Landscape ideas for front yard? - California
7 years ago
Hey all, would love some landscape ideas for the front yard. The house will soon be painted a light blue/gray with white trim. Roof will also be a dark gray color.
We're going through a severe drought and I would love something very low maintenance that also requires very little water. Any thoughts? My initial plan was stones, succulents, and maybe an olive tree...although it's a good space and I want to make it aesthetically pleasing. Any ideas?
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Comments (7)
7 years agoIt would help to know your zone and which direction the house faces.
Here are some low water plants that I have and recommend.
Nandina, Myrtus Communis, Podocarpus Maki, Erigeron, Saponaria Max Frei, Geranium Biokovo, Abelia, Viburnum Tinus, Plumbago.
One plant I love is Leucophyta brownii, Cushion Bush.
It is a true xeriscape plant, meaning it needs no water other than what it gets in rain. In fact, I have to be careful to keep water away from it during summer. If it receives regular water it does not live very long.
One plant that disappoints me, water-wise, is Lantana. It loves the heat and it is pretty but it seems to need a normal amount of water. Other plants nearby, Gazania for one, need much less water.
Are you keeping any of the lawn?
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Ideas for landscaping in front yard - newbie
Comments (5)Sorry, forgot to consider the question about the tree. The bed may be meant for a tree, but that doesn't mean that whoever made the bed had a good idea. It is really a highly overrated idea to put plants, especially big ones, right against the house, especially in climates that have a lot of critter/insect issues. If you need trees for cooling, the foundation is rarely the best place for them. I don't think I've ever seen a tree planted near a house that looked like it should not have been planted somewhere else. And this is a nice house - no hiding necessary. Just because you have a bed there doesn't require you to fill it up. You can remove it too. But since it's tough to remove, putting in smaller flowering plants is probably your best option. KarinL...See MoreLandscape ideas for front yard California (zone 10a)
Comments (1)Say again your objectives....See MoreNeed landscape ideas - what to do with my slopping front yard
Comments (18)I have to disagree with you, Emmarene, that the slope is too large for a single groundcover. A groundcover can be the LAWN where a mowed turf grass lawn is not possible. One must just pick the groundcover that works for such a size. Some "timid" groundcovers work best for tiny places. Some more aggressive groundcovers work well only when the area is large enough, considering that mainly, one is managing EDGES. An aggressive groundcover in a small area would be a constant battle, but in a large area it can be one's best friend ... making ground green when grass can't, or won't, do it. The place to begin is finding out what others in the surrounding area (town/county, etc.) are using to solve the exact problem in their yards. Then one knows it grows in the area and is probably well suited to the size & job. If one groundcover is used predominantly over all others, then it is the groundcover to use. This is not the place to "be different," trying to express one's individuality. This is especially true if there is groundcover in use in a neighbor's yard. It would be an impossible battle trying to keep two different groundcovers from mixing at a property line. If one type of groundcover flows from one yard to the other, then there is no edge to maintain at the property line, making one's list of chores less. As an example, while risking bringing the haters out of the woodwork on account of the mere mention of it, I'll say that if this property was in Atlanta, Ga., the clear cut choice of groundcover would be English ivy, as it is the one in predominant use there for hilly and shady large areas (and some surprisingly small ones, though that is not my taste.) While many froth at the mouth at its mention, it nevertheless proves to be successfully manageable by many. (For me personally when I lived there, I considered it easy to care for, a lifesaver ... more or less worthy of worship on a grand scale, as it was the most versatile, hardest working horse in the barn.) In the typical case, since it commonly flowed from neighbor to neighbor, there was not property line trimming of it. Where it met lawn, many people were happy just to let the lawnmower be the one and only edger. Where ivy grew into the lawn, the regular mowing kept it from being noticeable at any distance. That left the only edging to be done where the ivy met paving. There, it needed to be trimmed a couple times/month during the growing season. One trimming per year kept it from climbing trees if one so chose. At back alleys and buildings, its leading edge could be sprayed with herbicide (such as Round-Up) in order to keep its advance in check. Or it could be manually cut, if one preferred. (Another advantage of it is that it was extraordinarily cheap/free/easy to create massive quantities of it, if one learned some simple propagation techniques.) Insofar as dividing groundcover from lawn, one would mark out all space that is too shady for turf grass to grow, or too hilly for it to be mowed. And then apply some simple art to it in order to come up with a dividing line that looks pleasant. In this case I would leave an "L" shape of grass next to the street and the drive, where it is neither too shady or too sloped. A radius transition between the two legs of the "L" would work well around the tree. The tree would be in the groundcover section, a visually comfortable distance away from its edge. Speaking of the tree, it is well past time to remove the scruffy looking bottom limbs from its trunk. The "shade" should not be hanging down, obscuring any front portion of the house....See MoreFront yard landscaping ideas?
Comments (16)When to prune a hydrangea depends on the species and whether it blooms on new wood or old wood. Here is one ARTICLE. If you pruned the first year at the wrong time, they might not bloom the second year. Hydrangeas are said to live up to 50 years if properly cared for. If they don't bloom this year, you should check with a local nursery on what could be wrong....See More
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