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Landscape Design Design Dilemma

Blank slate yard - landscape design help needed!

3 years ago

Hi all - new homeowners here and we're looking for help designing our yard. I've included a few photos and an aerial plan w/ dimensions. Main objectives are to:

1. Convert most of the lawn to more drought tolerant/diverse greenery

2. Include a West-facing seating area toward the back of the yard w/ a fire pit and shade

3. Add a couple of raised beds for veggies

4. Would like to have some grass for the dog

Yard gets gets a lot of Los Angeles sun throughout the day (Western edge of yard lit from 7am-5pm) and prevailing winds are W-SW. Access is via the kitchen's back door from inside the house, or through a fence across the driveway. We will also be extending the fence on the West side to the front of the house to add a 'side yard' and give the bedroom windows a bit more privacy.

We're pretty overwhelmed, so any/all suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Plan / Photos below:

West View (neighbor's detached garage along west fence). We would like to cover this wall with our own fence.

North View

East View (our own detached garage and shed)

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Comments (4)

jck910
3 years ago
Not a landscaper but my first thought is to cut a 6 foot deep bed around the perimeter and plant bushes (ones that are recommended by your local nursery not HD or Lowe's) to hide the fences, garage wall and cinder block wall. Then determine the best place for the raised beds, preferably by the shed. What is the dirt area for?
Alex thanked jck910
PRO
Yardvaark
3 years ago

Don't think of this as a plan, but as an unfinished, tweakable scheme that could be a starting point for figuring out a layout. At the beginning, don't focus on planting, but on hardscape and layout geometry. The planting will adjust to it. There's still a good bit of the back yard that is hidden from us ... the back of house and west side of garage.

About running a fence across the neighbor's garage, I presume the goal is to hide as much of the garage as possible. The problem is that you'll only be able to hide part of the wall with a fence that ends up, after weathering, to be probably not as good looking as the wall could be if it had new paint. There might be regulations against doing this because it would prevent your neighbor from accessing his wall for maintenance or inspection purposes. Consider conferring with the neighbor and explain the dilemma. Since he can't see it, he may be completely fine with you painting the wall the color of your choice. I doubt he's given any thought before.
Alex thanked Yardvaark
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Congratulations on building your new home. Based on our experience here are a few things you should look into: 1) Whether your shed (accessory building) is allowed in your zoning code. 2) The maximum sq ft of the accessory building that is allowed. 3) How far does it need to be setback from your property line. This varies between municipalities. 4) Make sure your Crabapple tree (Malus spp). is going to do well in your plant hardiness zone. http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/ 5) Regarding the shrubs, in our planting designs we try to only specify plants that are native to the state and region, because of reduced irrigation and maintenance needs. In looking at your pictures, we think that the swale should be usable space for recreation and repose. The trees can be located near the deck for privacy purposes; we recommend planting mature trees (large gallon size) because of higher survivability rates. If you are using the Crabapple tree for privacy, take into account that their canopy range is between 10'-25' diameter depending on the species. Also keep in mind that Crabapple is deciduous, which means you may want to consider a mix of deciduous and coniferous (evergreen). Lastly, we think you should cluster your plantings along the edges of the sides of the property (not in front of the swale); this would make your back yard look bigger. Good luck with the improvements and please post pictures when your done! -DR, Landscape Designer
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Both Oakleaf hydrangea and Bottlebrush buckeye can handle sun and shade, though they may need more water in sunnier conditions (and especially the year you plant them, when they are getting their roots established.) You are correct that the oak will cast some shade when mature, but that will be years down the road, so you could definitely get started with some fruits and veggies now, and worry about shade later. I'm also in 7b, and I've had luck this year growing strawberries and figs, and understand that blackberries/raspberries also do well in this zone. Blueberries can be tricky because they love cold winters. Another native shrub,American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana), LOVES sun and grows tons of magnificent magenta berries. The birds will love them in the fall, and/or you can pick them to make jelly (they are a bit bland right off the bush). (By the way, I made some plant names link to articles about their growing conditions, one my screen it shows up as green text that I can click) Butterflies will love species like Phlox paniculata, Mountain Mint (genus Pycnanthemum), and Blue Mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum), plus many others. If you see butterflies on flowers while you shop for plants at a local nursery or botanical garden, that's a pretty good endorsement that they'll like it planted in your yard too. Your oak will also be great for attracting butterflies, since many of their baby caterpillars eat oak leaves (usually minimal so you don't notice, especially once the oak gets tall). American beautyberry in fruit: Painted Lady butterfly on my blue mistflower last fall:
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Alex
Original Author
3 years ago
Thank you both for the comments, @Yardvaark and @jck910. Nailing down layout and hardscape first makes sense. @Yardvaark - I'm assuming the brown/gray concentric circles in your image are a fountain on some DG or other surface?

We definitely want to ring the yard in, either with raised planters or trees as you suggested. We'd also considered trellises with some kind of climbing plant
PRO
Yardvaark
3 years ago
"I'm assuming the brown/gray concentric circles in your image are a fountain on some DG or other surface?" I thought they were a fire pit made of whatever materials you chose.

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