West-facing slope in front of house - need suggestions! (Zone 6b)
biondanonima (Zone 7a Hudson Valley)
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
My husband and I are buying our first house this summer. We expect to close by August 1, September 1 at the absolute latest. The house is built into a west-facing hill on the Hudson River, so both the front and back yards are steeply sloped. The back yard is planted with ground cover/grass that looks to be in reasonably good shape, so although I have plans to change some things eventually, no immediate action is needed.
However, the front is a disaster - here are a couple of photos.
The current owners obviously lost interest over the past couple of years, so in addition to the motley assortment of weeds, shrubs and who knows what else, there is a layer of burlap and plastic sticking up in the center and I have no idea how far it extends. It's hard to tell from the photos, but the distance from the rock wall at the bottom to that row of hedges at the top is about 10-12', and I would estimate the angle to be around 45 degrees.
I would love to pull out everything from the wall to the hedges and put in a very low-maintenance ground cover or assortment of plants that will prevent erosion and provide at least some color/visual interest. If I can plant in the beginning of August, the plants would have a couple of months to get established before the first frost. Suggestions? Thanks in advance for your ideas!
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Comments (6)
biondanonima (Zone 7a Hudson Valley)
7 years agobiondanonima (Zone 7a Hudson Valley)
7 years agoRelated Discussions
Very small, sloping, north facing front yard for older house
Comments (11)The head-on picture is not really necessary since you are landscaping for your own enjoyment from inside the space rather than for curb appeal and tree decisions. I have a very similar porch and the thing that jumps out at me first from your photo is that the view from your porch is likely just grass unless you are actually leaning over the railing or sitting ON the steps. I actually do both, so very much enjoy the plantings near the house, but overall for there to be a nice view from the porch or front door, the "garden" should be at the public sidewalk part of the yard, not at the house. Moving the garden to the sidewalk side would alleviate the need to put groundcover on the slope, which is fraught with problems if you've ever tried to establish and maintain groundcover in this sort of setting. Grass has evolved into the most popular groundcover for a reason. I would tend to retain the slope... but there are a couple of ways to do it. You can do rocks on the slope integrated into the plantings, you can do a wall right at the public walk and along your walk to your stairs and fill it - this will constrain your walkway a bit - or you can do it more even with your stairs - cutting into the slope and creating a flat apron (of grass) outside of it. You can have plantings all the way back to the house - it really all depends on how much of a gardener you are. If the row of boxwoods and matching azaleas (?) is your look - less is more could work well. Landscaping is done to reflect the people in the house, not just the house. Whatever the plant look, significant use of hardscape in the way of a wall or stones will enhance it by framing it and providing structure. Karin L...See Moreplease suggest roses for zone 6B
Comments (29)Update: most of my roses are here and ready to go in (hopefully next week). I ended up with: MAC ZD (for porch front and side) GT (for the side of the house, next to ZD) JtheO Comtes de Champagne Peace Sharifa Asma Stanwell Perpetual New Dawn (to train into a tree in the yard) Anne Hathaway Paul Shirville Apothecary's Rose and Alba Semiplena for the herb garden I'm still waiting to find Bolero, which sounds very promising, and Evelyn, which I might keep in a pot to see how it does. Most of the others will be planted in a circle around a small fountain at the front of the house. I'm planning to put MAC at the back; my vision is to have it growing fairly tall to screen our bay window, and to fan out on the sides (assuming i can convince it to do so) to achieve the look of an arching fountain of blooms. Here's my question: I ordered two MACs. Would I be crazy to plant them next to each other to get a more "fountainy" look? I don't know if they will achieve the monstrous proportions here in NJ that I see in pics from CA. Am I better off putting the second one on the other side of the tree with New Dawn, or somewhere else altogether?...See MoreIdeas for a front bed in a house that faces west.
Comments (3)I think figs would work great. I'm in 6B, and I espaliered Brown Turkey figs against the front wall of the house facing south. They are protected from the worst winter winds, but they still died to the ground 3 winters ago. They came back like nothing happened and I still got fruit that year....See MoreBoston area (Zone 6B) - NE facing hydrangea?
Comments (12)"Plus, I wouldn't mind seeing some blooms out my window." The bloom period is fairly short- what about all the other months of the year? Hydrangeas would not be my choice as a front yard focal point for that reason alone- I want the front of my home to be attractive 12 months a year, not just one. To that end I'd really use some conifers and broadleaved evergreens to do the main work and use several seasonal interest things to provide the punch. In a smaller yard I'd use dwarf conifers and evergreens and likely use a lot of pots for my seasonal color- pots that can easily be switched out as their period of interest wanes and another pot is starting up. I am 6b and the front of my home also faces east. The majority of my filler plants are dwarf conifers and boxwood. A Japanese Maple as a focal point and lots of ferns and hostas to fill space. Then in pools on either side of the entry I have colorful seasonal perennials and pots of annuals. I find this approach works well- there is always something interesting going on. I truly think what you need to do is measure your space and get it down on graph paper. Mark your sun/shade and how the light moves. Then you can see what size plants you have room for and can start looking for what you like. I suggest that you spend some time in your nearest botanical garden to see what the possibilities are for your area. You have several near you- GO. Wear your walking shoes and take photos. Driving parks and high end neighborhoods is also helpful- if you see something you like snap a photo and the ID the plants and duplicate that look. Or show us a photo of the front of the home. You are designing here and now is the time to make your mistakes- not after putting something in the ground, growing it for a year only to find out conditions don't suit it. You have a blank slate so take that to the Landscape Design forum and ask for help. I think hydrangeas are a mistake- they're just not that interesting when not in bloom. They can be part of a group but not a main focus other than their blooming period. I have lots of hydrangeas- paniculatas, arborescens, serratas- I ditched my macrophyllas due to frustration at lack of blooms caused by my unwillingness to do winter protection. None of those I have would suit the front of a home as a featured plant to build a design around. Spend more time choosing and planning. Summer's a bad time to plant anyway, so you're looking at fall planting at the earliest, so you have time to research and get it right....See More
dottiecarrano
7 years agobluesanne
7 years agobiondanonima (Zone 7a Hudson Valley)
7 years agolast modified: 7 years ago
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