Need help - New construction Landscaping
We just finished our new home and have no clue as to where to start on our landscaping. We plan on doing the work ourselves but do not know where to start with a design or plan. We have spoken to a few landscaping companies and they want to sell us on these fancy, expensive designs which we are not interested in. We want it to look nice but we don't want waterfalls, etc.
This is our forever home so we want a nice look without fancy, high priced shrubs or plants or something that is hard to take care of.
Can anyone give us any advice? We are in Southern Indiana if that helps.
Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks!
Comments (6)
kentc
7 years agolast modified: 7 years ago
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
7 years agoRelated Discussions
New house, new at landscaping, need help
Comments (5)Congratulations on the new house, ontheairship. I know nothing about gardening in your climate, so I won't try to suggest plants. However, since it will help other members to know your hardiness zone (there are five in Florida), please tell us (generally) where you live, or look up your zone here: http://www.garden.org/zipzone/index.php It will also help to know which direction the house faces, how much sun the beds get (on both sides of the front yard), and whether the lawn includes any of the invasive types of grass like Bermuda. The palm is directly in front of your front door. You want people to be able to see your front door (which is already difficult, because it's set at the corner of the house, and in a narrow recess to boot), so remove the palm. Remove it now, because it will only get larger. [The shrub closest to the front door is also trying to hide the door.] Most on this forum dislike that type of edger and consider them out-of-date. The white color makes them stand out from the landscaping, but the narrow white lines aren't to scale with your house. They don't lend themselves to curves, so you're either stuck with right angles (not necessarily a bad thing, but limiting) or awkward shapes (like the attempt to "curve" the front bed). Consider also the two beds in the foreground of the final photo: a rectangle and a tiny circle, just inches apart. If it weren't for those edgers, the beds could be combined. Obviously you already own the current edgers, and replacing them with another type of edger will involve an expense. Along the front walk, the edgers seem too close and too busy. For that and other reasons, I would eliminate the narrow bed alongside the garage. The front walk is already narrow, so replace the bed with cement (of course, the older and newer cement likely won't match). If you can afford it, replace the entire walkway: widen it to at least the outer edge of the doorway recess; round the outer corner where the walkway turns around the corner of the garage. The white rock collects weeds and doesn't stay white. Decide how you feel about that. Consider asking the Florida Gardening forum whether a clean rock bed is possible, and if so, the best way to go about it. If you decide to get rid of the edgers and rock, Craigslist is a possibility....See MoreHelp with New Construction Landscape Design Ideas
Comments (5)Those are the best looking garage doors that anyone has brought to the forum in quite some time. The house is nice looking, too. The forum is a place where you can get help with landscape design and related issues, but you must keep in mind that is has limitations. For one, if the conversation is too wide spread -- about all areas of a large yard, for example -- it can quickly become confusing. It's best to focus on one area for a given thread ... a front yard, for example. It's best to work through that and then move on to other areas with new threads. And giving "help" means giving you assistance. You will still have work to do in converting any advice you get, whether it be verbal or graphic, into a workable PLAN. Either you must do it, or you must hire a landscape designer or architect to do it. But you really can't do landscape work, at least in any well organized, logical manner, without a plan on paper. On a larger than average property, a plan would be especially necessary if you mean to avoid waste and mistakes. Given that your are probably going to reside at the property for many years and will surely want to create a property as nice as the home, I highly recommend that you hire a landscape designer to work out all of the issues that you'll face while planning a quality landscape ... especially if you're not able to visualize things easily. Meanwhile, you can work on sorting through your thoughts on the project and on a direction to take the design. I'd suggest you start with the front yard. In order to do that you'll need to supply better pictures. In taking them what's important is not just what's directly in front of the house, but in an area the surrounds the house about 20' - 30' out, including the ends. Also, when taking pictures for those who can't personally