Plants as border- keep them low for friendly neighbors or choose tall varieties for privacy.

Speak to your neighbor They might have something like this planned. (Let's hope they don't)

Somehow, that commercial where the neighbors are painting their grass green came to mind...

A narrow planting bed would be nice - use stone and put in a few nice shrubs..or pretty perennials...or do some raised planter boxes spaced apart and grow veggies and herbs for you both to share!

Without doubt, you need a larger landing and walk .... one that fits a house the size yours is. You'll be able to get lower maintenance, but not no maintenance. You need to upload a photo of the porch and walk, taken from near the lot line, while standing just inside your yard with the city walk behind you. Let it be two slightly overlapping photos if a wide view of that cannot be captured in a single photo.

Something like the 8" wide mowing strip (as in the above photo) is what comes to mind as an edge for your neighbor's artificial grass. As DK suggests, I'm thinking your neighbors have got to be considering some way of bordering their artificial turf investment. They're not going to want you tearing up its edge with maintenance of your lawn. See what's up with their plans.

I don't think you're necessarily going to want mulch beds bordering your neighbors lawn, except as temporary cover while plants are becoming established. You definitely could stand a redesign of landscape beds and plantings.

You didn't mention it, but the maintenance of your tree neither suits your house or yard. It should be limbed up another 5', but quite some time ago. Now, it's approaching the stage where the work will be more difficult and the owners might freak out on account of a significant part of the canopy now growing from the upward swept lower branches. Had they been removed 10 years ago, the tree would still have the same form, but without those low, view-blocking, head-knocking limbs. The form will still reestablish, but take longer.

I do not dislike artificial grass if it is high quality nor do I dislike a paved divider between properties.

Your garden is so small you could easily reduce planting area with more paving. The only problem is the diy kind usually end up looking like parking lots. You need to hire a professional landscape designer for this.

I was only able to find one decent picture, here it is.

This would be out of scale to your garden so I am not suggesting it for your house per se.

I don't know where you live so I can't describe what you would do with the remainder of your garden. Where I live I would do Mediterranean type garden.

I don't know what that tree is but first find out if it will lift pavement.

Thanks for the replies everyone!

@DK Haas,

I've already been talking with the neighbour for a few weeks now trying to co-ordinate our plans. In the back yard, they will be planting cedars and mulch along the property line to create the separation (since we don't have a fence). In the front, I was originally going to replace my grass with artificial; however, the good artificial grass and installation is expensive (over $15/sqft) so I thought I might as well redo my landscaping to expand my walkway/landing to eliminate (or at least minimize) the artificial grass required in my front yard.

@Debbi Washburn,

I like the idea of a narrow stone planting bed with low-maintenance perennials and shrubs if that could be incorporated into a new front walkway :-)

@Yardvaark,

Thanks for your thorough reply! I agree that I need a larger walk, and now is a good time to do it. I'm going to have a professional landscaper come to give some ideas, but thought it would be interesting to hear what people here have to say first. I tried to take a number of photots (see posts below) -- hopefully one of these is the angle that you were hoping for, but if not then I can take more photos.

Also, thanks for your comments on my Oak tree :-) I'm a new owner of the house, but the tree was probably planted when the house was built 20 years ago. I've actually had no issues with the lower limbs being in the way.

@ emmarene9 ,

The aritficial grass that my neighbour is installing is high quality and looks very real (including thatching). I don't hate it, but it's expensive and I feel like I need to redo my front walkway anyways. My thought is that there's no point in paying $15/sqft for artificial grass that will eventually need to be torn out when redoing my walkways. I wouldn't be doing the job myself -- I will hire a landscaper for the design and execution, but I'm looking for some ideas before meeting with them :) Also, I live in Ontario Canada (so we get get some really cold and snowy winters).

Thanks!

