New front yard sunken patio after drainage failure disaster
Last year our (30 year old) footer drains around the house failed and we experienced shockingly serious flood damage in the basement(especially given that we are situated on higher elevation). The replacement of the drains ravaged our lawn and gardens, and required demo-ing our porches, stoops and decks around the exterior of our house. It took more than a year to get the work done to this point (thanks to the Covid labor and materials shortage) , and I confess I miss my collection of perennials and my fountain garden, but we are 80% finished with at least our new ’front patio’ and some of the plants are in bloom now, so I thought I would share a few ‘before and after’ pics.
I was an avid perennial and organic gardener in the classical tradition, but since we are now ’aging in place’ we commissioned our landscape designer, John Devore of Land and Water Gardens, who I found here on Houzz, to create a low maintenance, more modern and ’millennial looking’ front yard design, that was pollinator and bird friendly. He suggested a sunken/secret patio so that we could enjoy the morning sun and our wooded property. Installation was done by Ben Necessary of Native Roots, here in Cincinnati. We are still working on other parts of the installation, but here are a few pics of the before and aft of the patio:
BEFORE, My traditional perennial fountain garden:
As much as I loved my gardens, they were really too much to take care of, and the drainage disaster forced me to go in a different ’easy maintenance’ direction.
DRAINAGE DISASTER DEMO PIC (Actually bull dozers came in and tore out the whole yard, all shrubs and several trees and porches. Made me cry).:
OK, demo was sad, but the drains had to be re-installed all around the perimeter. A company called Jayco did the drainage work. I will post the ’after’ pic of this part of the yard where we installed the patio in the next post.
Comments (15)
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Redesign for long, narrow side yard with path
Comments (10)Thanks to all for the good suggestions! Current state of the project area: The former herb garden along the east edge of the yard behind the house has been dismantled! All of the often used herbs (oregano, parsley, cilantro, basil, thyme, rosemary) have been moved to the small bed just west of the back door. This will end up being a pretty densely vegetated bed, but that usually helps keep down the weeds. :) Slipped a few flat stepping stones between the plants for ease of harvesting. I love it! No need to even put on shoes to get fresh herbs! Chives are in front of the (not often used) air conditioner unit. Some of the bigger herbs (lavender and sage) are a little further away--just past the a/c, but making a nice little border connecting all of the herbs together. Some of the other herby plants (hyssop, rue) have gotten moved into other spots around the yard. Now that the herbs are relocated, I've spent a lot of time staring at that area between the back of the house and garage. We do want to make this into a patio area, flagstone (with creeping groundcover and smaller stone in the gaps), with the BBQ grill closer to the garage along the fenceline. One of the remaining issues with this area is the need to adjust the grade. Currently, the level of soil next to pond and under the flagstones from the back door to the garage is slightly elevated--which impedes water from draining quickly away from the foundation. Luckily, the elevation drops again near the fenceline, and definitely sloping down to the narrow section next to the garage and into the alley. This will definitely be a big project, removing the right amount of dirt and leveling it. It also has the additional issue of being infested with bindweed, so I'll actually need to get rid of this dirt entirely (for which I don't yet have a good strategy). Plus the expense of a large amount of flagstone. The other issue, which I haven't mentioned before--is the wretched state of the neighbors privacy fence all along this east edge of the yard. It's definitely falling to bits at this point, but I'm fairly certain that it's repair or replacement isn't high on their list. Sigh. All that being said, it looks like the narrow section path of the yard may again be shelved for another year. But small strides are being made. I've moved the shrubs from the back corner of the house to better spots. I'll probably continue with rearranging the current plants in this area this year, in preparation for finishing up the stepping stones and groundcover here next year--hopefully! I love the idea of some sort of arch/gateway towards the front of the path area, which will help break up the very tall and narrow aspect. Maybe also a bench near the porch, to make this part of the yard more visiting friendly. thanks again, and if there's any more comments suggestions...especially about any good tricks for aiding with the grade/drainage and getting rid of "bad" dirt......See MoreFailure to Thrive
Comments (18)I have saved a few of these by chip budding a piece of the rose that "failed to thrive" to a rose that has roots that are established somewhere in my garden. Many of the 20th century roses were bred without a thought given to whether they would survive on their own roots, because most of them were actually sold as grafted plants. And some of them just do not survive on their own roots. It's kind of a gamble you take when you buy 20th century roses that are NOW being sold as "own root" plants. The 20th century lavender/tan hybrid teas are notorious for lousy root systems. BUT, when I see one that is beginning to die off -- usually from the ground up -- you can still save a bud or two and graft it to something else in your garden that either you were going to get rid of anyways, or that you can just use as a nurse plant temporarily, while you start some rootstock plants and then graft it again to one of them. The branch to which you graft the bud needs to be growing vigorously. Here's a video of how to do that. It works and it's fairly easy, but you do need to get some of the right kind of tape, which is called Parafilm M. They have it on eBay in smaller quantities. I have never gotten plain old plastic nursery tape to work -- the kind you tie plants to a stake with. However, a note on this video -- he seems to be doing this upside down to me. My technique is to use the chips and the buds facing up on the plants. So, take your pick. And, finally, be sure to mark the branch well where you did the bud grafting. The process takes a long time, and more than once I have forgotten what I put where, and either ended up with something I didn't know what it was supposed to be, or just cut it off, and then "OOPS." Kathy Here is a link that might be useful: Instruction on budding roses...See MoreBack yard help
