Backyard Design
Nar
4 years ago
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suezbell
4 years agoRelated Discussions
Help with family backyard design
Comments (3)Take this recommendation with a HUGE boulder of salt, Samantha, because I am a newbie gardener, but my home's previous owners overcame the lack of privacy offered by a chain link fence by planting bridal wreath spirea bushes along the fence line. Mine could do with some pruning, but at their shortest they're about five feet tall and when they leaf in the spring, I basically can't see into my neighbor's yard or into the alley from my yard. Plus, for about three weeks in the spring, they're filled with pretty white flowers!...See MoreBackyard design help
Comments (6)You're off to a good start with deciding some "areas" you'd like in the yard and thinking about how you'll use them. I would take some graph paper and draw out some possible landscape designs to consider. Consider putting some kind of patio near the back of the house for grilling and eating. Maybe that's where you'd like the pergola. Choose an area for a firepit that is a safe distance from the house and the fence. Once you have a plan in place, you can begin working towards it. Install hardscape and patios and then get planting....See MoreWhich Backyard Design Do You Prefer?
Comments (10)Focal points: The (fence) landscaping beds kind of naturally create one when you have flowing curves or differentiating sections (e.g. the big curve in back or the section at the bottom) - they can be purposefully made into a focal point by plantings (e.g. colors/genus) or hardscape (e.g. flagstone drywall) if your concept is opening up to the yard. Or the design layout of the deck/patio areas create focal points ('A' has inward interest with varied shapes, 'B' is devoid). The planting areas on the patio in 'A' can also emphasize a view, as the firepit becomes a focus from both the 'L' shape deck and planting making a "corridor" between the firepit and seating lounge. Many ways to direct focus, depending what it is and where you want it: focusing inward, staying on the use of the deck so your back is turned to the yard so to say; focusing outward into the yard or view; attracting focus away from an unsightly neighbor or cellphone tower; making a personal item like a koi pond or statuea focus; . . . ....See MoreHelp with backyard design
Comments (6)I have a rectangular backyard too. When I first moved into my new house, I designed my front yard and drew it out for the builder to build my stepping stones, front entry porch, side hedges, dwarf woodboxes, weeping cherry, shape of my front lawn, even the lamp post. They were accommodating but left the backyard, and I didn't even know what to put in my backyard at the time. Forward years later and lots of dollars later with experimenting different plants and stuff, I finally had evergreen hedges along the long backside of my fence. I didn't do that privacy hedges at the beginning cause the area behind my fence, the other side was vacant, at the time I thought they could never build on it, cause during that time I believed the land didn't have the square feet for it, and it was supposed to be conserve land. Anyways, that was changed, so I put up evergreen hedges along the whole backside. To cut down the amount of grass space, I have a little fire pit surrounded by pavers connected to my backyard patio. Along the right side fence I have flowering shrubs and hostas and flowering perennials, with a little water fountain. My patio is a 10 x 12 typical norm, since the rectangular yard is so wide, I had huge pavers connecting the front of my paved walkway, all the way to the back, connecting to backyard patio, with distance out as far as my patio. It's taken me years but I think I know what my next steps are to add on to the aesthetic of the yard. I have cut down the grass area size tremendously as my kids are grown now. I also have a shed on the left hand side and paved walkway leading up to the shed with round hedges both sides framing the walkway. I like low maintenance hands off plants cause I'm in zone 4. My evergreen plants in a container in my front yard even dies from heat in the summer. I think you should build the bare bone structure, dividing up the space how you want it, and add on to it as you go. ....See MoreNar
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