Planting bed and house entry ideas - opinions welcome
So this will be the third time in 7 years that I have decided to "nuke" my planting bed and try again. I'm fairly happy with the other plants in this section. Bushes and trees I can handle. Flowers? It's a crap shoot. And before I spend another $200+ dollars at the local nursery, I figured I'd get the opinion of some (non-biased) experts. (FYI, zone 3).
The area to fill is basically a quarter-circle, from the paver rocks to the ceramic planter. It gets morning and early afternoon sun, but eventually gets shade from the house by 3pm. In theory, I could fill in the entire mulched area under the maple with "stuff", but seems a bit extreme. It also wouldn't match the rest of our front yard, as it's almost all bushes and mulch, and basically no planting beds. So in to the uplight is about as far as I think it should go.
Here is my not-at-all-experienced attempt at a layout: a ground cover (emerald pink phlox?) would cover the first foot in from the sidewalk. The hostas (which are already bought and placed in no real order in the picture) would be the middle row of plants, with a third row of plants behind those (may night sage?). As I perused the web for hosta pictures, I ran into a disturbing trend: hostas tend to be part of a mosaic of flowers, all mixed together, as opposed to a solid zig-zag line all in a row. I know it's also good to add ferns for texture contrast, but they don't tend to do well except in full shade, which this isn't. So while I'm constantly stuck in the "3 rows of stuff in a quarter circle" layout, any other ideas are welcome.
Side note 1: you'll notice a question mark on a green bush. I can't tell you what this thing is, but it grows in strange directions and is generally a pain to keep looking good. If you want to suggest replacements for this, be my guest. I already ripped another one out, which brings me to...
Side note 2: you'll also notice a green circle. This is where the other bush used to be. I was going to add a wichita blue juniper here, and trim the heck out of it to keep it under 4', but I was vetoed by multiple people on that one. If you feel like suggesting a completely different type of plant/bush here, feel free.
Thanks,
Mark
Comments (11)
markascherer
8 years agoRelated Discussions
Creating the welcoming front entrance
Comments (7)Nandina, thank you. And thank you for your previous comments and insights. This was very difficult for me. I simply could NOT visualize how it would look when done, so I spent many weeks agonizing over what it would look like. I love the result! We are mostly DIYers, but yes, this was a project that we did not even consider doing ourselves. To clarify - the engineer was used for consultation, he recommended a wall of this sort. The wall was actually done by a landscaping company (with experience in flood protection). A few points that are not apparent from the pictures I posted - there are two places, in addition to the front walk and the back yard patio where they put steps in. This provides us access to the other regions of the yard, and looks very nice. The other point is that in one back corner, the wall is about four feet high. This was astonishing to us that it needed to be that high! Now we are protected from any flood up to one foot less than the biggest flood in the valley (1997). If we have one of 1997's magnitude, we would have to sandbag BUT a wall two sandbags high would be sufficient. Prior to this wall, we would have had to build a dike that came up to where we are not PLUS the two more sandbags! What a difference. We just pray that we don't have a flood of that size again. Of course, now they are saying we are heading into a drought .... Brent, thank you. Like you, I was very unsure how it would look. No I don't have picture of during, and I really can't say how much dirt except a lot. And a lot of big equipment driving around tearing up our lawn. In addition to the wall, we had our propane tank and our electrical panel moved to higher ground - more big equipment. At one point I said to DH, let's just tear out ALL the lawn and start over! We did sod the areas that were destroyed (seeding large areas of lawn with three dogs doesn't work particularly well). laceyvail, thank you for the compliments. Two matched trees does make it look more formal I agree. The crabapples, however, were chosen very carefully. I am very familiar with the trees that do well in our area and chose these not soley for their spring blossoms (which I do adore). This variety (Red Splendor) has burgundy leaves, thus providing interest throughout the summer. It is also somewhat resistant to foliar disease, which is not really a major problem for us anyway. In the 11 years I've lived in the area, only one summer did the crabs have serious problems. And then of course the red berried provide interest in the late summer, fall, and into winter and are the primary reason these trees were chosen. Red Splendor holds its fruit into the winter, providing food for birds. The waxwings and pileated woodpeckers love the fruit and they provide ample winter interest in those trees until the fruit is gone! Most of my plant choices (not all, but most) are made with consideration of bird/butterfly/hummingbird food or shelter. Ah well, others definitely would have made different choices there!...See MoreDesign questions -your opinions welcome!