Photos 1-4

Photos 5-8

Photos 9-12

Photos 13-16

Photos 17-20

Photos 21-23

@BeverlyFLADeziner,

Yes, I'd like to eliminate my grass altogether if possible (while still making it look nice with the neighbour's property of artificial grass). I like the idea of a narrow stone planting bed along the property line; however, I'm not sure how I would make that look good with the rest of the yard and new walkway. I lack creativity :P

Thanks!

Reminds me of my FIL years ago when he tired of mowing the outlawn. Poured cement and painted it green. Not a good look.

I doubt this will be convincing because we're not seeing full scenes with finished landscaping, but what I see as a main problem is the entrance being barricaded and the path to it hidden by plants. Then, when we see it, it's small, undersized for the house. Given the arrangement of doors, I can't see that trying to squeeze planting between the walk and garage is any advantage. Plants there end up being in-the-way clutter. Plants in front of the walk hide the existence of the walk. There needs to be plants ... but at other places. A plain, simple landing to the stoop, that allows two people to walk up to it, side-by-side, is about the best that can be asked for. Adding some decorative quality to the landing could give it upgraded appeal.

@Yardvaark,

Wow, thanks so much for the photo sketches -- that's so cool! That landing that you drew would be so much more functional than my current constrictive layout! It's exactly what I want. I think it would look great is done in some kind of stone pavers. If I do a landing design like this, would you also extend it down the sides of the driveway (to form a border)?

Assuming that I change my landing as you drew, then my next step would be to determine the landscaping I could do to eliminate the natural-to-artificial line between my property and the neighbours (using mulch, plants, raised stone beds, or whatever works best).

Thanks again for taking the time to help me with those drawings :)

Also, I've put the original photos next to your sketches for a before-and-after comparison :)

Planting is subordinate to hardscaping, so for the time being you wouldn't worry about it. You'd create a to-scale PLAN on paper for the landing/walk and whatever other hardscape changes you might make, first. The illustration I showed you is not a plan. It's an idea in a perspective view. A person constructing the walk could make GUESSES about what its measurements might be, but they wouldn't know for sure. With a to-scale plan, they would know for sure.

"If I do a landing design like this, would you also extend it down the sides of the driveway (to form a border)?" Your yard is small so you'll need to evaluate your needs carefully. There's not room to put in extra things that get in the way somewhere else. You're would be searching for the best balance you can obtain when all things weighed. Does your driveway seem tight in the manner that its typically used? There's a tree next to it that would impede how far a walk would extend or how wide it could be. Maybe a compromise of widening the drive with a decorative border at each side, or maybe even one side, would be enough to ease a squeeze without needing to have a full walk. You would just need to evaluate your needs as best you could.

After proposed hardscape changes are committed to on a paper plan, then you would assess the front yard for planting, starting again with ideas in verbal suggestions, brainstorming and pictures. We really haven't gotten to that on this thread in pictures probably because there is pretty much one exact spot that the camera must be at in order to properly frame the view, and it hasn't gotten there yet.

following

@Yardvaark,

Thanks again for your helpful advice :)

I have a reputable local landscaper coming by to give me some ideas and a quote for the plan, hardscaping, and plantings -- I'll let you know what they come up with! It's really nice having a preliminary idea of something that I'd really like!

My double driveway is a tiny bit narrow when used so it would be nice to have a little bit of additional width. I don't require and entire walkway on each side of the driveway, but a little bit of extra width with a decorative border would be helpful.

Sorry that I wasn't able to get the exact picture you were hoping for. I tried to get the yard from lot of angles, but I guess I was still able to miss the correct angle :P

Thanks!

Your front yard is small enough that I’d consider turning the whole thing into a garden (perhaps after widening that walk and entry path). Really, the lawn you have is so small that no one is ever going to use it for walking on. Even if you’re not interested in much gardening, a planting bed with wood chips and a few shrubs will look great. A final suggestion: coordinate with your neighbour so that the edge of the bed isn’t a rigid line following the property line, but rather something more irregular in shape.

