New Farmhouse landscape - master/garage area
Hi everyone,
Im taking a shot at posting multiple areas of the yard for our new build that need help. If the photos don't work I'll take new ones. Thanks for the guidance!
background:. We built a new farmhouse style home last year. The interior style is traditional - not rustic. We are on 60 acres of family land, but what we aren't currently using is farmed. There is about 5 acres of woods in between the house and the road, so you can't see the house directly in front from the road. I think it's about 900 ft driveway. But you can see the back of the house diagonal from the road at a distance. We are zone 6b. We are a family with two small, active kiddos.
Future yard plans include building a pole barn southeast of house in the next year. A large garden will be planted in front of barn area south of house, and I hope to do my butterfly garden landscaping in the area around the barn. On the southeast side of the house not pictured below we have a hill area to walkout basement that overlooks the lake. This will be a patio area, terraced or something similar with steps down to walkout. That project is at least five years down the road.
Project goals:. Create a cohesive landscape that matches the house. I would love for it to feel like the house and gardens have been there for 100 years. Must use rock, no mulch close to house. Low maintenance plantings, some moderate is fine. Deer/critter resistant plant materials. I love flowering plants and having evergreen materials. Figure out where to plant some trees given restrictions.
master/garage area use: this area gets south/west exposure. this area has water hose access next to garage which needs to be fairly accessible. There is also a window well to the basement that I'd like to keep from covering up too much if possible but not a huge priority. I'd like to create some balance with the huge white wall on the west of the house with the landscape.
Southern exposure garage area, basement window well in center bottom
Left of the above photo, shows driveway and guest parking area
western exposure master bed/garage area. Water access to left of garage. Can see basement window well sticking out on garage side. This western side is a large white wall that needs some help. Center of this wall is water access, but I expect this one to be used infrequently. Small vent under left window.
Here's the plan my current landscape company did if it helps with layout. I'm not tied to anything in
Taken from top of driveway, what you see as approach house
Comments (17)
PROYardvaark
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoI think this is the face that is the subject of this thread ....
We need to see the flanking space at the right and left .... the complete scene. I would move in a little tighter for the photos -- to the red + or a little farther in -- since we don't need to see the gravel or so much sky. The camera must PIVOT for the shots. You can't move the camera location between each shot. If you move, the pictures cannot be reassembled into one wide scene.
(Don't delete the other pictures as they are still useful information.)
farmdrmer
7 years agoI'm unable to take the additional pictures you requested until next week. I'll repost then. Until then, to the right is as drawn - a garage and field. Here is a photo that shows it a little bit.
To the left
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7 years ago- PRO
Yardvaark
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoIt is water falling in the zone circled in red that I was questioning. Not everything shows well in photos. If it is resolved, and water drains out of the area, great.
farmdrmer thanked Yardvaark frankielynnsie
7 years ago- PRO
Yardvaark
7 years ago farmdrmer
7 years agofrankielynnsie
7 years ago- PRO
Yardvaark
7 years agoWhile you're not interested in redoing the walk now, it might be something to think about in the future if you develop an interest in upgrading the setting for the house. To be sure, the entrance deserves a spacious landing, the step warrants a cheek wall and the whole business would be improved by a wide walk following a simple uniform curve.
Also, I want to ask a survey question. I'm sure there were decisions made while building the house about adding, and spending money on, various components. When the question came up about adding this or that, was it easier to decide to add things near the beginning of the project, or near the end? In other words, did the money flow more freely near the beginning or near the end?
farmdrmer
7 years ago- PRO
Yardvaark
7 years ago farmdrmer
7 years ago- PRO
Yardvaark
7 years agoHere are some suggestions compared to an artist's interpretation of your plan. The bed lines are yellow to make how they would be, clearer. Some of my criticisms of the plan are: the snakey bed line and that everything is plastered flat against the building. It looks pinched and the larger plants, especially, are going to grow leaning outward from the wall. The larger the plant is, the more this would be the case. It calls for permanently exposed mulch, which requires annual topdressing of same. I don't think the large shrub at the corner makes sense when there are windows also very near the corner. The annuals are in stringy lines.
It would be better to move the small tree out from the building where it can grow larger. Keep in mind that there is space between it and the building so when viewed from the side, it is not smothering the building. If the tree came out of a surround base of perennials it would look more important and sumptuous. Instead of shrubs uniformly marching across the wall face, it would be better to fit them to the windows. Color in larger blocks, instead of lines would look better with the scale of the building. I think it works better to limit annuals (higher maintenance) to nearer the entrance and place perennials, for color, at other areas.. I cannot see the value of rocks, especially placed in a line ... behind another line, of plants. They would be lost. It would be better, if one had to have rocks, to have a single large boulder.
farmdrmer thanked Yardvaark farmdrmer
7 years ago- PRO
Yardvaark
7 years ago
Yardvaark