Comments (21)Thanks everybody, and especially chisue for all your thoughtful input! Let's see, I'll talk to the Builder and Designer about the roof and get their input, all though I am loathe to change the elevation as we love it! The bonus space above the garage will be great later on we just don't *need* it immediately so we really want to make it functional and accessible for that time when we do or for a future buyer if we ever decide to move. As for the back porch it is not screened, we are in Oregon and porches are rarely screened here. The screened porch will be on the Southeast side of our home (we are reversing the plan) so it will mainly be for outdoor dining in the evenings and it's location will block the strong sun at that time. I also like the idea of opening the door from the keeping room and just leaving it open to the screened area-so the kids don't even have to worry about closing it! The back porch will be to sit and enjoy the view and we may enlarge a portion of it. The back side of the house will have a south/west exposure so it should be fairly light even with the covered porch above. We recently toured several homes with similar features and the lower levels were very light even without direct sun-they had 9' or 10' ceilings and tall windows. With the laundry area in the master I don't think we would use a chute. We had a chute in a home with the only laundry in the basement and it was great. The majority seem to feel that windows are better for the kids' rooms...that feels 'psychologically' better to me but I had this idea of them hanging out on the patio going in and out their doors and it would sort of expand their bedroom space in nice weather. Older kids both want doors, little one wants whatever they tell her...should I be worried?! I think I will want some sort of door alarm downstairs even if we only have a door in the rec room. As for the powder room near the back door, I know what you are saying and we have talked about it too, but it almost feels like overkill to add another bathroom, especially since we would add one to the bonus if/when we finish it. If the mudroom space is expanded enough when we add the stairs we may do it though. I do like how the 'guest' powder room is positioned, it makes it feel more private that you walk through the little hall. The garage will be for cars...I know- strange thought! DH will have all his tools in the basement and we have a separate garden shed and will eventually build another detached garage. (Likely by the time DD is driving) We may make the garage a little deeper but we really like the angled garage and keeping it to a 2 car. You bring up good points on the master, not sure how it will finally end up. I have tried it several ways not 'thrilled' with any of my solutions so we may just tell the designer our objectives and leave it up to him to figure out. Thanks so much for your helpful input, you guys are great!...See MoreBreaking ground in spring, opinions on my plan? (criticism welcome!)
Comments (61)Shawn, it sounds to me like you have a pretty good handle on what your needs are, and how you will live in your new house. That is the important information you need to bring to your architect. The more detail you can provide on your needs, desires, and lifestyle, the more quickly the architect can provide a draft plan that will work for you. Just reading through this thread, you have highlighted many important wishes. A good architect will ask lots of questions to help pin down your needs and wants even further (because it's impossible to think of everything at once, when we've never done it before). One thing to keep in mind - you've put a lot of time and energy into your plans, and an architect may come back with a design that looks nothing like yours. Please keep an open mind, and ask they why things are laid out a certain way. You may be very surprised at how well a different plan may suit your family! Another thing to remember is that your kids are going to grow up fast. It sounds like your children are fairly young; as teenagers, their needs will change dramatically. Plan now for them to have space away from the living room to hang out with their friends. Good luck!...See MoreI need a welcoming entry that still maintains privacy.
Comments (17)Oooooo..I like your ideas. Thanks for thinking about it all! The bricks are not integral but are a dominant part of the rest of the landscape so I don't think a new stone would be good. Dry stacked would suit the terrain but alas these is an acre of red brick planters and paths out back.Horizontal wood over the bricks? parallel to new pavers? The steel planter....don't these get hot? Thank you again. Cheers...See More
PROYardvaark
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agolaceyvail 6A, WV
8 years ago
emmarene9
8 years agomarkascherer
8 years agoAll, thanks for the feedback and suggestions.
The Japanese Maple is definitely a crap shoot. :) There are some in the neighborhood that are growing fine after 5+ years, and others that have been removed. This is our second. I've debated about putting in an Eastern Redbud, but really love the all-year red color of the maple. If it makes it over 3 years, it's worth it.
Yardvaark, I truly don't have a lust for gardening. :) I'd rather be engineering the wall/fence structure in our backyard, but first things first. I just want to try and get this right for once. I'm definitely going to add a few bags of peat moss before I plant anything. Our soil has a fair amount of clay in it.
I confirmed that my particular hostas "should" do OK in part sun, better than most. But I'm still tempted to instead put them into the full-shade area in our backyard. I'm also considering putting upright boxwoods where I thought I might put junipers (see attached pic). I'm definitely not going to do more than a flowering groundcover and the hostas (if I do them at all.) I agree that I don't
want too busy, and most pics I have found with hostas are decidedly
busy. I'm going to go phlox shopping this weekend. Should be fun.Thanks!
l pinkmountain
8 years agokentc
8 years agolast modified: 8 years ago- PRO
emmarene9
8 years ago
maidinmontana