Need help with front yard of twin home -- how to divide?
I live in a twin home outside of Philadelphia, and my "twin" neighbors are always using our part of the front lawn for their kids to play, to sit and invite neighbors over, etc. Right now they have about 8 friends sitting in lawn chairs on our part of the lawn! I have a home-based psychotherapy business and can't have clients coming over while our neighbors are socializing and their kids are running around our lawn (and onto our front porch--and yes I've asked them if they could refrain but they don't; they have a big backyard but never use it). Any ideas on the best, most attractive ways to divide the front yard? I'm not adverse to getting rid of the grass and putting in a garden. Thank you! (I've attached a photo of our houses--the white twins, mine is on your left with the red door)
Comments (21)
ci_lantro
4 years agoRelated Discussions
Need Help with Small Front Yard- Old Brick House-Pics
Comments (8)I love old Victorian homes. I would suggest that you widen the front walkway to equal the width of the steps, then put (by the street side) a low fence on either side of the walkway to visually link the boxwoods(?) and plant flowers on both sides of the fence. I know that doesn't answer your question. As for your foundation plantings, I love those purple flowers, and think they just need some bigger evergreens in back - are the plants back there now going to get bigger and fill in? If so, just give them time, if not, I would replace them with something a bit larger....See MoreDesign help needed for really huge driveway bed & front yard
Comments (42)Karin, it's interesting and enlightening to read what others think of our house and landscape, even if we may not agree or take up some suggestions. We live in an area where we don't have a large number of options for landscape/garden design, unfortunately! So no worries about me being offended by criticism/suggestions, etc. We appreciate the help and we will work to think about each decision in terms of its purpose. We originally had purposes in mind for each bed in our backyard, though it may not look like it now - with the exception of the hydrangeas along the back fence. They were originally planted behind our garage (where the pool equipment enclosure is now). When we put in the pool, we moved them to the side bed (which didn't exist before the pool) along the fence, but the neighbor's black walnut tree hampered their growth. So rather than throw them away, we made a new bed along the back, sort of a temporary spot until we figure out what to do with the rest of the beds. I won't bore you or anyone else by enumerating the purposes of the other beds in the back, but just want to add that we also did have more visual interest and contrast in flower, foliage, and form - but many of those plants didn't survive. We've been in a sort of holding pattern back there for a couple years - and I'm looking forward to improving that landscape. But back to the front yard/landscape. One of our goals for changes remains to revise the long bed along the drive for the dual purposes of easier maintenance and including more variety in its plants to provide more interest in months other than July. Another goal is to revise the small bed near the side steps to make it better looking (instead of a hodgepodge of plants, as it is now) and as a memorial garden for our daughter, with beautiful plantings. We also still want to improve the visual impact/visibility of the front door. To me, that is a separate goal from emphasizing the front entrance, if by entrance one means the wide front steps (which aren't truly the entrance to the house, but visually they do give that impression). We understand the goals of Laag's ideas about beds in front of the steps and a wide path from the driveway to the steps/porch. But in terms of practicality, we don't want people to stop midway up our driveway and walk up the path, because then they block the entire driveway. Also, the steps are covered with snow for the entire winter (it's too expensive to pay to have them cleared each time it snows), and a walkway would also be covered in snow, so the practical function of a walkway beginning partway up the driveway wouldn't apply during those months. I've been bothered for a while by the sense of imbalance between the long driveway bed and the expanse of grass on the other side of the drive, so another purpose of making changes is to see if we can balance that. Laag's suggestion about a grassed area in the long bed was so helpful - I just don't know whether that is enough to achieve balance, or if we will need a bed under the birches. A new purpose resulted from a number of comments here, and that is to soften the impact of the veranda wall. I think we are just so used to how our house looks that we don't see it for how it really appears. You all have opened our eyes to this issue! I haven't been in the back yards of the