Wind, sun and what best fits my backyard
Bama_Joe
9 years ago
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Bama_Joe
9 years agoYardvaark
9 years agoRelated Discussions
Best Fast Growing Tree to plant in backyard
Comments (15)Oh! good point pagan. Probably why mine are just slugging along. The large one really needs more water than I've been giving it in summer. I forget about that tree because it's behind the pile of firewood we are trying to burn our way though. When I notice the leaves are curling in, the light bulb comes on and I give it a good drink. Poor thing, I'm a poor tree water-er. I planted these two in the olden days, before I realized what "a lot of water" REALLY meant. Now I know and have begun to focus on more xeric trees and plants. Well, except the veggie garden of course. Priorities!! Folks, it's tomatofreak who's yard is on flood irrigation....See MoreChallenging question on what to do with my backyard
Comments (22)Here are a few photos. In all three, one can clearly see the shape of the edge of the lawn, but not what creates it. I like this look, and it can be created with a subtly colored/camouflaged stone or brick edge. (If the photos embedded in this thread are too small, follow the link below each to get to the photo set for each and you can click on the photo there to see a larger version.) The all look to be relatively newly created and so plants will get larger and fill in over time. You don't want to overplant and create a dense thicket. Having sight lines into the woods or a path to a shady seating area under the trees would be nice. In this first one, I am not particularly fond of the abrupt in/out edges between the grass and wood, but it does have a variety of plantings of different heights, some of which are just outside the tree line and some within the trees. There are small flowering trees, some medium flowering shrubs, and low-growing groundcovers between. http://www.houzz.com/projects/29439/grand-rapids-residence In this second one, I would add plantings outside of the tree line, a combination of trees, shrubs and evergreen groundcover as I think that the transition from grass to established woods is too abrupt, but again here there is a clean edge, a combination of flowering shrubs and smaller trees set into the understory. This one, like the first photo) is taken in very early spring before the leaves fully fill out, so it is likely to look fuller/denser when there are more mature leaves. http://www.houzz.com/projects/337408/woodland-gardens In this third photo, ignore the patio in foreground and look across at the far side of the lawn. Another clear edge and a combination of ornamental small trees and shrubs that transition to denser native woods beyond. The birches were probably already there, and they cleared around them and then added the shrubs. I prefer groundcovers to the bare mulch look - more attractive and easier maintenance. http://www.houzz.com/projects/1749687/perched-lake-and-mountain-views...See MoreBest backyard tomato
Comments (17)I don't usually post here, but can I chime in? Like Sherry, I sometimes grow Bonny Best, I'm in zone 5a. They were my Dad's favorite. For the past several years, though, I've grown Rutgers as my "canning tomato", and I'm happy with them. Right now my picnic table looks like this, a mix of Great White, Golden Jubilee, Pineapple, Mortgage Lifter and Rutgers. About 80% of my plant mix is Rutgers although you can see that I have a glut of Great White right now: They are usually about an 8 ounce tomato, but this year they were crazy prolific and huge, like this one: Anyway, I find that Rutgers is reliable, prolific, doesn't crack easily and is sturdy and doesn't seem to succumb easily to some of the problems my other heirlooms cave in to. Annie...See MoreI’m looking for some ideas for how to arrange my plants in my backyard
Comments (33)You are getting there :-)) You will have an entirely different perspective once you get the black pots elevated. And you can always add more color with flowering plants. What happened to the white/cream colored containers? You could mix them in with the black ones to make more of a statement. The pots in the middle photo (mostly blue tones) are still too lined up. btw, the groupings do not need to be equal in impact or quantity :-)...See MoreBama_Joe
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