Comments (23)Have you seen the California Gardening forum? I highly recommend visiting it b/c California is like it's own very weird place with a lot of microclimates and special considerations. Being from California, I have spent a good share of time at that forum and learned a LOT. There are some wonderful folks who can help you with plant selection and who will APPLAUD your choice to avoid turf grass. However, native grasses and other grassy-like plants that are low water might work for you. Succulent gardens can be very beautiful as well. Cactus gardens...sound prickly and uninviting. Before you do anything though, it's really important to figure out how you want to use the space AND set up a budget. I think I read that you just moved in recently, so my advice is to take it in stages. Figure out how you might want to use the space. Like if you want a pergola/gazebo with a deck to have a table/seating area, figure out where you would like that to go. If you need to make a path for access, where do you want to place the path? It might be worth hiring a landscape designer to help you draw up a plan. I love the suggestion to stucco the wall (but I like the look of stucco). Stucco can be painted a color that won't be super bright, so don't rule it out. Just looking at your picture, not knowing the layout of your home or anything, I think if you do want a gazebo a good place to put it would be in the corner to block out your view of the large power pole. I agree, it's a great blank slate. Not too much to rip out, really. There are beautiful water-wise landscape ideas in Sunset magazine, so maybe you can find inspiration there as well. I wouldn't really worry so much about the wall right now, it's pretty neutral and you can fit it in, later, once you come up with a plan. This post was edited by melle_sacto on Tue, Apr 22, 14 at 16:51...See MoreDrainage company did job - soil is not hardening/muddy
Comments (9)What is it that you are "reporting" to the town officials and why are you waiting until next year? We are planning to move next year. This house was purchased on the grounds of my unemployed father who wanted to get closer to work - a place he hardly worked. My father died in April. My mother is 80 and wants no part of this POS house that my father did not contribute to purchasing. (deed means nothing). The concrete had to be torn up as that would not pass inspection. Neighbors: You cannot dig in the yard without notifying the utilities. You can also not put pipes in and point it towards the neighbors to move your water onto someone else's property. It needs to go to the street. That is per the town and verified by the contractors. I have pictures of them digging and pointing the pipes towards our property. You also need to get permits to do this work. They did not do any of that. Already checked. If the town finds this out, they will be in deep sh-- and will have to fix what they did. This is going away from the point of my post. You may be an expert in drainage (somewhat) but are lacking in common sense. The neighbors will retaliate if we decide to report them for pointing their drainage to our yard. Would you like to see the security cam videos I have of the 40 year old man revealing his penis towards our house and peeing on the fence? How about the various cars that arrive at all hours and stop briefly at the house for a pop in? How about the children hitting our house constantly (knocking pictures off the living room walls) with their basketball hoop pointed towards our house and property. The best one was when it hit our front window. I was hoping the ball would break it. Right now, I'm doing EVERYTHING since my father died and between working 45+ hours per week, helping my 80 year old mother and doing everything my father did, I'm a big overwhelmed and busy. I would have to go through some CDs to find photos of the back yard to post for you. What I posted it what was on my phone and easy to grab. You know what - F-- it --- forget I ever posted here as I'm only getting criticism and other questions about my personal life that seems to be more interesting than the question of "WHO DID YOUR WORK AND WERE THEY QUALIFIED?" This is a pretty expensive mistake to make (hiring the wrong contractor) with money that we don't have (dead father = insurance went to funeral costs). #smh...See More
J Inhof
2 years agoCyn, Thanks. John Devore visited our home four times and took a lot of photos and measurements and talked on the phone. He is coming back in August, too. He is semi retired now and is based in Florida but does on site and virtual design mostly in the eastern part of the country. He often works along with local installers and has worked with Ben Necessary several times.
Yes, the new patio is dug out below the house because I wanted a little more privacy besides the yews and the Asian maple. it was a leap for me to sign on to the front patio at all, but I am fairly sick of my own ideas at this stage of my life so we went for it. So far we have enjoyed it. And surprisingly (since it is a little avant garde for our street) the neighbors seem to like it too.
Here is the plan John drew. He doesn’t use CAD, so one could say it is almost a piece of art.
J Inhof
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