Growing conditions under trees are actually often tricky (as we've pointed out in your spruces thread), and sometimes beds away from trees is the best option. But trees have to have something under them, and some will outcompete even grass. It's always a balancing act. The choices for this bed are, as pointed out above, to either change the plants, or water enough to sustain the plants you have. If you are on water restrictions there are ways to use grey water from the house, or you could have a rain barrel. Hostas are funny plants - they are actually pretty drought tolerant once established, and a lot of them like quite a bit of sun. But most of them can't take both sun and drought. KarinL
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I don't think the situation is as stark as you think it is. The large trees you have planted to either side of the driveway will eventually form a canopy over the drive that will compete with the driveway. Another quick fix might be to build a trellis for vines that extends over the garage doors, for something like Wisteria vines of Evergreen Clematis. It doesn't appear that there is enough room between the sets of garage doors to squeeze in a planter for something vertical between the doors, but this is a common trick used in monster California homes with a wall of garage doors. If cost is not an issue, (which in this economy, I doubt is the case), you could always reduce the visual impact of the concrete driveway by redoing a portion of it as bands with more decorative contrasting hardscape materials, or even use turfblock driveable paving suitable for growing grass to bridge the two sides of the driveway. This could also be done closer to the house to form a "lawn" within the "L" shape of your house, but wouldn't make much sense to do this if you typically leave parked cars on the driveway during the day.
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If you're going to own a car it requires that you know something about car maintenance: periodically, the oil and tires must be changed; it must be washed and fluids filled, etc. These are things one learns to do in order to have the pleasure and convenience of owning their own vehicle. Similarly, if you're going to own a lawn, you learn to mow it weekly, edge it periodically, and keep the weeds out, etc. Groundcover is no different. Depending on what plant you make it of, you must learn how to prepare for it, what maintenance that plant requires, and how to control it. Groundcover requires a bit different approach than grass, but it is not necessarily harder or more time consuming. It is just different. I find it to be easier so my yard is 100% groundcover. The number one difference is that weeds must be kept out. This is not harder than weekly mowing. It's just different and there are methods one can employ to make the job easier. In the long run, groundcover can be considerably less work after it's established (which depends on the plant used) than a lawn. Your example of "battling an ivy plant for years" has me thinking that no one is employing any effective methods of controlling it. It is a bit like never mowing, edging or weeding the lawn and then blaming the grass for being out of control. One thing is for sure, only weeds will be happy if you try to grow grass where there not sufficient light to do it. It boils down to the fact that you must have something growing to cover the ground, or you must cover the ground with mulch (and replenish it ongoing). The something growing can be a sad attempt at a lawn (which is what is there now); it can be groundcover; or it can be a mixed variety of plants (like in that picture above). What else is there other than solid hardscaping which is not the least practical? Of those solutions you can already see exactly what one of them looks like because you have it now. You can probably envision the mixed variety of plants covering the ground. Is there any question that it would not be the highest maintenance of any solution? If you take another look at the left side of the photo I submitted of the houses with sloping fronts, you'll notice that it is solid groundcover. It doesn't look like there's a weed in it. You can see at its left side a sharp division where it abuts its neighbor's grass lawn. Each planting is distinctly separate. The groundcover is neither running into the grass, nor is it rampaging over the edges of the walk or steps. How is this even possible? The fact is, it happens in millions of places all over the country. It's obvious that one can learn how to employ plants in such a way. Or they can refuse to do that.
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Much better pictures. I would remove the AC screen and return to the smaller, neutral colored, original version. Screening it only makes an out-of-place thing grow larger. I think if you plant better in the area, it will seem less obtrusive. Then, when it craps out in some future year, you can finally have it relocated to the side of the house. The garden at the middle of yard does not work to distract from any other thing that you don't want looked at. Instead, it seems more like an impediment to better seeing an inviting entrance. I would opt for blank, clean lawn instead. The tree that's in the island might could stay. I don't know if it's a good tree and can't evaluate its placement based on the pictures we have so far. (It would need to be a picture from a distance showing the whole front yard all the way to the street.) If it remains as a tree in the lawn, you would want to remove its lower branches as it grows and keep a nice single trunk all the way to the bottom of the finished canopy. (Instead of letting it branch helter-skelter and become an ugly trunk.) I like the idea of some evergreens to screen the side of the house to the left and help place a limit on your yard. (That is, if you have room for them. It's kind of hard to tell.) The rest is tidying up and simplifying the foundation planting. Right now, there are too many odds and ends one-offs doing their own thing. It needs some cohesion. Also, I'd eliminate the plantings at the near side of the walk and bring the lawn all the way to the walk. The plants there are like a barricade and they don't help the entrance to seem inviting. I can't say what the individual shrubs in the illustration are. They are whatever that grows there that would best do that. I think the little tree at the left corner of the house is an overgrown shrub ... like beautybush or something. Below the largest bank of windows, the depth of bed will determine to some extent what shrub will fit there. The groundcover near the AC needs to come up to the bottom of the two windows, but not higher. The rest are perennials. At the steps could be annuals or perennials. All the details you will work out in a measured plan view (looking straight down from above.) With a small tree added to the right side:
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roselee z8b S.W. Texas
9 years ago
Yes, you have a beautiful home and what a lovely tree in the front yard! I like the courtyard idea of planting some things out away from the house to give some privacy. Also liked Omar's suggestions.

I know what you're going through trying to decide how to landscape your new-to-you home. What I did was to drive around neighborhoods to get ideas. I didn't know about blogs then but you might want to visit some blogs.

http://www.penick.net/digging/

is a favorite. She's written a very popular book, "Lawn Gone" with suggestions you might incorporate in your back yard since you've already sodded the front. Also this blog:

http://wwwrockrose.blogspot.com/

has a list of other good blogs to check out.

Below is the link to a book that I still refer to. It has lists of native plants which are sure to do well and suggests landscaping schemes.

Wishing you all the best. You'll be getting more suggestions as the days go by.

Here is a link that might be useful: Landscaping With Native Plants by Wolsalski ...
southofsa
9 years ago
Congratulations on your new house! It's so much fun having a space to work with but it also can be overwhelming sometimes.

Everyone is different when trying to design spaces. Some people can "see" the space they're creating as they learn about different plants, and some people have to see it for real. I'm definitely in the second group. So what I found to be the most helpful is to look at different spaces that I liked, take pictures, and then work backwards to ID the plants, where they work best, what type of soil, and water requirements they'd need.

Where you live in makes a BIG difference. Acid or alkaline soil. Temp ranges, rainfall- lots of things that play into plant selection.

There's a nice, basic book that I liked when I started out "Texas Home Landscaping" by Greg Grant and Roger Holmes. I see it in box stores a lot but your library might have a copy. And I don't know if you're near San Antonio, but the botanical gardens has a section called "Watersaver Walk" that has I think ? 8 houses mocked up with different landscape designs. Same space, totally different looks.

Have fun. Take your time. Don't worry if you kill some of the plants- it's part of the process. Keep reading these boards- some of the nicest plant lovers you'll ever meet hang out here.

Hope this helps- Lisa

This post was edited by southofsa on Sat, May 24, 14 at 4:32

Front Yard Landscaping - need all the help I can get!

Comments (4)

mrs.wiggley

Vulture61

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roselee z8b S.W. Texas

southofsa

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