Small plants for a small front garden?

8 years ago

I have a very small front garden area, 75% grass now. The house is a 1908 cottage in Longmont. I have three small perennial beds, two at the foundation on each side of the walk, and one at the sidewalk. I would like to do more green texture, rather than count on brief blooming perennials. I would love to do a conifer, if it can stay small. My problem is that everything gets too big. Any suggestions of non-invasive, mostly non-spreading conifers/plants that have nice green interest?

Thanks,

Diane

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Comments (4)

treebarb Z5 Denver
8 years ago
Diane,

You'll want to look for miniature or dwarf conifers. I've only seen them locally at 2 nurseries in the area, Paulino Gardens in Denver and the Flower Bin in Longmont and you'll find a limited selection at both places. Mini's grow 1" a year, dwarf varieties will grow 1 - 6" a year. The catch is they won't get to a certain size and stop, they'll keep growing. I have a raised bed that I plant small conifers in, kind of a holding area to see how they do here. When they get a little bigger, they get transplanted to other areas of the yard.

You may want to go mail order. I like Conifer Kingdom and Western Evergreen Nursery, both in Oregon I think. It's a bit late to plant conifers now, you'll want to wait until spring, maybe late March or early April to plant. But that gives you the winter to peruse colors, textures and forms.

This is a terrible photo from 2012, cheatgrass and weeds abounding, but center is a Rocky Mountain Juniper, straight species. To the left is Pinus mugo 'Sherwood compact', it grows 1 - 3 inches per year, a dwarf. To the right of the juniper and left of the solar light is Pinus mugo 'Teeny', it grows about an inch a year, a mini.

I love Pinus mugo 'Carstens'. It changes from green to gold in the winter. I'll link the Conifer Kingdom page with pics below. I planted one at my Mom's last year.

Carsten's

Just tossing some ideas your way!

Barb
ZachS. z5 Platteville, Colorado
8 years ago
Ornamental grasses would give you texture in a wide range of colors.

One of my favorites is little bluestem, most of the sold varieties aren't "green" but rather a powder blue color. They turn an amazing pink/copper color in the fall though which I LOVE. They stay fairly compact.

Blue grama "blonde ambition" gets to be around 3'x3' and contrary to it's name, isn't very blue IMO. It's actually more of a "spring green." It gets loads of little yellow seed heads on it and then the foliage itself dries down to a straw color in fall.

Another favorite of mine is switchgrass. There are both blue and green varieties of this, and it might get a bit bigger than you want (I think some get to be like 3'x4' tall). However, it's another great one. I have "Shenandoah" which is a green one that gets spatterings of deep maroon as it starts to cure in the fall.

Blue avena grass is a compact grower, and I THINK it's semi-evergreen too (mine tends to keep quite a bit of color in the foliage through the winter). But, once again, it's blue rather than green.

Blue fescue is an adorable little plant. So, if you're looking for small small, it doesn't get much more than 1'x1'. Sold varieties are blue, but, if you are willing to start your own seed, you will wind up with mostly green ones (they are actually very easy to start from seed, you will just have to be patient as you wait for the plants to size up)

I hate to add this one to the list because it is hands down my LEAST favorite grass, but feather reed is a VERY popular one that would definitely work for you I think.

If you have the room, big bluestem is another great looking grass, but as it's name suggests, it get's big.

Those are just a few, but there's probably close to a gazillion OG's on the market these days for all kinds of conditions. If you are looking for texture, I would definitely put some on the short list.

