Blank slate after cleanup
We bought this house last July and had new windows, siding, doors, and gutters installed last fall. We are still working on fixing the drainage around the house which we have made some headway.
The house was a foreclosure with either empty flower beds or like the circle drive section was so overgrown things were dead or dying.
I need help with the bed at the front right part of the house which is just dirt right now and the circle drive, but I can put them in different posts if that would be easier.
We live in zone 6 (Kansas City area). The house faces East, and I would consider everything in the front especially because of all of the trees to be part shade (morning sun). If I need to focus on one particular location it would be the area next to the house.
The whole area is a hump which we've been trying to level hence the 'crater'. Also in the middle of the crater right next to the driveway is a drainage tile we installed last fall because that is where part of the driveway empties to.
I would like to take the bed around the house (side of house faces North) and have hostas which I really love. Luckily I have a green thumb, but starting with a blank slate and all of the trees has me stumped. Obviously we need to get this part taken care of so the rain doesn't keep washing away dirt.
I love the trees and would like to keep the landscaping more natural looking. Maybe hostas and ferns?
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what sizes/shapes of plants to put here?
Here are the three pictures as you enter the driveway. The road and driveway both curve so your view is of the garage doors and detached garage which we need to paint.
Also, we have collected all of the Missouri River Rock that the area in feont of the house had and is in a pile in the circle drive. The circle drive area is also co ered with river rock along with other way too skinny beds around the house. So I guess we have that going for us if we want to reuse it instead of going with mulch.
Comments (12)
PROYardvaark
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoCould you add a picture that shows the wall from around the corner, to the right from picture #2 (the wall with AC in front of it)? Please make it a straight-on shot of the wall, not at an angle.
With all the trees, it's likely you'll need to change some of the turf area to be groundcover.
At the circular island of the drive, it would look a lot more neat and tidy if there was a single groundcover in the island. I'd limit the height to 30" or less, down to 8" min. OK to have any trees you want, but have the canopy high enough that it is not hiding the house. On any small trees in that island, you can raise canopy bottom to 50% of total tree height, meaning that it will go up every year until it reaches optimum of allowing house to be revealed. If you're going to have shrubs or perennials in the island, they'd look better if they related to the tree trunks, encircling them, rather than be scattered willy-nilly throughout the bed. They should be large enough to be of a pleasant proportion. If in doubt, go larger.
Iowacommute
7 years agoRelated Discussions
Another screaming yellow drive-by blank slate
Comments (20)my $.02 too first thing i always tell anybody who asks me about what to do in their yard (i'm not a pro ) is: 1. live with it until you decide how you are going to use it and start making a list of what you wnat to do. 2. live with it some more until you know how it works- where is the sun/shade,wet/dry etc. 3. draw a map of your yard/house, circle and itentify what you want to do where-- will it work in that area. examples. i live on a city lot 50x125. the house was built in the 20's, it's 25 feet from the street. the drive runs from the street to the rear of the back yard, but there is no garage. we had twin 2 year old when we moved in. #1 need was a fence to contain them. thats what we put up as we moved in. after living there for a year we knew we wanted an area to dry clothes on the line. an area for the kids to play in -- including a swing set/sandbox and fort. we wanted an area to grill in/eat out. an area to relax in that wasn't in the sun. all this we wanted to do in the back yard. in the front yard we wanted to use as an entry way that welcomed people. I was willing to spend 1-2 hrs per week doing yard work as well as a spring and fall clean-up. in reality i' only willing to spend about 1 hour perweek. This means i need to rely on perinneials and tough plants that don't need lots of care. our 3 major problems with the yard were too many trees, the back third of the back yard was low, slow draining, and never got sun (think mud for 6 months of the year or more) and heavy clay soil.` year one we cut down 42 trees from the lot -- most were over 8" in diameter. We kept an ancient hickory (58" diameter), a young hickory (14" diameter) a maple(12" diameter) and three pin oaks (all about 14" in diameter). we ran a clothes line along one side of the back yard. since the back third of the yard was in heavy shade and only mud. we topped it with 18 tons of pea gravel-- put in the swingset, fort in the maple tree and a large sandbox. also we made a sitting area and put the wading pool there. no sunburns while the kids played, no more mud, cool and shady. we use the drive as a patio. but all this took us three years to achieve-- time to observe etc. nowe that the kids are 18, i can replace the fort/swingset with a shed for storage. the sand box is used for forcing winter publs and as a temporary holding bed. the lay out of the clothes line is being changed so i can increase the area where i have flower bed and so that it isn't so obvious now that we can entertain. also i'm finally able to start putting in plants i truly want as the soil has been built up over the years with many applications of compost, mulch, topsoil, sand and peat. i'm losing my big hickory-- maybe 10-15 more years, but i started a replacement for it in a better spot that a future owner will appreciate. but what you need to do lis figure out what you will do in the yard, what you want to see from the house, what you whant to see from the road. where do you always go into the house from? where do you want guest to go when they arrrive? where do you needx a shovel in the winter. then you need to read read read about plants and ask questions. as some one said you can always move the plant-- i'm ready to rip out my front flower beds for the 5th time because i finally think i have a plan that will work right for me-- i have homes for all the plants in these beds in other areas of my yard. so cut rake compost plant annuals stick in bulbs find plants you like and learn for a year or so then satart putting in the 'bones' of your garden and then start filling in the gaps. diggerb...See MoreCurb Appeal - Blank Slate
