Landscape design "Rules" for grouping trees?
hennen
4 years ago
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
4 years agoYardvaark
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoRelated Discussions
Landscape design/garden design
Comments (34)karni - I have spoken to the neighbors, kind of a long story, we'll see if something happens. They are very very nice people but have a very very busy lifestyle. They shouldn't have such an elaborate perennial garden on such a small lot if they aren't in a position to maintain it closely. I didn't get the impression that they were willing to "give up" anything. They seemed like people who "want it all" even if they can't "take care of it all". Think I will add something else: DON'T set up an elaborate abundant garden unless you have time to maintain it or pay to have someone maintain it for you regularly (biweekly). You don't have to fill every nook and cranny of your yard. Remember landscaping the "emptiness" is important too. Need the diversity of plants AND "space" for a really beautiful garden IMO....See MoreWhat designer group do you fall into.
Comments (32)Intriguing question & one I've been mulling since early this year, in what's mushroomed into an ongoing major redo of an established bed 15'x30' between the front walk & porch. This is a country setting on a low bluff bordered by rolling mixed hardwood woodlands, where the scale of greens reaching high into the enormous bowl of sky dominate the landscape & the views change with the seasons. I've tried to create intimacy within this dramatic framework - a very different challenge than I've encountered before - by weaving shapes & colors along the land that balance the natural instinct to look up & out, that return the eye to earth so that one sees the whole. In some ways it's like living within an enormous snowglobe... My former style - if it ever really rose to a style in contrast to a mishmosh - was more cottage than not, at least in variety & profusion, scent & form. Picking the old friends I love first & auditioning new acquaintances to see if they play well with their neighbors & become friends in turn (or not) is the start. I must have roses and phlox and lavender and and and. Vitality crucial with bountifulness next - settling in comfortably & happily joining the chorus - must work & play well with others, including birds, butterflies, moths, helpful bugs & me! Each must earn their keep, lift my spirits & contribute their unique personality to the mood. So many of your responses echo in my heart - the carefully planned to appear self-sown approach, the mirror effect, the white is always right day & night, the casual structured by formal, the color palettes that make the heart sing. In this place, the saturated pastels please me most, with true pastels & blends, whites, silvers. The colors are deepest against the pale tan stucco & natural stone variations of the house & dim down as they recede into the landscape punctuated by brighter glimmers. Sort of a birthday cake icing look that fits the quality of light here. Succumbed this year to a Fragrant Cloud, an old friend from the past, in hopes its exclamation point brightness will be toned down somewhat close by the house behind less boisterous neighbors. The overall mood I keep trying to evoke is one of peaceful enchantment, refreshing in the heat & warming in the cool, mysteriously somewhere nonspecific in time, a dreamy quality. "Trying" being the keyword here, sometimes it materializes for a spell... Garden fragrant with thaw today, lingered here longer than I meant. Seldom post, often read in spurts, as this lunchbreak today. Know your thoughtful contributions over the years have found fallow ground in my heart & imagination many times. With not even a handful of gardening friends nearby, much appreciate all of you! Sue...See MorePike Landscape Design Group - Good or Bad idea?
Comments (11)I'm happy with the plan, the guy from Pike came and spent 2 1/2 hours going over what I wanted for the front yard and providing some suggestions for the back. I'm happy to say that although I may have to move them, almost all my existing plants are incorporated in the plan designed for my front yard. The only complaint I have is that the guy Pike sent to do the plan had no understanding about the limitations of septic tanks & fields. So if I do have a plan made for my backyard, I'm going to make certain Pike sends someone knowledgeable about septic fields and tanks. I've had two landscapers come out to review the plans and give me estimates on the cost for carrying out the entire plan and a separate estimate just to redo the lawn (it's very uneven and the soil is rock hard, it needs to be tilled, have better soil incorporated into it and evened out). One of the landscapers impressed me much more with his understanding of the plan & with the additional services he could provide to assist me in my goal of redoing my flower gardens. I should hear the bids later this week. As soon as I recover from passing out in shock from the prices I'll provide another update. Thanks for the advice about getting a landscape architect for the slope problem and about making certain the plants are right for each other. Incidentally, no boxwoods in the plan, it's a large variety of plants (Camelia Sasanqua "Jean May", Indian Hawthorn 'Eleanor Tabor', Japanese Maple - small 5-6', Nandina 'Firepower', Drawf Gardenias, Nandina 'Firepower', Indian Hawthorn 'Eleanor Tabor', Steed's Japanese Holly, Needlepoint Holly, Cleyera, Drarf Yaupon Holly, Loropetalum 'Ruby', Spreading Plum Yew, Illicium Parviflorum, Otto Luyken Laurel, Edward Goucher Obelia, Pennisetum 'Hamelyn', and Cleyera) some of which I already and I only will have to remove one tree, a 3 year old maple, & I completely agree with its removal as it does hide the view of the house. My lawn will continue to be the grass I already have and like, centipede....See MoreLandscape Design Help / Advice in Northeast Florida (Zone 9A)
Comments (24)Yes, I understand that the immediate intention for the play area is not to install a play set. But it's coming eventually and do you want the planting scheme to do dual duty by working now and also be ready for the future without any major alterations? Or do you want to subject yourself to the possibility of making a lot of changes when a play set is installed? A year is NOT a long time. As the play area develops, it is divided from the planting area with a bed line. The bed line is something to be figured out now, on the plan (as information about the play set/area becomes known.) The bed line divides places where people could possibly walk ("floors": lawn, low groundcover, mulch-only) from places where they couldn't ("walls" & "furniture": shrubs, perennials and tall groundcovers.) Trees ("ceilings") could be located in either areas Another possibility with the pitts is to cut them down and do a total rejuvenation -- where you control/shape their re-growth (which will happen very quickly since they already have developed root systems) -- and trim them so as NOT to reach way out into the yard. Let them grow as a much narrower hedge which is later trimmed into tree forms and reaches and screens above the fence. Based on some of the prior discussion, I'm going to speculate that one potential problem that could come up is not devoting enough depth to the planting beds (that are likely to surround most of the yard.) In general terms, this bed(s) ought to be allowed 6' depth as an average minimum. There are usually instances where it can easily be deeper, and possibly some instances where it can be shrunk to 4' when sacrifices must be made. Plants require space and trying to maintain a bed that is too skinny/shallow is not only difficult & more demanding of maintenance, but it doesn't look very good either. That's something to be mindful of....See Morehennen
4 years agogardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
4 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
4 years agohennen
4 years agoYardvaark
4 years agogardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
4 years agofloral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
4 years agowhaas_5a
4 years agoL Clark (zone 4 WY)
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agowhaas_5a
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agokitasei
4 years agohennen
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agowhaas_5a
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agohennen
4 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
4 years agohennen
4 years agoYardvaark
4 years agohennen
4 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
4 years agoYardvaark
4 years agolast modified: 4 years ago
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L Clark (zone 4 WY)