visit the site, it's best if the camera is lined up with the center of the scene. For a given scene the camera must stay in one location and only pivot for each picture. Snap from left to right while taking slightly overlapping pictures and post them all, not a panorama made from them. That's a starting point. Another picture that is usually important to show is one of the front of the house as one sees it from a distance, showing how it fits in with the neighborhood. since you probably have a very large front yard, you might show it from where you see the house upon entering the property. If that's too far away, maybe as you're seeing it from a hundred or more feet away. Hard to be too exact without knowing what you're working with. You might also include a view from Google Satellite if that will help explain the overall layout....See MoreHelp with new construction landscape design
Comments (22)Sarahbr2 I just want to mention a few more things. The house is two story and faces north. The plants closest to the facade will get shade most of the day. You need to be sure the plants you choose do not require full sun. By the way, when I say the plants closest to the house I hope you know that shrubs should be planted at least two feet away from the wall of the house. Most ornamental grasses require full sun. I much prefer Yardvaarks offered drawing to the one your former landscape designer left you with. First, your designer wanted to hide some of the walk with plants near the entrance. I like a clear and obvious path to the door. I also think there was too much variety of plants in the original design. Too many and it just looks like a hodge podge. I did not like the planned Hollies near the porch stairs. In time they would crowd the steps and dwarf all the other plants. I like low things for that area. I wish I could help choose plants but I know little of your zone. I think you should seek advice on the Perennials forum for something that grows in a northern exposure. Show them the drawing Yardvaark made. Mature plant height is important if you don't want to spend a lot of time shearing. You want to be sure the porch is not obscured from view. I would love to hear what you decide on. As far as budget is concerned you can relax and do a little at a time if you have a plan. Luckily your house is good looking and does not require shrubs to keep it pretty....See MoreNew Construction Need landscape advice
Comments (4)Needlepoint Holly, Softtouch Holly, Otto Luyken Laurel, Gladiolus, Canyon Creek Abelia, Pink Crape Myrtle, Moonbay Nandina, Miscanthus var strictus, Tardiva Hydrangea, Lambs Ears, Blue Salvia...See MoreTime11130
7 years agoWe are blank slate at this point. My husband does concrete/brick work so he is going to put in sidewalks where I tell him to. He is not at all creative. I was thinking small curves in the sidewalk but I don't really where. Our driveway is gravel and has somewhat of a curve to it.
We are on 2.5 acres with future neighbors going to be on the sides of us, we approx. 400 feet off of the road.
Here are some more photos....
We would appreciate any guidance we can get.
PROYardvaark
7 years agoI agree with all the advice given so far by my colleagues.
In order to help work out a walk to the entrance, you'd need to provide, as Kentc mentioned, a PLAN view of some sort that shows the footprint of your house and drive on the property. (The aerial view is not a suitable substitute.) It could be from some of your construction documents, or you could draw it. It must be to a measured scale. I'm including an example at the bottom of the picture so you can see roughly what we're talking about.
Since you've offered a picture that includes just the house and what's in front of it, I'm presuming it is the FOUNDATION PLANTING that your are concerned with in this thread ...? Even if that's the case, you need to also show space at the ends of the house. A landscape wraps around the house in order to create its setting. Even if we're dealing with just the front of the house, the front landscaping will extend beyond the house ends. In addition, your picture was taken from quite far away ... so far in fact that we can't see enough detail of the space to be planted. Below is an illustration that explains roughly where you should stand to take pictures of the front of the house ... about on the red spot that I've placed in the picture where you are lined up with the center of the scene you are photographing. When you move closer in like that, obviously, you cannot capture all the house and space at the ends in a single picture. Simply pivot the camera, shooting from right to left capturing slightly overlapping pictures. Do not move the camera location between pictures or it will totally mess up re-assembly of the pictures. Do not make a panorama out of them because it will shrink all the detail. If you provide good pictures, it will make your property more easily understood by us, and act as a vehicle for providing feedback to you.
Time11130
7 years ago
nandina