Low maintenance exteriors - stone, brick, anything else?
lyfia
4 years ago
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lyfia
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoRelated Discussions
Low maintenance garden
Comments (6)>Anyway, I was wondering if we look for low maintenance gardens that have the same perfected nature and if a real low maintenence garden is one that can take a bit of neglect and doesn't look like a dogs dinner as soon as the grass is an inch and a half long? It depends on where you live as to what would work. I'm going to say what I have in semi-rural New Mexico mountains, but I am NOT at ALL saying this would work on a typical suburban lot! I have a heavily wooded half acre, covered with poderosa pine. POs put in some non-native trees, some of which have done great (the weeping willow) and some of which have curled up and died (the Japanese maple, poor little ting, which got toasted when an apricot tree died). They also put in a lot of paths and planting areas winding through the woods in the back yard and a sheltered sort of area in the front yard. Since the theme of the property is still very much a forest, it's easy to say, "if it blooms, it's a flower, and I'm keeping it." *G* Native geraniums, wild passionflower vine, cultivated geraniums, wild sunfowers, and daylilies all live happily together, and shasta daisies and catmint are escaping the beds in places and are allowed to take over the edge of the (unpaved) driveway. Well-ordered beds get progressively wilder, meling seemlessly into the forest as you go back from the edge. It is VERY, VERY difficult to grow most plants here, so this style of gardening is a great way to keep from entirely losing your mind. Mulching is usually pine needles that fall from the trees above--only in a few places is additional mulch needed, and then it's native stuff that I get from the garbage transfer station's piles of chipped yard waste....See MoreLow maintenance roses?
Comments (19)In my experience David Austins are very high maintenance - of course I've only ever bought them bare root -- so I guess if you bought them as bigger potted roses they wouldn't need to be coddled as much. I have a William Baffin that is 9 feet tall, reblooms in late July/Early August -- but did get Black Spot early this Spring when it wouldn't stop raining. It was the first time I had Black Spot on any of my roses. Knock out is very resistant -- shade tolerant and relatively drought-resistant (for a rose). I use Knock-Outs as ground-cover roses in my front yard, where the hose doesn't reach, so they depend on me remembering to water them. But even if you are growing organically, there are things that you can use to keep disease, bugs and weeds away. I am allergic to most of the chemical sprays and have great success with things that I got from the Gardens Alive catalog. (I don't work for them, I'm just giving my seal of approval -- for what it's worth) Here is a link that might be useful: Garden's Alive...See MoreExterior materials - HardiePlank, Cedar shakes, Stone and Brick
Comments (9)Cutting a house horizontally in half with different materials is a look best left to the production McMansions of the boom. If you are going to choose different materials to accent the build, you should choose elements to clad in it completely. And NEVER do "just the front" of the house in stone or brick with a cheaper material elsewhere. If you are going to use stone or brick, clad the entire box of the structure in that material. The expense of doing correctly like that is why most people choose one of a facade's bumpouts to use that material on and save the less expensive material for the main box. That is what your inpiration photo shows. The stone goes from bottom to top and is on the whole element to be accented, not cutting it in half....See MoreSmall front yard, drought, low maintenance
Comments (26)In terms of your question about curved paths - I can see why you might decide on a straight path given the size of your yard, but if you have a straight path, I think it would be better to have curvature in your plantings - right now everything is in straight lines. Most (but not necessarily all) landscaping pictures that I see have some curves. Or in the case where the design uses only straight lines, they will have for example, one rectangle, and then another that is jutted out from the first, and so on in such a way that the various rectangles actually visually look a bit curved. This is a picture that might show a bit of what I mean. https://www.houzz.com/photos/paver-walkway-traditional-landscape-columbus-phvw-vp~237790 In terms of your question about what type of walkway to use - my preference would be a solid surface as per your second picture. I think that the first picture looks a bit more like a casual path that would be in the back yard, and not in the front yard....See Morelyfia
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agolyfia
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4 years agoVirgil Carter Fine Art
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4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoVirgil Carter Fine Art
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