Totally clean slate - I need landscape help for our new build!
Hello,
We are just finishing building our home in Michigan (zone 5) and are really struggling to come up with a landscape design that will give curb appeal and won't be underwhelming for the scale of the yard and house. The house sits up on a bit of a hill and has an ENORMOUS yard.
The front yard, by the road, will have a lamp post with a hanging address plaque. We also will need a retaining wall on the left front of the house, but other than that, this is a fresh canvas and I'm overwhelmed about what we should do with it. We've had a few landscape designers come out to give us ideas, but most of them want to over-plant and turn the place into a forest. I'm not at all opposed to some well-placed trees, but prefer it to look balanced, clean, and manicured.
I would like something that's fairly low maintenance. I tend to like plants that look well-kept and maintained (i.e., not too wild/jungly looking). There's also a patio off the back of the house that we'd like to use for a table and portable fire pit. It would be nice to have a little privacy around with our landscaping. Any advice would be very appreciated! Thank you!
Comments (10)
kellymou77
5 years agoRelated Discussions
Front yard landscaping...clean slate...again
Comments (20)Yup, as you can see now, my whole place is VERY exposed. We always considered planting something to block the road out....something fast growing that would give us more of a feel that we have our little "sanctuary" here at home... we have NO privacy. No matter what I'm doing outside, people always stare as they drive by, in fact, you can see the turn around there in the driveway, not only do we MANY times a day have people turning around in our driveway, but we've even had people with the nerve to pull all the way INTO our driveway, use that turn around, then pull out! We even had one gal back up towards teh barn and get stuck...and asked us to pull her out. Many times a day, people use our driveway to turn around in. The privacy issue is a whole other matter, but I'm glad you brought it up, because it's important to me as well. I've always said, I love our property. It's beautiful, with a large pond and woods right in our back yard, but the front of the house faces a county highway, and no privacy whatsoever. The barn is our horse barn. It's nothing fancy...my husband built it in a weekend, (with some help, of course!), and provides shelter for our 2 big horses, 2 miniature horses, and three miniature donkeys. We also have a couple bunnies out there. What isn't in the photo is our chicken coop, which my husband also built. In the pic with the white pickup, the chicken coop sits about where the back of the truck is. The siding matches the house nicely, and I planted a couple of emerald arborvitaes, small ones, one on each side of the door, and have some potted flowers there. Hubby just put in my cute little hanging solar lanterns on it too. I should get an updated picture. I'd like to dress up the coop as well, maybe shutters or a window box or something, since because of zoning issues, that was about the only place they'd let us put it, and sticking out like a sore thumb, it had to look nice! The projects here will never stop!! ANd thanks for the link on the yard photos....most of those were absolutely stunning!!!! Definite ideas there. I had to sigh at the palm trees. I'm in love with them. But, not here in WI! lol Angie...See MoreNew Pool Build Help/Thoughts/Advice - Total Novice Here!!
Comments (1)Company A has chemically sealed Schedule 40? LOL. That means they are glued and normal. Just make sure it's all hard pipe. Put 2.5" suction on the drains. Especially important for the spa. By keeping the returns open a little, a separate pool return in the spa can be eliminated as well as the dedicated 2 HP pump. Just use the pool pump for the spa. Its can go up to 2 HP also. If they bring in a heat pump, they'll more amps brought in. Company B likes to glue their plumbing fittings too! Shocking! You might think its an industry standard, And you'd be right! Heheh. Same issue with the drains, go to 2.5" pipes. Why only 6 jets? Why not an E-Pump? Only the spa will need it. The pump is normally slowed and run a little longer so it saves power in pool circulation. How big is the DE filter? I don't see that there is a controller. Since you're lighting it, putting in color LED fixtures in makes sense. Why is the 100W quartz in the spa and not a colored LED? A 12 year warranty has to be specific to them. Find out ahead of time what isn't covered. Both companies: Salt it. Its easiest to care for. Scott...See MoreNeed help with landscaping a new home - blank slate yard
Comments (10)Congratulations on building your new home. Based on our experience here are a few things you should look into: 1) Whether your shed (accessory building) is allowed in your zoning code. 2) The maximum sq ft of the accessory building that is allowed. 3) How far does it need to be setback from your property line. This varies between municipalities. 4) Make sure your Crabapple tree (Malus spp). is going to do well in your plant hardiness zone. http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/ 5) Regarding the shrubs, in our planting designs we try to only specify plants that are native to the state and region, because of reduced irrigation and maintenance needs. In looking at your pictures, we think that the swale should be usable space for recreation and repose. The trees can be located near the deck for privacy purposes; we recommend planting mature trees (large gallon size) because of higher survivability rates. If you are using the Crabapple tree for privacy, take into account that their canopy range is between 10'-25' diameter depending on the species. Also keep in mind that Crabapple is deciduous, which means you may want to consider a mix of deciduous and coniferous (evergreen). Lastly, we think you should cluster your plantings along the edges of the sides of the property (not in front of the swale); this would make your back yard look bigger. Good luck with the improvements and please post pictures when your done! -DR, Landscape Designer...See MoreNew pool build Buffalo NY. Need help and advice on build and design!!
Comments (2)This door will be removed. BBQ area will be under here. Not sure if you can tell from the pictures but the concrete is pretty rough. Our PB suggested poring new concrete to bring it to the new level of the door and with the pool and stamping it all to look cohesive. Problem with that is it costs 14k and we would like to put that money into other things.Anyone have any suggestions as to how we can make it blend in and look nice with the new stamped concrete?...See More4bubbies
5 years agokellymou77
5 years ago4bubbies
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agokellymou77
5 years ago4bubbies
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agokellymou77
5 years ago
PROYardvaark
5 years ago"We've had a few landscape designers come out to give us ideas, but most of them want to over-plant and turn the place into a forest." There is pressure in the industry to go in this direction and it comes from everywhere: the client, the boss, the contractors. Everybody wants to squeeze more plants in if they can. Part of this is impatience. Everyone wants quick or instant results. Part of it comes from the urge to sell product. And part of it comes from peer pressure; a designer may not feel like they're "doing enough" professionally if they aren't providing the fullest look. I felt this in my early days of work and it took a long time to resist.
It's a nice looking, good sized house, but the walk to the front porch is seriously undersized relative to everything else. Unfortunately, it cheapens the look of everything else. The walk and the step should be the width (or nearly) of the opening between the porch posts. Due to the grade, it would probably require installing a small retaining wall. (There really ought to be a retaining wall there now. I can picture maintenance difficulty and erosion problems on the way.) If you ever decide to fix it, I would explore the idea of eliminating one step, by tilting the walk slightly upward as it approaches the porch. (The picture doesn't indicate if this is feasible.)
IMO, there is not enough shown in the pictures to give much feedback on planting. From the overall front, it looks like you could use some large trees off the corner of the house, but neither of these areas can be seen well. Nor can the complete foundation planting area be seen. (We only see the central part from a hard angle.) My picture is not a comprehensive look, but is only addressing the walk issue.
kellymou77
5 years ago
Dig Doug's Designs