Help with backyard landscaping and patio
I’m in zone 7a, 30 miles north of Philadelphia. I have an acre, lots of deer, and the rear of
my split-level faces southwest. I had a septic pipe break a couple months ago,
and to do the repair they had to tear up a corner of my patio. Before I get the patio fixed, I was hoping
to get some advice on both the patio and the empty area in the back of the
house to the right of the patio.
In
the past I have put palms in pots at the two corners of the patio, and large flower
pots in the middle of the long patio edge.
Prior year picture:
But
with the slope of the lawn from the patio to the backyard (about a 2 foot rise
over an 11 foot run), I don’t know if it would look better to add a low paver wall edging
the patio? Or maybe a bed 2 or 3 feet
deep around the entire edge of the patio would look better? The mulched beds at the corners shown in the
pics are too big – a rogue lawn guy had extra mulch one year and did that while
I wasn't home! I was wondering if grass
on the slope is ok, or if there would be something that would look better. (I plan to get the patio pavers cleaned
and sealed after the work is done).
My
property ends about midway between the two brush piles shown in the next
picture.
When the patio was originally installed, there was a tree to
the right of the patio, but it has since been removed. I don’t know what I should do with that area
– some shrubs and flowers, or maybe a fire pit area? There is a drop of a few inches between the
patio and the area to the right, but I should be able to have a few inches of soil
added to make it level if that would look/function better. That would have the benefit of hiding the
septic caps.
Picture
of the walkway to the patio from a prior year:
I would really appreciate any ideas you might have!
Comments (10)
kellysar
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Backyard landscaping and hardscaping help
Comments (2)You say that you. need steps ASAP. Steps need a good footing. How can you get steps now and repour patio in the future? A lovely wood deck that wrapped around the corner would be so nice. I see two pipes on the left side that give me unease. If you could retain access to those pipes and also move the hose bib then it would be doable. The deck would need to cover the current patio completely so as not to look thrown together. I am a simple person so if that was my house I would have identical wooden stairs for both doorways. They would still need a footing so you would have to decide on the patio first. I think I do not understand how a soil shift has caused the patio to be a hazard. Is water actually getting into the basement? I ask because I have a similar sunken path. Water is not puddling up to the foundation, so I really don't care. I do mean to fill the crack, of course. As far as landscaping goes you can always have lawn. The view of the woods behind you is very nice. If you care about privacy you could plant screening plants around the perimeter of your lot. The pool equipment is an easy solve also. Hide it with a fence and plant something tall next to the fence. Be sure there is still access to the equipment. When I say tall I mean in proportion to the fence. I don't know the reason but it is always suggested that no plants should dangle over the equipment. You could also post this question in the Home Repair forum or the Old House forum or the Build forum....See MoreBackyard landscaping and hardscaping help
Comments (2)Thank you for the responses. Patio design - should it be straight lines or curved? Steps - one continuous or two separate? We have suggestions for both and the companies that have come out go back and forth between them. Is there a rule to follow as far as design goes?...See MoreBackyard patio/ landscaping help needed!
Comments (9)What people can get here mostly is suggestions and inspiration. You are providing "inspiration" pictures so have some idea of what you want. It's a matter of organizing it on a 2-D plan. Your choices there are that, either you do it ... or you hire a professional landscape designer to do it. If you do it, you can get counsel here and the first bit you already got was to provide a plan view sketch of the area. (One would have a very hard time trying to convey the information you seek, back to you on the pictures provided so far.) Many people get inspiration for planting via pictures (that are taken square to the building and show the flanking surroundings in slightly overlapping pictures.) But it is too early to bother with planting, since you need hardscape and it must be resolved first, before you start working on a planting layout....See MoreSad backyard-much less sad but needs help with landscaping
Comments (0)So we are finally done with most of the hardscape of our backyard. We ended up recently extending the paver patio we did in the fall, all the way to the grassy area. I'm very happy with it, but now I need help with the landscaping part. We live in NJ, have lots of trees and the deer treat our backyard like a salad bar. I'm posting some pictures of what it looks like now. The dirt area was asphalt that was removed, and I'm thinking we will do some combination of grass (which struggles so it will probably end up being mostly moss) and some shade ornamental grasses. Around the patio itself I really have no idea-boxwoods maybe? The deer don't touch them, and they do well. Any ideas? The asphalted part of the yard will be redone in the near future....See Morekellysar
6 years agokellysar
6 years ago
PROYardvaark
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoA 3' to 4' shrub is not going to do a thing for that wall. It needs to be much bigger. Depending on what shrub you use, it might be one or it might be 5 in a double, staggered row, but trimmed as if it were one. You show the pipe running under the patio so I don't think there'd be a conflict with a shrub(s).
kellysar thanked Yardvaarkkellysar
6 years ago
l pinkmountain
6 years agokellysar
6 years ago
Yardvaark