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Design Dilemma Landscape Design

I need your ideas for landscaping, please!

3 years ago

We just moved into this renovated 1961 Ranch - our first house and first garden! The renovation team removed some trees and all landscaping and installed some shrubs in front of the house. So we have a fresh, blank canvas - a daunting idea for someone who’s always been limited to container gardening!!

The front yard (see photo) gets sun from about 11:00 onwards. The shrubs are all doing great and I know they’re good picks in terms of climate (Boxwood, cape jasmine, japonica, and dwarf holly.) However, I don’t want to be in a situation a few years from now where we end up with large shrubs which don’t do much in terms of curb appeal. Also, we spend early evenings on the porch and enjoy dinner there.

My question:

I think the yard needs some ‘softer’ aspects...maybe less symmetry? I also thought to take out the shrubs in front of the porch and just have lawn there.

PS - we have dogs and my dream is actually to have a low fence to allow them to play freely, but then we’d literally be the only people on the street with a fence.

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Comments (4)

Mia vS
Original Author
3 years ago
Our house
PRO
Yardvaark
3 years ago
There is something funky going on with the step. Can't see it, as the picture is taken from far away, but it doesn't look right. In conjunction with fixing that, I'd recommend widening the step to the full width of the opening and sizeably expanding the landing. Grade of walk could likely be improved in the process.

When it comes to the planting, I'm pretty convinced that what you have is going to end up completely and unartistically smothering the house front ... in addition to be a trimming nightmare in order to keep everything in bounds. It's far too many shrubs for my liking. I think you could do all the shrub work with 4 shrubs and a little time for them to grow. The rest could be done with annuals for color, a patch of perennials or highly contrasting shrub, and some groundcover.

When it's time to reroof, a grey would be an improvement over the orangey tan.
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I can't tell you how to use all of the plants you have, but can make suggestions about where you could use what type of plant. You can determine, of what you have, what makes sense to use in a given spot. If you want to update, I would definitely not use any plants as an edging stripe around the perimeter of a bed. Something like the "variegated grass" which is probably Lirope or Mondo, would be much better used as a solid groundcover. There's quite a few places you could use such a thing. The "grass" could be divided and you would have an ample supply for some use. I dislike the tree in line with the front door, too, and would make it disappear. Would raise the canopy on the birch to at least above the eave height. The low hanging branches give a disheveled look. The bed by the mailbox would look much better if it was a true quarter circle. Where it intersects the curb and drive it should meet at 90*, not any other angle. I brought the bed out around your swing. It shouldn't be directly in the lawn. If the picture cooperated, I probably would have put another small tree off of the right front corner of the house. It would help frame your house, screen the view of the neighbor's house and give the sense of some shelter for the swing.
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If you want more specific feedback on a direction to go in, get rid of the two shrubs that block the view. (If they're useful, maybe you can transplant them somewhere.) Then completely rephotograph the scene, taking a panorama of slightly overlapping pictures so we can see the whole view at once. One camera location should be the same as your first picture of the thread. A second camera position would be between the large shrubs that were removed. Each camera position would be several overlapping pictures that show from lot line to lot line (where the neighboring houses show as part of the background.) The walk itself helps to emphasize the entrance. Flanking it with plantings usually doesn't, especially if the plantings have any height. Usually, they contribute to obstructing the entrance or making the walk feel like a cattle path at the slaughterhouse.
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laceyvail 6A, WV
3 years ago
My reaction to the shrubs was the same as Yardvaark's.
emmarene9
3 years ago
My main objection to what you have now is that the boxwood at the porch will one day be a hedge hiding the porch area. I much prefer what Yardvaark proposed for the entrance. If it were my house I would also remove the shutters from the windows facing the porch. I think they distract from the door. I am more easily distracted than most so use your own taste.

Is Cape Jasmine a type of Gardenia?

I see no reason not to have a fence if you want one. You don't have to please your neighbors. Just no chain link.

I would not fence the whole yard. Just part and place a gate at your path entrance.

How large are your dogs?

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