Need help with front landscaping
Amoeba-meba
4 years ago
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niccidhg
3 years agoFlo Mangan
3 years agoRelated Discussions
need help on front landscape
Comments (7)It would be best to add a picture that is taken from a CENTRAL position (or straight out from the front door) and shows some space at each end (like above.) Then, move in closer and show the portion of the house face that will be planted ... so we can see more detail and how hardscape is arranged....See MoreNeed help with my front landscaping
Comments (5)If R-of-S only gets 8' ht. there, then no, not tall enough. Need 12' - 15' ... like a compact burning bush would eventually get. A standard would work, but I don't think it would have anywhere near the oomph and presence a nice multi-trunk would offer. Whatever it is, it would be a small tree. Limb it high...9' and you should get enough light below the canopy to grow things well. You can control the canopy size by choice of tree and some pruning, if necessary. Most of the time I see the raised edging, it's because the soil was not reduced in elevation before adding a substantial thickness of mulch, therefore making the edging seem necessary. But if the soil level were first reduced, then mulch would not be spilling over onto the walk. Also, mulch (as I view it) is a temporary condition. There should be some kind of plants/groundcover holding the soil in place once a plan is implemented and grows to completion. Think of how many places you've seen a walk meet a planting, like at the edge of your lawn, for example. There is no raised edging needed there. I think your fears about your plantings looking like your neighbor's garden are unfounded. What you need is some sort of "backdrop" for your space. If you plant a shrub that you expect to have a 5' spread, you might plant it's center 2 1/2' away from the lot line. If a little encroaches onto the neighbor's side, he can just shear it off as he pleases and since, from your point of view, it'll be the plant's back side, it will make no difference to you. He has the right and you shouldn't care. I think if you plant the same size plant right at the lot line, it would be perceived by him as somewhat aggressive, since the space is tight. As far as lining the walk with non-grass plantings, I generally think this defeats the overall goals of landscaping (displaying the entrance and making the approach to it look and seem appealing.) Usually, this is because people tend to fill these spaces with tall plant material so the walk to the front door seems like the corralled path the cows take at the slaughterhouse. Also, plantings that are in thin lines generally do not look good as compared to those that are wide ... proportionate to the structure and space. That said, I think you could plant along the walk if you keep the bed wide and the plantings low. Place the taller plantings closer to the backdrop. And also keep the taller plantings away from directly in front of the entrance space. (Except the tree which is something raised up so it does not block the entrance.) I think the approach to the entrance would be improved if you added another row of paving block to the left side (as viewed from street) of the walk. More spaciousness on the way to the entrance is a good thing. Be careful of subdividing your bed with curved edgings that seem to go with nothing around them. The space is small, tight and defined by large rectangular structures. Find a way to make any subdividing compatible with that. A single curve, for example, might connect two planes. I think I would organize the heights roughly as in the picture. I'm not saying you must come all the way to the public walk, but that if you do, how you might do it....See MoreNeed help with front beds landscape design
Comments (9)Thanks for the input so far. Answers to some of your questions: -We have done our best to water. I'm out of town during the week, and DH sometimes is, but when he's home he waters daily. But we had a month plus of >100 temps and the watering only partially offset that. We have had a few rains in the past 2 weeks, and temps are back in the 80s-90s, so things have greened back up a bit and the worst seems to be over. -Those 2 trees are actually quite a ways from the house. There's a circle drive in between them and the front beds/lawn. -The dianthus have been pretty good about coming back each year, though not all of them, so I've replanted to fill in. -Good point about "well cared-for" trumping "filled up and lush." But we've still got sporadic stuff (like 2 surviving petunias) that isn't helping with the overall feel. Last night I went to check out what's available plant-wise since we're getting late in the season and pickings are slimmer. My thoughts: -Transplant dianthus from the back yard to fill in the front beds and make them more of a mass planting like the green stuff Yardvark drew. -Mass mums in the more central area that Yardvark made yellow. -Potentially one or two crape myrtles in the left bed, where the azalea is now and/or in the empty space to the left of the rock. I love crape myrtles. -A tree--or possibly another crape myrtle in the front of the expanded left bed. -There's lots of lantana available. Don't know if there's a good spot for that, or if I should bother this late in the season. Here's a rough draft plan. Feedback welcome. My other concern is what to do to keep the beds looking nice through the winter, since I've mostly got perennials that will die off. Our house is in the top 10% price-wise, and things are moving slow around here, so it wouldn't be a surprise if we're here through then. I'm thinking of getting a couple dwarf alberta spruces to put in urns by the front door. What else can I do to keep the beds from looking completely morose? I personally like the whole "spring back to life from nothing" look, but I am trying to sell a house here. :-)...See Moreneed help with front yard landscaping.
Comments (1)Please excuse the grass in front.. its all weed and grass all mixed up. I haven't gotten a chance to add grass in front or anything. Do not have a sprinkler system installed yet and we have been having bad drought lately and all the grass died and what was left is weed :( last year it was all so green!...See Morebabophz
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