Comments (11)Lovely home. You already have some great suggestions from several people. Good to know where you are located, as it will truly make a difference with plant suggestions/choices. Would definitely plant your trees away from the house. Trees are meant to 'frame' the house and if you have a pool I can understand your desire to minimize the leaves you'll have to deal with. Think about what size any foundation plants will be in 5-6 years and how much upkeep you are willing to do on full-grown shrubs. Do your research on anything your landscaper of choice suggests. Visit the nursery with him/her if possible and be a part of the plant selections once they give you the layout. Make sure they understand you have final approval on all plant selections. In other words, don't 'settle' on something you are unsure about or don't like just because they put it on a piece of paper. This time of year is a great time to visit nurseries or botanical gardens nearby and see what is blooming (shrubs, border plantings, etc) and take photos of what you like. Write down names if possible and keep a list of things that appeal to you. Most nurseries or botanical gardens are more than happy to tell you about the varieties of plants available and their mature sizes. If not, go home and look on the internet. You don't want to put an 8' plant in front of those pretty french doors! Do you use all 3 doors all the time? For now, you could start with a couple of chairs on the porch and a couple of large planters with some interesting plantings in them between the doors. Ferns or tall spiky plants, with other colorful plants mixed in front and something trailing out. Lots of container ideas available and you could easily do that yourself....See MoreHelp! Floor plan- Blank Slate
Comments (34)Dilly, ultimately about the kitchen, but regarding your statement that you wanted the deck off the living room because that's the nicer side of the propery: Decks almost always block the view of the landscape beyond from inside, replacing your view of garden (or valley, marsh, etc.) with a clutter of chair backs and legs, table and legs, railing and posts, BBQ, cushion storage, and of course...decking. No matter how expensive and how well done, at the best of times it will be less attractive than what it's blocking (and in many climates a desolate unappealing wasteland in winter). Besides you'll always have plenty of chair legs, tables, etc., inside to look at. How about instead: * moving that deck elsewhere, where it has a nice view of the good end of the property from a different orientation, * taking some of the current deck space *for the kitchen,* and * having the living room feature a pretty view of your garden while still having good access to a nearby deck? (BTW, balcony-type walkways can connect doors to large open deck areas without destroying views)....See More1930 American Foursquare kitchen (blank slate!)-layout help please!!
Comments (5)Welcome to Kitchens. I drew a peninsula with a clean-up zone, and made the island a prep zone, with a second prep zone between the clean-up sink and range.I'd suggest a small trash pull-out under the prep sink. There are windows on each side of the range. The pantry beside the fridge has shallow shelves for canned goods built on the front of the bump-out, with a tall cabinet with ROTS, and sheet pan storage above. You could keep small appliances on the lower roll-out. I don't like corner pantries as a rule, but this one is where it can do no harm ;). I'd suggest replacing the French doors with a slider, opening left-to-right, to channel traffic behind the island, or moving the doors up beside the pantry. Instead of a more expensive MW drawer, a counter MW could go in the space above the bump-out, with upper cabinets above. That would also leave space for a CT coffee maker. Without the peninsula, you could have an island with seating on two sides, but you would have fewer cabinets and less storage space: If you are using a standard depth fridge, you can pull the cabinets out to the same depth as the fridge box in the above plan, to provide more counter space. In that case, you could have the shallow store for cans I drew in front of the bump-out in the first plan. If you are a fan of banquette seating, you could have built-in benches in the corner, with a mobile cart to add extra prep space and help channel traffic away from the work aisle. benches can double as storage space: Another option, using the extra 3.5': New to Kitchens? Read me first....See More- PRO
Yardvaark
7 years agoI suggest you construct a low retaining wall at the front right corner of the house in order to allow you to level the grade directly in front of the house. It would look a lot better than having the grade dive off as it approaches the right corner. It wouldn't be possible to do without a low retaining wall on account of the window that is just around the corner.
With the trees, this area looks like it's going to be a groundcover area to me. A shrub below the window, some color by the door and a draping plant that conceals the retaining wall -- plus the groundcover -- is enough to cover all the bases. If the ret. wall is covered up it does not have to look good, but it must function properly.
Iowacommute
7 years agoIowacommute
6 years agoUpdate: I wanted to share what I've been working on.
The first picture is our 'island' in our circle drive which I have been clearing out. So far I have hostas and Chocolate Chip Ajuga around two trees, but my hostas are getting wat too much sun at one tree so I'll have to find something else. Plus I inherited a ton of Missouri River Rock which I though I could spread out around the bird feeder and place a bird bath there. otherwise I'm at a loss. It does look so much nicer and cleaner since I cut down the other random large shrubs but now have to dig out the stumps. :(
Yardvaark we took your advice and made a small retaining wall from the corner of the house, and you were absolutely right it makes the bed and the side of the house look so much better.
TBH the hostas may be a place holder for now until I can find a pretty, smaller evergreen but those seem to be hard to come by. The shrub in the middle is a peach Rhodendron and really compliments the brick. It had some evergreen qualities along with the oakleaf hydrangea next to it. I also moved some ajuga I found on the north side of our house to here, and it is finally starting to spread. I'm using the ajuga instead of mulch.
Sorry for the hose and pots I wanted to get a picture before the sun came over and bleached out the picture.
I have been reading the other threads here for a while and something Yardvaark said about framing the house and creating a sort of path to the front door to make it seem accessible and welcoming stuck with me. I hope I am at least on the way to achieving that.
I really appreciate the help I have received and wanted to say thank you. Also if you see something that could be improved upon I am all ears. Thank you again.
- PRO
Yardvaark
6 years ago Iowacommute
6 years ago
cearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky)
6 years agoIowacommute
6 years ago- PRO
Yardvaark
6 years ago Iowacommute
6 years ago
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK