Why don’t you contact a local independent garden center & get suggestions. Many of the independents ( & some chains in my area ) will prepare a landscape plan for a reasonable price & some will credit the cost if you purchase the plants from them.

I would like to do this myself to save money & learn more about the process bc I also have a backyard to do.

Don't forget to limb up some trees.

Don't forget to limb up some trees.

I love this photo and am so happy you responded. Is it not a good idea to plant anything at the entry of the steps?

"Is it not a good idea to plant anything at the entry of the steps? Something like what? Propose an idea and maybe even say why it's good. I did another rendering earlier, the but with seasonal color flanking the steps (instead of closer to the porch corners, as above.)

The second plan works best with the annuals flanked down the bed. I planned to have a tall planter on each side of the door with a seasonal annual arrangement. It could be too much to have annuals at the steps and the doors. Below is what I have researched as far as plants and placement. These plants perform well in our area and some are evergreen leaving some color during our colder months. I do need to continue to research Hydrangeas as some can become monstrous in size if not trimmed well. I've also read gardenias prefer a particular soil & drainage, most of where I live is heavy red clay.

an area of the home not well pictured is the side.

here are some ideas that I came up with, that mimic the other side....

we don't plan to keep our trash cans there. In our home inspection we were advised to create a door to get to the dryer vent in the square. I wanted to grow something to trail off the brick wall.. I then said maybe two flower boxes with some annual would be a safer easer bet for now. Id like to keep it somewhat simple.

These two trees provide a lot of shade in the front yard. I would like to have them limbed up and underplant them with ground cover. The roots of the larger tree are very exposed and there is a drain and dip in front of it. I am just unsure how large the circle would be for both sides. I am also scared to dig around under the roots, I don't want to damage the tree. I glued some ground cover below to give myself a more visual idea. I also glued some groundcover beside the house so I could have a better idea of what the space would look like green instead of brown. Just curious When limbing up a tree is there a guide to follow? I highlighted my ideas.

Thank you for looking at this and for your valuable insight.

I do major tree limbing up during the dormant season, especially just before trees leaf out in Spring, if possible. I do minor limbing up any time I want.

In your first picture of notes, where #1 is Liriope ... does it say "NOT 'Big Blue'"? What then? For me, #4 would be a perennial in the 2'-3' height range @ each post. It ought to look substantial ... not rangey or gangly. At #5 Hydrangea, I don't know if you have enough light there. Do the limbing up early in the game and see what kind of light you can acquire before choosing the plant. Otherwise, it may be aucuba. To my thinking, #3 was annuals, or those could flank the steps, or be at both places. The groundcover you don't have marked as anything. What could it be?

At the side of the house, you are calling out groundcover Liriope ... which one?

For figuring the size of bed islands below trees, a good general guide is to imagine the tree growing in a pot that is that is proportionate to what the tree would need to properly sustain it's life. The soil surface of that imagined container would make an appropriately sized bed.

Groundcover will be important where this is shade or slope. It would be good to get those figured out early on.

Thank you for your response. We will then start with minor limb ups then proceed from there.

For all ground cover in the front I wanted to use variegated lirope or a Monroe white. I prefer the overall look of those compared to big blue if I have a preference. I do however see I have a older neighbor who does have big blue that needs to be thinned and edged, maybe I can barter my help for a few of her plants.

We will limb up the trees to the far left. We do have one neighbor on that side who also has many trees, meaning that spot may remain heavily shaded. I love the color of aucuba! I also love its slower growing habits. Thank you for the suggestion.

Perhaps the gardenia is removed & Salvia goes to number 3. (I enjoy the scent of gardenia & thought it could be nice near a porch) I've had good luck with salvia in the past, not sure if these sun conditions are ideal, I will dig deeper there.

I love the idea of flanking the steps, we won't be widening the walk or steps anytime soon due to budgeting in some other needed updates. :( I was afraid flanking would make the area appear smaller.

I am comfortable finding easy bush mounding spring, summer annuals. Here, once fall winter hit, leggy pansies, viola and maybe ornamental cabbage are the go to. I will ask around, scout out yards.

I would like the ground cover to the far right of the home to be the same lirope used in the rest of the main home bed. If any variation my thought was to underplant it under the trees.

When under planting mature trees would I start where visible surface roots stop? Would I attempt to plant in between exposed roots? Thank you for the image reference. We will definitely need/ use that.

Thank you again for your time & advice.

Look for Gardenia radicans. It will stay small.

I think someone in the Perennials Forum could advise you on which Hydrangea you might like.

It sounds like you have chosen the plants you want but I will leave you this link anyway.

https://www.ncwildflower.org/native_plants/recommendations

When underplanting existing trees, depending on the tree and its roots, it usually works best to plant the smallest container or plant part that is available. Work in between larger surface roots and don't worry about cutting smaller hair roots. You'd not but turning up a bed like one would do in a garden but just pieceing the plants in between the roots as best you can. Sometimes, all you can plant is root pieces. The ground covers that work best are the ones that spread by underground roots or vining tops. If a tree has dense surface roots, Liriope muscari might be hard to plant unless one has a lot of root pieces.

I can't see that variegated, or a white blooming liriope in front of a white painted porch is going to set it off, or show up very well. 'Big Blue' would do a much better job.

Flanking steps with something tall often has the effect opposite of being inviting. It can make the entrance seem like a tight squeeze and a bit foreboding. Low plants are fine.

Amending to add ....: It's not necessarily the case neighbors will keep low limbs on their trees after you limb up yours. In a great many instances, people neglect their yards, especially removing lower limbs as trees grow, simply because they do not know to do this. If you limb up your trees, the neighbors may see how much better things look and simply copy what you did.

Plants can get expensive, so trading is a great idea. We are also in 7b. I planted an expensive gardenia, but it succumbed to bugs of some sort.

Do plant lots of daffodils this Fall. Colorblends has a good Southern blend. They will make you so happy come Spring.

If you would like yellow cannas, I have some from a friend’s family farm in Mississippi. Can’t kill them, and they’re great for screening a compost pile or shed.

Emma- Thank you! I did not know about this type of gardenia. I will keep the site handy for when I start on the back next spring.

Yardvaark-i understand what you mean now with the contrasting colors & that does make sense. I will switch gears there. We will flank with something low & tidy with a mounting effect. I did not know that. Hopefully we start a ripple effect with our next door neighbor. The neighborhood is interesting. The homes all look different, not the same & some have very lovely landscapes yards. Our neighbor across the street had a beautiful sloped yard.

Latifolia- I shall research that and plant some. I have seen a few canvas and found them to be lovely. I would love & greatly appreciate them!! Thank you.

Doug- Wow!!! Thank you for taking the time to do this. Incredible! A small ornamental tree in that huge circular bed could be beautiful underplanted. The space is huge to the right of the home, but lifted by the brick.

Thank you also for the plant alternatives

Thank you all so much!

There are hydrangeas in all sizes, so if you decide to use them, research well as to mature size, not just the tag size. Also research bloom season and how a particular variety does in your conditions of sun or shade. Some like afternoon shade, some have a longer bloom season or rebloom, so if you choose the variety wisely, they can be low maintenance.

Some general suggestions:

I would choose plants that don’t get much taller than the porch floor, though you may want taller accents to the outside of the porch.

Be sure to have some evergreens, though they can be perennials or low shrubs since you don’t want dead sticks all winter.

Be sure to make the beds deep enough that at maturity the plants won’t touch the porch and you can do any needed maintenance.

While you wait for plants to fill in, mulch will be your friend. Don’t use landscape fabric.

Question- termites were found and treated near the front railing of this home- so avoid wood mulch and stick with pine straw correct?

Termites are like germs. They go anywhere they want. Wood mulch does not cause them or bring more than exist in a grass lawn. (Yes, termites eat the thatch portion of lawn.) Termites are attracted to moist wood so make sure all wood parts of the house are protected from water and kept dry.

Our landscaper and termite guys recommend pine straw. We don’t have lawn, but they believe termites eat hardwood chips.

Hello all- hoping to work on our lawn but we literally have no clue what type of grass we have. Anyway to figure out the type? I see what appears to be some Bermuda seeds but none of the runners. I also see our grass looks green right now while some neighbors looks brown. Any tips how to tell?

Take some close photos (~6" away) of the grass showing good, clear detail and at least one showing the root system and any seed heads, if present. Then post in the Lawn Care forum for an ID. And be sure to include your geographical location....different grass types are common to different areas of the country.

Hello all- running into some issues and looking for guidance. I flanked the steps with violas. We have heavy clay soil here so I'm not sure how well they will do or if they are appropriate in that space. I have some ornamental cabbage but again I don't know how well they would do there, or if they would have enough statue. Any advice is greatly appreciated..

Is this an annual bed? Usually, one works a substantial amount of organic matter (and some fertilizer) into the bed, mixing it in well, before planting the annuals. Peat moss, compost, finely ground pine bark, etc. are typical sources of OM. I usually use the fine bark because it's cheap and readily available, and do it every year for the first few years. Be sure to remove some soil first, if adding the OM will raise the soil level too high.

Hello- yes it is an annual bed. I did add some organic compost I will add more. There was a substantial amount of white rock, huge underground mushrooms and... Grubs. The bed also had stumps in it... Really no way around that one...

It takes a considerable amount of organic matter to make a difference. 25% would be a starting point. Adding OM at each seasonal change-out makes a substantial difference in a year or two. I typically remove some soil, add a 3" layer of OM and mix it in to a depth of 8". The first year it's passable. At the 4th year it's black honey-butter.

Ah, I understand better now, thank you. I will remove annuals add more compost/om & work it well into the soil. Is adding some garden soil to the mix acceptable? Or only compost/organic matter?

If you're trying to alter the soil characteristics, and you have a long way to go, you only want to add materials that help it a lot. "garden soil" varies highly in how "fluffy" it is. If yours is not very "fluffy", then adding it doesn't do much good. If it's like compost, then it does.

We have heavy clay soil. I add peat moss and rotted cow manure, also pine straw. I use pine straw for mulch. Our home is built on a reclaimed rail yard. Piece by piece I’m pick axing out the rock, double digging and amending the soil - backbreaking work, but ending up with a nice garden (and museum of railroad bits!).

How is your garden doing? With temperatures now ideal, I spent the weekend in the garden. E-mail your address to Latifolia at att.net and I will mail you some yellow canna rhizomes.

I bought two large bags of peat moss, compost some black cow and a manual... Cultivator. I made sure to amend it as best I could I have half the front done & I cannot express how much better it looks. To me. Still have another half to do. Lots of wood underground and huge roots. Will do.

Don't forget to send your address. Have lots of cannas waiting for you!

hello all-

Grass is a serious issue at this home, or lack there of. Last fall I removed leaves and there was pretty much just dirt. I planned to do a bit of seeding this month.. well the Moss beat me to it. All our dirt patches are quickly getting covered by the stuff. I’m not surprised because it’s shady here and plenty of rain. Some spots im ok with this but in the front yard, grass is our preference. Any tips? Last house we had Bermuda. This home we considered maybe fescue? Can grass and moss politely co exsist in a yard? any grass type favorites? When is an ideal time to seed?

thank you all for you valuable insight.

I flanked the steps with annuals.. I started with 12... they certainly filled in..

Are the bare spots under the trees? If so you could consider a ground cover instead.

Small update

yes the bare spots are under trees I’m thinking ground cover

Still working ...

It's hard to see but if I can read it properly, I think it's going to make sense. However, it seems that you might be committing the most common mistake, and that is planting too close to the wall. It's not possible to see what is planted here, but I will bet it's going to ultimately become larger than you think. However, I could be misreading it because of camera angle and distance. For most foundation planting beds, I think a 6' minimum bed depth is necessary. Here, however, since the plants will either be low or be maintained at a low height, I think you could get away with 4' minimum, and the shrubs at the posts would need to be at least 2' away from the wall. If the bed was 5' depth, the shrubs would be 2.5' away from the wall. I hope the bed is not 3' depth as that is just too shallow. But if it were the case, the fix would be easy.

Thank you for responding. I will take up close photos and post them shortly.

Depth.. I will measure today.

So I see that half dead gardenia needs to be pushed out. The other shrub is a dwarf cryptomeria and then Salvia at the second column.

I wouldn't put any shrubs that get large at the posts. A plain old clump of liriope would get about the right size without ever needing to be trimmed. Or keep a low shrub just a little larger than what liriope would become. In my world, a plant at each post would be a matched set. Any shrub or clump would be at least 2' from the skirting in a bed at least 4' deep. The annuals look nice. Would love to see almost double that amount ... as long as you're doing the work. :-)

Thank you for responding. My brain is foggy today so forgive me if my questions sound, dumb. Ideally moving the dwarf cryptomeria in the area the Gardenia is and planting salvia where the Dwarf cryptomeria currently is, is a bit more ideal correct? I also should expand the area in which the annuals are correct? How far would you suggest? I planted annuals also at the far right, they are begonias. Thank you again for your insight.

You might not consider salvia to be a lasting plant. See how it goes and put wherever it fits in your opinion. The cryptomeria is eventually going to become too large. The annuals look like they could easily be doubled in space. Your house is large. I"d move the gardenia off the post at a diagonal so it looks right from front and side view, and farther from the corner. It's going to get large enough to grow around the corner in both directions.

"The cryptomeria is eventually going to become too large. "

That would depend on what cultivar of dwarf cryptomeria you are growing. I grow a couple that have not exceeded 2' x 2' in more than 10 years! If a similar cultivar, it could take decades before it exceeds the space available.

And I would always opt to have a more evergreen presence than not with a front entry garden. It should look as close to uniform in appearance in December and January as it does in June and July.

It is a slow growing very small shrub. I love that it turns a greenish blue in winter and brighter green in summer, I also like its visual contras, it reminds me of yews. If spring was a longer season I believe these violas would extend the bed out themselves, When I plant Summer annuals I will extend the bed out some. I’m not to upset about potentially changing out the gardenias. I don’t seem to have much luck with them. I will look into other native plants. I still need to plant a tree on the side and continue to mulch.

A small update :)

A small update :)