Help With Landscaping & Trees - Blank Slate- Come Help
I really need some help and ideas on what to plant where. Please! As you can see in the pics, we have a blank slate. We definitely need some shade trees, but I’m not sure where to put them. And I also want to have some flower beds, I’m thinking some curving along the front of the house and fence on right side of house.
I’m in zone 9, Houston = hot & humid. I’d prefer not to have any oak or pines, since I’m sick of the tree litter from my old yard. But preferably a couple/few fast growing shade trees and then some smaller flowering/specimen types.
The front door faces the South, so we get A LOT of sun right now. The lot is 160 feet wide (and hard to fit in one pic), with the left edge of the driveway pretty much in the center of the lot. The house is set back about 40 feet.
I also have this weird dead space to the right of the front door/left side of garage I could use help with. DH just wants to put gravel in it and be done, but ugh. I want at least a fountain or something, but also considered a small shrub or such next to the walkway and don’t want to block out anything we do there.
So I’m open to all ideas/ mockups please!
Comments (13)
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Need serious landscaping advice...blank slate...
Comments (20)Tibs has the most poignant advice : Green Giant Thuga will get taller than 8 - 10'. Check with your community's zoning, you might be limited on how close you can plant to the road and how high for driver's visability. Even if it is within code to plant that high on a busy street corner I would advice not to. It is very dangerous for your community. Drivers need to be able to see around the corner. I don't understand the rational for removing the short stone retaining wall. It provides you with a low barrier set off the street which is great in regards to winter plowing / snow removal , provides an off street walking or car pull off area and allows the upper grade some flatness. I think that a walk around the Arnold Arboretum will give you some ideas about how to pull together a vignette/ composition of shrubs as well as inform you ( most all the plants are labeled ) of the various plant names. - - If the Arnold Arboretum is not within close distance then try one of the local well maintained museum properties like DeCordova in Lincoln or the old Case Estates in Weston. Another option is Allen Haskells old nursery or Weston nursery - - Otherwise a consultation with a landscape designer would greatly benefit you and would most likely save you $$$ in the long run and you will receive a good base plan to work off of ....See MoreBlank Slate - Need Design Help!
Comments (5)FinJ, personally I prefer two things with a blank slate. 1st is the view from the street, namely the main direction you drive in and see every day. 2nd is the view from the windows of the house, or areas outdoors you would use the most. If you use your garage a lot, I would add windbreaking things like arborviate or any plant choice shrub with mid level evergreen trees behind on the driveway length, rather than have a single row, you could have yews, dwarf pines, juniper, spruce, arborviatae etc. I have never done a house that needed a windbreak from north winds "being from the south", but thats the NW facing section and should get the most winds unless you have a lake or something flat on the NN side. A very, very distant 3rd is how the areas in the outside interact with each other and the view from them. Needing shade from Sun exposure is my thing. All zones are a broad thing, is it zn 6 costal, mtn, etc? You want fast growing trees and those with a large canopy. In the south we use magnolias, live oaks, pecans, gums, and maples often. I do think with your zone decidious trees would be better on the far back of the lot allowing more sun in winter, and with the lower sun having 10-15 ft evergreens behind would allow for year round green while blocking the glaring view of the sun from parts of your home. Your house design on the back to me looks like it could easily entertain a pergola with climing rose, wisteria, grapes, etc. that would make an enteresting area to entertain, you could then make plans for a jacuzzi just off of it with a fire pit. It is an enterly blank slate, what do you like? I think you need to look at homes in the area plant wise, look at some things you like online, get an idea of a budget on what you want to spend, get it on paper, then do it again on paper after waiting a couple of weeks, then piece it together if your going the DIY route. If thats your house in the picture, I would echo the white in the landscape some. I would use real apples and white blooming cherries, honey crisp and rainier. I would also look at yoshinio cherries and white dogwood/white redbud for the front yard. That would pull the focus off your white siding and draw the inside out and the outside in....See MoreDesign help for blank slate yard
Comments (19)Here's where I was thinking for trees to cut some wind directed at the patio. Predominant wind is from the NW. This diagram is not to scale. Center could be the ash (fraxinus americana "autumn purple"), autumn blaze maple (Acer x freemanii 'Jeffersred') or maybe an amur cherry (pruunus mackii) but they're listed as "only" 30 year lifespan. Funny you say that about the poplar. I've always lived in very farm-oriented communities so it's fitting that these would be common. The Swedish aspen is listed as more disease tolerant and having a 50 year lifespan. Poplar also tend to sucker where it doesn't sound like the aspen will. After more consideration, I may look to place the cedar elsewhere as they don't seem to tolerate wind very well. Possibly in front of the house under the front window or between the two small windows in the rear....See MoreBlank Slate Landscaping Help Needed
Comments (4)If you now truly have a blank slate, you will need to be thinking beyond just perennials. Shrubs and even small trees form the bones of a garden and will offer that screening you desire in front of the open crawl space, as well as a year round presence. And as far as low maintenance is concerned, shrubs and trees, especially evergreen ones, tend to be on the low end of the maintenance scale while perennials are working their way up the scale. Most will need to be cut back or cleaned up at least annually as well as often needing staking or periodic dividing. Much fewer of those concerns with shrubs and trees. I'd suggest you try reposting this in either the Landscape Design forum or the Georgia Gardening forum ( for very local input) or both. And try to include a photo of the area in question as well as its aspect (facing north or on west side, etc.) and how much sun the area receives. Your request is just a little vague - the more specific or detailed your request, the more likely you are to generate some appropriate suggestions....See MoreRelated Professionals
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Thanks! I will do my best with descriptions and look for some photo inspirations to post.
I don't know soil type exactly but this house is only 3 lots down from my previous one so I am going to assume it is similar. Which is fairly clayey. My old lot was somewhat acidic but we had a lot of pine trees.
Pines and oaks are natural growers around here, but not exclusively.
Even though the house is a typical ranch style, I want to incorporate a little tropical style into the landscaping, but more so in the back to accompany the future pool. My vision does take some inspiration of tropical landscapes from places I've visited though- Jamaica, Roatan, East Africa.
Not necessarily just a bunch of palm trees though.
I think I can figure out perennials and such to fill in the spaces, I mostly am having trouble getting started with tree and bed locations.
Here are a couple front yard pics of my previous house, but it had a lot of shade. I'll look for insp pics. Over the years, we spent a lot of time working on it and aren't opposed to that. I like a more free-form look versus traditional/boxwood look.
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