Need help with front porch/yard landscaping ideas
pjdilollo
2 years ago
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
2 years agoRelated Discussions
front yard landscaping ideas needed
Comments (45)First off your home is beautiful!! I think you need to be thinking about that in-ground pool you are going to put in, they need to dig it out so you don't want to go planting beds & shrubs & trees just to dig them back out so take a garden hose & map out where it is going to be-use the hose laying on ground in shape of swimming pool, then a 2nd hose a few feet out from where the pool will be as you have to have a space around the pool, you don't want that whole area too close to the back hill which might send a lot of water & dirt, etc into that area. Also are you having the pool fenced in, much safer all around if you do, neighbor kid isn't as likely to drown if he can't see water or get gate open. So pool, edging area & fencing placement all needs to be figured out 1st. Then you will want to be placing trees & shrubs where they aren't dropping leaves, flowers & twigs in the pool. Also you need to figure out how large these things will be if it gets really hot you might want some shade during hot part of day-but off at a distance Along with that you may need to plan the walkway at back of house. If pool will be used constantly that has to be thought out, probably cement walkway to house to change or will there be a pool house, bathroom trips, need to figure out how that will work as kids will drip through the house so I'd be getting some graph paper & figuring out where all the stuff you are having will be, patio in back or on that side? You can plan trees in front yard but even that needs to be where pool can't be seen or so pool can be seen depending on your preferences. Fall is good for planning trees & shrubs at least that is when my son planted back that way. So once you have the pool area mapped out then present it to this forum so they might be able to give you ideas for putting plants but if I were you I would be getting that BIL out to your house for steaks on the BBQ & pinning him down on what you've drawn & see what his opinion is, if you have put in some work planning & laying it out then he will know you are serious & more likely to help you. I have 4 younger brothers. a suggestion often gets bypassed but hand 1 a screwdriver & ask if they can screw something to the wall & might ask what else needs to be done.(things I can't figure out how to do or require more strength like changing outdoor faucet.) Hope it works....See MoreNeed landscape ideas - what to do with my slopping front yard
Comments (18)I have to disagree with you, Emmarene, that the slope is too large for a single groundcover. A groundcover can be the LAWN where a mowed turf grass lawn is not possible. One must just pick the groundcover that works for such a size. Some "timid" groundcovers work best for tiny places. Some more aggressive groundcovers work well only when the area is large enough, considering that mainly, one is managing EDGES. An aggressive groundcover in a small area would be a constant battle, but in a large area it can be one's best friend ... making ground green when grass can't, or won't, do it. The place to begin is finding out what others in the surrounding area (town/county, etc.) are using to solve the exact problem in their yards. Then one knows it grows in the area and is probably well suited to the size & job. If one groundcover is used predominantly over all others, then it is the groundcover to use. This is not the place to "be different," trying to express one's individuality. This is especially true if there is groundcover in use in a neighbor's yard. It would be an impossible battle trying to keep two different groundcovers from mixing at a property line. If one type of groundcover flows from one yard to the other, then there is no edge to maintain at the property line, making one's list of chores less. As an example, while risking bringing the haters out of the woodwork on account of the mere mention of it, I'll say that if this property was in Atlanta, Ga., the clear cut choice of groundcover would be English ivy, as it is the one in predominant use there for hilly and shady large areas (and some surprisingly small ones, though that is not my taste.) While many froth at the mouth at its mention, it nevertheless proves to be successfully manageable by many. (For me personally when I lived there, I considered it easy to care for, a lifesaver ... more or less worthy of worship on a grand scale, as it was the most versatile, hardest working horse in the barn.) In the typical case, since it commonly flowed from neighbor to neighbor, there was not property line trimming of it. Where it met lawn, many people were happy just to let the lawnmower be the one and only edger. Where ivy grew into the lawn, the regular mowing kept it from being noticeable at any distance. That left the only edging to be done where the ivy met paving. There, it needed to be trimmed a couple times/month during the growing season. One trimming per year kept it from climbing trees if one so chose. At back alleys and buildings, its leading edge could be sprayed with herbicide (such as Round-Up) in order to keep its advance in check. Or it could be manually cut, if one preferred. (Another advantage of it is that it was extraordinarily cheap/free/easy to create massive quantities of it, if one learned some simple propagation techniques.) Insofar as dividing groundcover from lawn, one would mark out all space that is too shady for turf grass to grow, or too hilly for it to be mowed. And then apply some simple art to it in order to come up with a dividing line that looks pleasant. In this case I would leave an "L" shape of grass next to the street and the drive, where it is neither too shady or too sloped. A radius transition between the two legs of the "L" would work well around the tree. The tree would be in the groundcover section, a visually comfortable distance away from its edge. Speaking of the tree, it is well past time to remove the scruffy looking bottom limbs from its trunk. The "shade" should not be hanging down, obscuring any front portion of the house....See MoreFront landscaping update in shady yard - ideas needed!