I will also try to add some pictures soon for you to since I have all of those (except BB) in my yard.
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Drainage is a tricky thing, especially when the backyard is draining towards your house. You'll want to be very careful that you don't do something which in 'wet' years will cause problems for your foundation. You say the right side is all concrete? But in your "from the bedroom" photo it looks as if theres grass and dirt past those iris leaves. IÂll assume if that is concrete, thereÂs only a thin covering of dirt and grass, so you could build a basic raised bed for planting. This will even things out, and allow some height so you can have a much prettier view outside your bedroom window, with complete privacy as new plants grow in. Using the link below to a collage I made, what would you think about looking out at this instead? Think moderate height, interesting foliage, partial shade shrubs. This doesnÂt look like a large area, which helps keeps costs down. Your costs would be mulch, some pressure-treated lumber, soil, and 3 to 6 shrubs from container, depending on the size of the bed. I donÂt know if youÂre East Cst zone 9 or West Cst zone 9. IÂm the latter, so what I used (all evergreen, BTW) was: Top left: Pink cestrum. This grows very fast, vase-shaped at maturity, flowers almost continuously, hummers love it. About 6-8Â H at maturity, 4Â across but takes pruning very well. Right side: Tibouchina heteromalla. This can be a tricky plant to find and grow, but once correctly sited itÂs stunning and grows fast. ItÂs a tropical understory plant, so canÂt take too much sun but is somewhat frost-tender. 5Â T and at least 6Â across at maturity. The leaves are an amazing fuzzy, silvery gray-green that stops people in their tracks. I have had more people ask me what this shrub is, than any other I have. Once a year it puts up tall spikes of brilliant purple flowers, simply gorgeous. Do not get T. urvilleana, which is more common but a much more scraggly, leggy shrub. (If this wouldnÂt work in your zone, something like a variegated rhododendron, or even an Aucuba japonica 'Mr. Goldstrike' or ÂGold DustÂ would add year-long interest and foliage contrast.) I added a couple of ferns just to fill in the space. But IÂd prefer to add something more interesting, such as Abutilon ÂSavitziÂ or even ÂThompsoniiÂ if thereÂs room. A dwarf camellia would work, but they grow very slowly. The jade plant thatÂs there seems to be leaning into the walkway. You might want to move it Â they can get quite large across at maturity so they may outgrow that space theyÂre in. Fill in with smaller plants that youÂll see when youÂre outside Â dwarf hydrangeas, fuchsias, liriope, or even shade annuals from a six-pak. The brunnera ÂJack FrostÂ has been a great performer in my shady bed, and the baby-blue flower spikes are charming. The seating area with the fountain as shown, is just leveled with mulch as a temporary measure until you work out your fencing and terracing solutions. Anyway, HTH spur some ideas for you! Good luck, itÂs always very exciting to consider possibilities for new landscaping.
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ZachS. z5 Platteville, Colorado
8 years ago
Here's some current pictures I snapped with the phone. I might have some from the summer on my computer.

little bluestem 'the blues' in front with blue grama 'blonde ambition' behind it.

another LBS and that's switchgrass 'Shenandoah' behind it.

Blue grama 'blonde amb.' This guy got ran over by the neighbors go cart a while back, so it doesn't look that amazing, plus its all dried down now. It looks much better in the summer than the fall I think.

Blue fescue 'Elijah Blue' I believe. The rabbits have nibbled this one.

Blue avena, though I think they sell it under a different name most places. No idea what variety this is.

and feather reed grass. This is either Karl Foester, or one of the verigated varieties (can't tell if the yellow stripes are supposed to be there or if it's just unhappy lol). In any case KF is straight green and ones like avalanche are verigated.

and here's another grass that stays very small. Its just pure blue grama, not the blonde version. You won't find this for sale, you will have to start it from seed, but again very easy to do and I have a TON of seeds so you wouldn't have to go out and buy the 30$ bag they sell for seeding a lawn.
Deb
8 years ago
I like Zach's grass suggestions, especially little bluestem and blue avena (blue oat) grass. If you like groundcovers and would like ones are green year-round, consider Veronica prostrata and Veronica pectinata (well, the pectinata actually turns a little purplish in the winter). Corydalis is another groundcover with nice foliage. My favorite is Corydalis ophiocarpa, but it's difficult to find. I recently bought Corydalis flexuosa 'Blue Panda' because of its delightful foliage. Corydalis is a part-shade plant. Dwarf bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa) has wonderful foliage that sticks around all season and is great for shade and semi-shade areas. If you have full sun, take a look at Little Trudy catmint, which would complement Zach's grasses nicely. Groundcovers beautify gardens while preventing weeds

Small plants for a small front garden?

Comments (4)

treebarb Z5 Denver

ZachS. z5 Platteville, Colorado

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ZachS. z5 Platteville, Colorado

Deb

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