Overgrown front lawn garden
Lauren Steinberg
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Hi, followup to the post I just did on my back flower garden, here's the very overgrown front lawn/garden of the house we just moved into. I'm looking for help identifying some of these plants and figuring out what should stay or be replaced, plus ANY tips at all, I'm very new at this. We're in New England. Thank you so much!!
. Thank you so much!
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
3 years agoLauren Steinberg
3 years agoRelated Discussions
front lawn garden
Comments (4)I checked out the photos and some of the other links on his blog. The owners provided logical reasons as to why they wanted/needed a vegetable garden in the front, but I didn't go through all the ins and outs of the council meetings. It sounds like he has a battle going on in his town and I'm not going to step into that arena! The blog provides a listing of his heritage plants and his reasons for selecting them. The thing that struck me, a personal opinion here, is that I think his garden could use some flowers, especially in the front. That garden is pretty stark --- all various heights of green. Of course a lawn can be pretty stark, as you see from the house on the right in the photo and in many communities a bare lawn is considered "proper" landscaping. Still, tucking in flowers (marigolds/cosmos, etc.) would soften the look of his yard, provide interest, attract beneficial insects, and maybe tone down the battle roar. Molie...See MoreAnyone want to give advice on rehabing a weed-overgrown lawn?
Comments (3)I agree with yardtractor except I would do the initial RoundUp treatment in early August. Once everything is dead and brown mow as low as possible and bag the clippings. Begin watering lightly 3 times per day to germinate any remianing weed seeds and spot spray as needed to kill anything that turns green. Do this up until a few days before seeding. With the amount of crabgass you have now there are going to be seeds laying around waiting to germinate. Eliminating as many of them as possible now will only help you out come next spring. A good pre-emergent is going to be a must for the next couple years....See MoreNeed help with an overgrown weed filled "lawn"
Comments (11)Excellent feedback. Now we know you're not shooting for yard of the month. You just want to keep the mud out of the house. Shade can be an issue. Tall trees are not always good trees. People often plant a fast growing tree not thinking 20 years down the road. For example in my picture there's a telephone pole, crape myrtle, two mesquite trees, and another crape myrtle further in the distance. I've had the two (ugly) mesquite trees removed to allow the more attractive crape myrtle to flourish. There's a pear tree in the middle of the yard which would be gone if it did not produce tons of pears every summer. This is to say, evaluate your trees to see if they need to be thinned, reshaped, or removed. If you find that your soil is too bumpy to mow, you will need to level it. If it is pretty bad (hard to tell from the picture), then you would need a landscaper to come in with a tractor and a box blade. You're on quite a slope so I would have them look at the drainage in back to ensure you don't flood your basement. On flat land this is a 1-morning job, but for your lot it might take a full day. Depending on the activity level of your dogs, you might not be able to grow grass. Too often people come here asking what grass they need for their two, 1-year old labs in a shady lawn. Well, there isn't any shade grass for active puppies. I usually suggest 2 inches of chipped tree mulch. I haven't heard back from anyone, but that's the kind of mulch they use in our local dog park. They do it 15 inches deep....See Moreovergrown garden suggestions
Comments (18)You've got pros here making good suggestions. I especially like DigDoug's planter on the left. What this amateur would do: You might transplant the tall thing in the middle of the right window into the right corner, if possible. Make sure it is located a couple of feet away from the walls. Caveat - it looks like it might be a viburnum (I can't really tell), so there is the risk that it will grow too large for the spot without yearly pruning. I don't care for the shape and density of the smaller shrubs and would take them out, perhaps put in a couple of small clumping grasses, or small variety of azalea or rhododendron (if not too sunny there for them) or weigela, or a different, small (dwarf or compact) evergreen with more interesting form and color for winter interest instead. Leave plenty of space between plants, you don't want a solid wall or row. Prune the japanese maple to open up the structure to a more open, lacey look. Getting a good arborist to do it is best. Left corner/left windows. You are right, there is too much stuff. Thin the grasses (or are they daylilies?) surrounding the blue flowering plant to just be accents, not a solid mass. Thin the hostas also. Are those Hellebores in between the hostas? I don't love the boxwoods in front of the window, but you need something evergreen - if those are hellebores, they will do - see how you like it after the hostas have been thinned, but I might remove the boxwoods, move the large hellebores back, and transplant some of the heuchera that is below the maple to be interspersed with/ spaced out in front of them....See Moreken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
3 years ago
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