Bryan, I'm sure you've seen concrete walks with edges bordered in brick. That idea of bordering would work out well for you as a way to add a little width that doesn't look like a whole walk beside the drive. It would be easy to use brick or pavers or a band of concrete in order to add 8, 12, or 16 inches along the drive. If the border isn't wide enough to look like a whole walk unto itself, then it would be best to add to both sides of the drive so that it looks like a consistent border to the drive.

The In order to look at the landscape, the best scene you'd need to show is this, where your door, a little of the garage wall that flanks it, and more of the house, tree and flanking neighbors' yards can be seen. .... From standing on the red dot. You'd need to turn the camera so the format is vertical.

@Yardvaark,

Thanks for your response, and sorry for my late reply -- I was out of town and couldn't take pictures. But I'm back, and took the photos that you requested below :)

Yes, I do like the look of bordering my driveway in interlock -- just a bit (12" on each side) for decoration, but it would also be a little bit functional too.

Thanks!

The priorities IMO would be to establish a view to the entrance in order to create an inviting quality. And then simplify to present a more orderly appearance ... fewer, but bolder things. Scheming ideas here; you'd need to work out specific ideas in plan view.

Wow, thanks for the drawing!! I really like the look of that with the driveway border and the cleaned up and accessible entry way! It's amazing what can be done with design software :)

Unforuntunately, I have to decide quick as to whether or not I want to also do artificial grass on my half of the property (since the neighbour's install is booked for June 12). Would you happen to have any suggestions on how I could break up the artificial-to-natural grass line that will be created when my neighbour installs his artificial grass? Long term, I'll want to redo my front entrance and create a driveway border like you've shown, but I won't be able to do this until after the neighbour's artificial grass install (and I might not ever get to it until next Spring). I just don't want an unsightly line. Is there anything I can do by creating a simple mulch bed along the length of my property or something?

Thanks again, you've been extremely helpful!!

My preference is for real grass which I think would butt up to his artificial without a problem. Might take a bit of extra attention once it's installed (don't know how messy it'll be). I'm imagining like the edges of a new driveway install when you have to baby the grass edge back to normal? Do you really love the artificial stuff?

Bryan, have you checked with your neighbor yet to see how he's going to finish the edge of his artificial grass install? If he has some kind of hardscape border, that is sufficient to that you don't need to anything special on your side. You can deal with your changes whenever you get to them without much danger of messing up his lawn.

If he's going to finish it in such a way you think there may be danger of messing it up, and you need to install a better divider, I think I would go with a masonry mowing strip for decent looks and durability. There are a number of ways to configure and install it. The most typical mowing strip is brick or pavers laid flat in a sailor course (side by side), creating an 8" wide strip. The brick is a 2 3/8" thick layer set on 3 or 4 inches of tamped paver base and 1" sand setting bed. The base is tamped before adding the setting bed sand, and then it's all tamped down at the finish and secured along its sides by buried paver restraint (plastic barrier that is pinned to the ground with long spikes and keeps the pavers from migrating out of line.)

I have made a heavier mowing strip by using 3 1/2" thick (x 8" x 16") solid concrete cap block. It's heavy enough to stay in place without any buried paver restraint. (It, too is placed on 3 or 4 inches of paver base and 1" sand setting bed.) In order to make it more decorative than plain block alone, I alternated the block with brick, as the block's thickness and brick's width are the same, so they fit together well. Though I used standard terra cotta brick, different brick colors could create different looks.

@Yardvaark,

I've only talked to my neighbour about the rear yard (since we don't have a fence between our properties). My neighbour is planting cedars in a new mulch bed that will run along the property line in the rear yard (so that we don't have an unsightly artificial-to-natural line betwen our properties). He said that the artificial installer will install some kind of metal edging between the artificial grass the the mulch.

