1840's stone farmhouse landscaping suggestions (pictures in comments)
Bethany Lee
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
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Bethany Lee
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agokaj2014
3 years agoRelated Discussions
Traditional American farm house garden?
Comments (31)Ginger, thanks for your interesting questions. Sort of farm--During my growing-up years when my father ran it (I was born in '51), it was basically a hog and grain farm. He grew lots of corn for the pigs and to sell, plus some oats, but started growing soybeans in the sixties as a cash crop as well. We had a few chickens early on, but found it more convenient to buy at the store. (I think even store-bought chicken used to taste better back then.) My mother was a city girl from 200 miles away and hadn't inherited the gardening genes of her father. She did like to grow yellow wax beans and freeze them, which we all enjoyed. During my father's growing up it was much more diversified. At present, having retained about a third of the acreage, 122 acres, our renter/manager/neighbor specializes in grain--soybeans and corn. Organic veggies?--I've gradually gone to organic and permacultural gardening for fun. I really love fruit, and since my husband and I can be on the farm only three months of the year (we teach up in Alaska and fly our Cessna down every year), time is at a premium. Therefore, perennial edibles are my priority, with maybe a few yellow wax beans. So I've planted fruit trees and small-fruit shrubs, asparagus, rhubarb, hardneck garlic (not really perennial, of course), garlic chives, and (my namesake) Egyptian onions, plus many other kinds of herbs. All of these are just jumbled together for a permacultureal type of system, though I do plant them in such a way as to enhance the ability to mow around them. In the east garden, for instance, I planted over the years three rows of fruit trees, plus another row of currants, rhubarb, and grapes. In between the trees, I planted within the rows all kinds of herbaceaous plants, for organic companion reasons, but also so that I could just run the mower all the way up and down without having to go around each individual tree. (I initially scoffed at the by-word "easy to mow around," but soon incorporated it into my criteria of good gardening once I actually started mowing.) Rainbow garden-- Blue: blue flax Darker blue: Veronica austriaca 'Crater Lake Blue' Annual blue salvia that either survive or reseed every year, c.r.n. (can't remember name)--Victoria? Purple: annual reseeding larkpur, Consolida ambigua Veronica spicata 'Blue Peter' Veronica 'Sunny Border Blue' Salvia X Superba 'Blue Hill' Salvia 'Superba Blue Queen' Red: Ground cover rose 'Red Ribbons' (Jackson & Perkins) Dianthus, 'Flashing Light' and 'Brilliant' Orange: Asclepias tuberosa Gaillardia, 'Goblin' and a bigger c.r.n. Gold: Coreopsis, tall c.r.n. Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldsturm' Yellow: Achillea filipendula Coreopsis 'Zagreb' Green: Juniper horizontalis 'Plumosa Youngstown' Euphorbia cyparissias (am phasing out as juniper grows) Historical restoration--As I view pictures that go all the way back to 1900, I see many changes, including the location of fences, the coming and going of huge trees, and in the ground itself as I describe before with the double terracing. And yet there are still a couple of barns and a corn crib that endure. Times change and new personalities come in. My blood link to the past allows me to both have some knowledge of the past, as well as the capability of gathing more knowledge from pictures, written material, and friends and neighbors whose relationships with the family go back for generations. I cherish this, and often repeat plantings to mimic the past. Yet I can't put it all back and I don't feel the need. As long as I have the family blood, the farm is still evolving as the family farm. I try to do it justice, and though I enjoy it tremendously myself, I'm really only borrowing it from the next generation, whether it goes to my nieces (we're child-free) or whether it changes over to a whole new set of genes. Please check out the gallery again as I will soon have some more pictures in it. Egyptianonion...See MoreExterior elevation: going from European to cabin-farmhouse?
Comments (25)Olivesmom, you are fighting an uphill struggle. The small North Carolina house is appealing due to its simple, iconic "house" shapes and other simple, straightforward residential design motif. Due to this simplicity of shape, it can have a variety of exterior materials and finishes (including the great red windows with green trim on one side and the equally great green windows with red trim on the other side). In other words, the design of the house is quite simple, which allows some creative diversity in materials and finishes. On the other hand, the builder's houses that you have posted are very complex and competing shapes and forms, and they are very large, further complicating the idea of unity and harmony. When these complex and competing shapes are combined with a variety of materials and finishes (as they almost always seem to be on stock plans and builder's tracts), the final result is anything but simple, unified and harmonious. These large, complex and competing shapes almost always require a very simple and consistent use of chapes, materials and finishes if unity and harmony are desired. Far too often, however, builders and owners seem to want to have as many shapes, materials and finishes as possible with the result that the finished house often looks like an advertising display for residential product manufacturers. Thus, if you stick with the large builders house, you need to simplify and unify as much as possible. For exampe, one of the first things to do is eliminate the arched garage door openings. There are no other arched shapes in the design of the house, as far as I can see, and thus, the arches are a completely foreign and inconsistent element which add to the discordant look of the exterior. Adding "borrowed" projecting shed roofs over selected windows to the existing design is another aesthetic inconsistency. For them to add to the overall character of the house, all of the gabled dormer windows should be changed to similar shed dormers. These are just a couple of examples. Do you see the issue and what needs to be done? Good luck on your project....See MoreHome exterior help - Modern Farmhouse type style
Comments (32)Here's some information about sliding windows. In a storm the exposed track fills with water and if it doesn't drain fast enough water enters the house. I've seen it happen in a test chamber. The fact that they are cheap is not enough of a reason to put them in a house. And little burgers are known to cause indigestion. Life is not fair....See More1810 Farmhouse: Furniture Placement & HELP
Comments (873)Thanks for the Xmas tree love! I couldn’t wait to show you, the LONG AWAITED KITCHEN TABLE AND CHAIRS!!! (No I still don’t have it, took longer than expected and now the small shop got Covid but hopefully we can pick it up Friday) I am so ecstatic, and the hunt fabric looks divine!!! Wishing everyone happy holidays this week! Be safe with all the colds and viruses going around! Xo...See MoreBethany Lee
3 years agoYardvaark
3 years agoBethany Lee
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3 years agoBethany Lee
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3 years agoYardvaark
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoBethany Lee
3 years agoUser
3 years agoparty_music50
3 years agoBethany Lee
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