Comments (8)In terms of color, I have a friend with a similar color house and we put in some chartreuse plantings, which really popped against that blue. She had more room than you, but there were spireas (Gold Mounds??), with hostas (Captain Kirks), hakone grass, some creeping gold-leaved euonymous, trying to think of what else. She did have a bit more sun than you, although these may do well in your situation. To offset the chartreuse we had darker greens (some hollies and boxwood) and purples - heuchera, nandina, weigelia, etc. Gold chamycyparis are beautiful too, IMO, but not sure about sun requirements and they might be too big to plant near your foundation - although any shrub probably shouldn't be as close to your foundation as that fence permits, now that I think about it. Charming house! :) Dee...See MoreNeed shrub and tree ideas for front yard landscaping. Zone 6a
Comments (4)big city location would help .. as z6 is about half the US and rather divergent ... with that darn sidewalk.. [i hate buliders and architects for the lack of imagination in dealing with this] .... if you want any kind of shrubs or conifers.. or small trees... work out into the useless lawn ... with that couple feet of garden bed.. you really dont have space for anything but annuals and perennials inside the walkway .. unless you want to be out there shearing twice a year .. ergo.. you would have to kill me.. before i ever planted box in there ... and if those two shrubs are still by the garage.. get rid of them also ... really.. one of them is square.. whats that all about .. lol ... and im thinking it might be an invasive burning bush ... but that is just a gut reaction... but i just had taco bell.. so take that for what its worth .. lol... maybe my gut is lying to me ...lol .. also.. while its barren .... work that soil off the lattice under the deck ... avoid future problems ... either dirty plastic.. or rooting wood ... and be honest.. is the lawn used for anything other than complaining someone has to mow the lawn every few days ... if not.. start with some nice trees out on the lawn ... make you landscape 3 dimensional.. instead of focusing on a few feet right on the foundation ... never forget..... foundation plants are to hide the foundation.. not to BE PLANTED on the foundation.. thats the root problem with your square shrub ... its a giant plant.. planted when it was a babe.. on the foundation. with no real idea of its future potential ... lets not do that again ... and as part of the 5 year plan.. i would hide the foundation on the extreme right.. and no one wants to look at the basement walls ... do you have two front doors .. reminds me of the old doctors houses in my rural town ... kinda cool ... anyway.. plan and plant your backbones.. trees ... in teh proper planting season ... plan out future shrub locations not in the foundation ... and for this year.. just plant some pretty flowers in teh beds you now have... and if it takes 3 to 5 years.. so be it ... it will be stunning ... if you want the instant gratification.. as embo noted.. just go to big box.. and buy whatever strikes your fancy ... but search out future potential.. before you plant that babe which will end up a 10 foot problem ... ken...See MoreUser
2 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
2 years agoKW PNW Z8
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoHU-187528210
2 years agopjdilollo
2 years agopjdilollo
2 years agopjdilollo
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2 years agoUser
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agogardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
2 years agolaceyvail 6A, WV
2 years ago
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