At this point we didn't talk about the front yard because the current plan is that I'd simply extend the artificial onto my yard as well (i.e. everywhere where I have grass now by my mulch bed). This is where I'm running into crazy time pressure -- before the artificial installation date of 2019-06-12, I have to decide whether or not I want artificial grass, and if I do, then I also have to decide where I want it. If I install artificial grass based on my current mulch bed design and then change my front walkway next year, then I'd have to pull out and redo all of the artificial grass (which is money down the drain). Eek!

To keep my future options open for the front entrance/walkway, I'd really like a solution that doesn't require artificial grass on my half of the property. I think a masonry mowing strip would make it really obvious that my neighbour has artificial grass? Would it be more subtle to add a mulch bed or something with some shrubs? If that might look odd, I could consider going fully to a low-maintenance setup (rocks/mulch) but I'm not a huge fan of the look.

Thanks again!

Yardvaark, do you have any pictures of a masonry mowing strip? I never heard of this before and am wondering if it might be something for me between my house and my neighbors. Don't want to hijack this thread but doing some work now at my home and your suggestion is interesting.

"I think a masonry mowing strip would make it really obvious that my neighbour has artificial grass."

I don't understand why it's your responsibility to make his fake grass look real. Haven't had this issue, so maybe I'm missing something.

On this thread, May 25, Debbi Washburn included a picture of a masonry mowing strip that divides artificial from real grass. But there's nothing inherently bad about the fact that two different turf grasses exist on either side of a border.

Bryan, that the neighbor's artificial install includes a metal edge is all that is needed to divide his lawn from yours. You can do whatever you want on your side later with no issue. You do not need to create mulch beds as some sort of insulation between you two. I was actually thinking this morning to come back (gone all day) and mention that a metal edge was another possibility for you in lieu of a masonry mowing strip, if your neighbor had nothing to divide his lawn from yours. But it is really his obligation to finish his edge in some way that protects it.

If you WANTED to get in on the artificial grass install by the looming deadline, you would need a PLAN (map) that lays out where your beds are. Pretty much everything that happens in a landscape happens on account of what is shown in a plan. For some reason the word PLAN scares people, but it is nothing more than some lines and words saying what is where. You yard is so small that even a caveman could do a plan. But if it's going to
happen, it needs to happen ASAP.

I believe in the picture I had posted a while back with the brick masonry mowing strip, the lawn on the right was artificial... I think thats what the picture said...

The pictures online are pretty impressive....

Just wondering, have you seen any front yards that have been covered in plants? In my neighbourhood, I can think of 3 homes that covered the front lawn in plants. The first year or so, it looked pretty good (not my taste but still) but none of them was able to keep it going for years. The yards ended up becoming overgrown, I think because it was too much work. The plants all keep taking more space. Just a thought, in case you are considering the idea.

@DWashburn. The lawn on R is definitely the artificial one. They look fine next to each other.

@ Yardvaark ,

Yeah, I do recall the masonry strip -- perhaps it's just me, but I'd prefer a more subtle approach so that it isn't as obvious that there's pristine artificial grass on one half, and then a different coloured natural grass on the other half. I think I'd prefer a raised planter or something to the masonry brick, but that might look a little silly along the entire property line?

Yes, my neighbour will take care of the metal edge or whatever is required to protect the artificial grass; however, I wanted something to create a visual break so that the artificial and natural grass isn't side-by-side. This is why I thought something running along the proerty line (like a mulch bed with some shrubs or a raised planter) could help, but I don't know if that would look silly or how it would integrate with the rest of the landscaping.

Another option is that I could simply continue the artificial grass into my property, but I'd prefer to know what my plan is for my ideal mulch beds, walkway and the like. In a perfect world, I'd be redoing my walkway first; however, I only have one week to decide whether or not I want the artificial grass to continue onto my property and, if so, where it should be installed.