houses above us (in the back) to see what they can see of our back yard. It "feels" private in our back yard most of the time, probably due to the fence, but I still don't do any skinny-dipping. ;-) The front feels very public to me (it's a busy street and in the spring/summer/fall, a very busy golf course), with the exception of the veranda. On the rare occasions when we are seated there (it's usually too hot/buggy/raining/cold), we have at least the illusion of privacy behind that fortress wall - though with close neighbors, we have to watch how loudly we talk. My sister mused aloud a few years ago about the idea of putting a hedge across the front of the yard (on the lawn on the house side of the sidewalk, if you're facing away from the house) to screen the street and provide more of a sense of privacy. A neighbor a couple of houses down has a partial bridal wreath hedge in the yard and she was noting that at the time. I'll update as we get further along in this process; meanwhile, if anyone has more comments/suggestions, we're very happy to have them....See MoreMobile Home front yard - rare! Need help with a plan
Comments (12)Don't be too ready to blindly follow rules. Park rules are there for a generally good reason, but sometimes they exact letter of the law does not work for everyone. Certain conditions (like a place grass won't grow) warrant other solutions. Usually, it's all about looking good. If you create a plan that is a BETTER alternative to what the park demands you do, they may make a formal exception. Present your case well in an easy-to-understand format if you decide to pursue it. It would require a PLAN and an artist's rendering. (like what I drew over your picture only better. Start with better pictures.)...See MoreNeed front yard help for Victorian-style house (zone 8b)
Comments (13)Thanks all - these responses are so helpful! I love the idea of referencing older houses. I’ve driven around the historic homes in my neighborhood here, and it’s true that there aren’t many foundation plants besides the occasional boxwood - likely put in more recently than 1907! The pecans are actually part of an orchard. I always thought it was odd that we had these 2 perfectly placed pecans, similar to how builders put in a starter tree on either side of the sidewalks in new tract homes! Turns out that the trees were here well before the house! I suspect they were planted in the mid-1800s. Good info about the bulbs under pecans. I though about agapanthus as well, but I think that would require a lot of digging and....ugh! Clay soil and rocks are breaking my back! Love the 2 renderings! I wish I could bump my tree out farther to the right, but the electric lines run right over that corner, plus that’s our drainage area for the backyard. Eventually we may do a dry creek situation over there. Not authentic to the house, but sometimes preventing standing water wins out. ;)...See MoreCynthia L
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agohousegal200
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoSome thoughts to define the space:
--Keep lattice and paint your porch railings to match.
--Remove the front walkway, which just chops up your already small space.
--Enclose the entire space in a white picket fence with a gate on the driveway side leading to the steps.
--"Line" the long border side of the picket fence with a mix of good sized shrubs to the height of the fence. If anyone asks just say: "I'm making a garden!" Some kinds of attractive shrubs are deer "unfriendly,"i.e. prickly, which will also be kid unfriendly. Have a small nursery help you with all this, telling them you need to have a defined and enclosed front yard. You can often get a simple design drawn up at small garden centers if you buy the plantings there.
--Plant the inside of the space with a mix of groundcovers, hardscaping, ornamental grasses, perennials, as well as the mixed border shrubs. This idea only all the plantings on the inside, gate on the driveway side:
Tiburon Residence · More Info
--As someone said, install a mailbox mounted on a poston your side and add large numerals to define your side.
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Cynthia L thanked housegal200Cynthia L
4 years ago
Sherry8aNorthAL
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agokitasei2
4 years ago
PRO- PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoI would run a fence right down the middle with some nice plantings on your side and for sure divide the porch I would something high.No tall trees but a really deep planting bed along the fence with flower and shrubs .I actually would make the fence quite solid so you don’t even see the brats on the other side it will also make for a nicer entrance to your business.
Since you neighbors do not have any respect block them out of your life as much as possible.
wacokid
4 years ago
Denita
4 years agoSherry8aNorthAL
4 years agoDenita
4 years ago
Yardvaark