But you're absolutely right -- I need some kind of a plan, and I'm certainly not afraid of the word :) Do you happen to offer remote planning services for a fee if I'm able to take any photos you require? You can PM me the details if you do :) You've been such a huge help already!! :)

@ Anna (6B/7A in MD) ,

I think it's to both of our advantage that our shared front yard looks attractive, which is why I want to attempt to hide the line. My neighbour is under the impression that I was just going to continue the artificial grass on my property, but I'm conflicted because I don't know what my long-term vision is for the front yard yet. I'd like to eventually do a walkway like Yardvaark posted :)

@ Tammy ,

Yeah, some people in my area are going "low maintenance" by completely covering the front yard in plants, or covering it in mulch and/or riverstones with shrubs. I don't like the "wild" look, but the mulch-with-shrubs look isn't bad. I think it looks a little odd for the ENTIRE yard to be mulch/rock without any grass, but I understand that they're doing this so that it doesn't require mowing. Perhaps I could consider a hybridsolution, where most of my yard is mulch/shrubs, but I also use some artificial grass so that there are some "curves" to the mulch beds? I wish I had more time to make the decision :S

I would not do any installations under any circumstances before they are well thought out .... PLANNED .... on a paper PLAN. If the installation is in a week, the deadline is really earlier because those doing the work need to plan their acquisitions and resources. Honestly, Bryan, I can't see why you're worried about fake grass next to real grass. Look at Debbi Washburn's picture again. There's nothing disturbing there. It would be the same with a metal edge ... just a tidy look as long as your grass itself looks good. (Your neighbor's will always look good! :-) If you do some artificial grass later, having a thin metal edge line between the two will still look fine ... because it is not raised above grade. Nothing bad at all. The idea of a raised planter or mulch bed running between the lawns on the other hand does not sound good. You do not have a lot of room to work with and creating a skinny raised barrier between the properties is much more likely to harm you than help. Of course, the devil is always in the details and at the moment, they don't exist. But likelihoods being what they are, I'd suggest adopting the medical practitioner's creed for the time being: First, do no harm.

I could help you by remote with 2-D issues but it would be more like 2-3 week turnaround. Couldn't do in one week. Also, could not help with grade, other than discussion about it. It would require measuring and pictures.

You’ll never come to a decision until you start doodling on paper, drawing out your ideas and then come up with a plan as repeatedly noted by Yardvaark. I suggest you tell them not to do anything in your yard. They’ll install the metal strip as mentioned above and once it’s all done you can take your time and decide if you like how it looks and then go from there.

Very interesting thread. I think it’s coming down to the fact that you want more changes to the front than just putting in artificial lawn, and for very good reasons. So the timing of putting in artificial turf at the same time as your neighbor doesn’t seem to be working for you.

I think the best idea is to take the pressure off and let your neighbor know that you’ve realized that you want to change and improve a lot more than just the lawn, and you need more time to develop those plans, so you’re going to wait on putting any artificial lawn in front of your house, at least until you can get it all figured out.

And, I don’t think you need to do anything right away in terms of putting in a mulched bed with shrubs, or pavers along the property line. That would be a waste of money because it may not work with your new plan, and you’d have to rip that out too. Your neighbor can use the metal edge in the front just like the back. And that will leave your options open to put in your own artificial grass later, or do something else.

So do nothing right now, except to focus on figuring out who you want to work (sounds like local would be best according to Yardvaark’s last comment). Once you have that figured out, that person can help address your front yard as a whole.

It sounds like you and your neighbor are on good terms, so I would guess he will not have a problem with this. After all, you will still be working towards your mutual goal of having both front yards look great.

Thanks everyone!

It sounds like you all understand my situation very well! Yes, I need to start doodling -- I have no artisitic ability whatsoever but I'll try my hand at it tonight since I don't think I'm going to find a deisgner to complete the plan prior to 2019-06-12.

I'm certainly not forced to install artificial grass on my side right now; however, my thought is that if I eventually want artificial grass, it would be optimal (in terms of cost and a seemless/continuous look) if I were to install it at the same time as my neighbour since we wouldn't need metal barriers between our properties. The timing just isn't ideal :(

I believe that I'll probably want artifiicial grass on my side as well; otherwise it will be awkward/difficult to mow the tiny portion of yard that butts up against my neighbour's turf (i.e. I wouldn't want ot run the mower over his artificial grass, and I wouldn't want to blow cuttings onto his property).

Ideally, I'd be able to plan where my future walk and mulch will eventually end up, and then install artifiical grass right now with that plan in mind. I believe I could do the mulch changes myself this year easy enoguh -- I think I'd just have to mark out the locations for the artifiical grass installer?

My homework for now is drawing out my plan :)

Thanks again to everyone for your input!

Hi again!

So I got some good news today -- my neighbour's artificial grass installation has been delayed until late July or early August! Phew -- I can actually take more time to think this through now! With this extended timeline, I can now plan out my front yard and probably even complete the interlock work on my own (with the help of some family members who have done it before).

I had my Dad come over and we drew out a sketch of the property that I can use to start doodling with (the circles are the trees) -- it's just a photo of the drawing because my Dad doesn't know how to print to PDF :P

I now have my blank canvas so my next step and I think I'll start by drawing the design that Yadvaark has shown :)

Thanks!

Very good news. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with if you don’t mind continuing to post as you make progress. ;-)

Beautiful!!!! I bet you already feel more empowered by having that plan! :-) And how lucky for you ... to have just the right size yard for someone with "no artistic ability whatsoever" Haha.

Here are a few suggestions that might help make the plan easier for you to use.

• First, I would orient it with the house at the top of the page and the street at the bottom. This would be more like how people think of, and visualize houses and yards ... seeing them from the front.
• Then, I would go ahead and add the other side of the garage and yard so that you had the full front. When you get to planting, you'll want to visualize the whole house & yard, not just part of it.
• Keep the drawing you have with measurements so you can refer to them if you need to, but for working out your ideas, you want to have the cleanest, emptiest drawing possible. Make a copy in which you remove all the shading, hatching and dimensions. For now, only show the house, porch & step, drive, walk, tree trunks, back of curb & property line. If you want to keep the dimensions on the same page, move them to outside of the work area. (Most of the time, if I want them, I write the measurement next to the line but omit the dimension lines, as I know what the number refers to. I would dimension like you have it if for someone else, but keep of the way as much as possible for myself in order to make it cleaner.)
• Make the house a heavier line so it reads as the largest, boldest structure on the property.

At the beginning of brainstorming of the project, don't think about plants at all. Limit yourself to thinking about hardscape ... whatever you'll do to the walk, drive and whatever hardscape might occur out in the yard. Once that is complete, you can put is aside and work on a revised based plan which will include the new hardscape changes.

If you want any help while you are working on hardscape, it would be good to start a new, uncluttered thread for it. (This one has a lot of conversation about other stuff in it.) Bring the most updated base plan and the most relevant pictures (the ones where you pan the scene from the front, and also the picture from across the street showing the overall house and yard.)

Thanks Yardvaark!

Sorry for the late response -- I had to spend some more time measuring and learning SketchUp to modify my Dad's initial drawing :P I think I finally have a good template to start building the plan :-) Thanks for all of you useful tips on creating the template!

FYI, here is the new thread that I've created that removes all of the clutter:

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5718838/landscape-front-entry-before-neighbour-installs-artificial-grass

Thanks!

I took out all the grass in my small front yard and I am very satisfied. I think the key to this is to choose plants that will never get large. I chose dwarf boxwood and bayberry and filled in with Knock-Out roses that bloom all summer and are virtually maintenance free. This may not work if you have children or grandchildren who like to play on grass. I’ll post from photos after the sun comes up.

DK Haas what is the yellow ground cover in your picture above with the pink flowers? I see on your website, maybe gold mound, but I am looking for ground covers that don't loose leaves in winter, but deter pest.