New Build landscaping in Zone 5A. Help please?!

2 years ago

last modified: 2 years ago

New Build in Zone 5A. Looking for ideas that can include perrenials, shrubs, ground cover, flowering trees or potted planters. Have already put in black aluminum edging and black mulch. Although not shown in picture, the small dirt area also has been edged and mulched. Looking for low maintenance landscaping with at least one flowering tree. Would truly appreciate suggestions. The choices are very overwhelming!

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Comments (3)

NHBabs z4b-5a NH
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
We need a bit more information:

- Give the general area you are in. Two of my siblings and I (central NH) are all in zone 5, but I have adequate rainfall with acid, sandy soil, my sister (central WI) has alkaline, dense clay, and my brother (foothills near Denver) is in an arid area with decomposed rock and clay. What we can grow is very different.

- What kind of sun does the area get? If this is on the south or west side of the house, this will be a much hotter and brighter area, especially with the rock on the house wall, than if this is the north side of the house.

- How deep is the bed (front to back) both in the shallow area along the walkway and in the larger areas along the house?

- How deep are the eaves which will cause a rain shadow?

- How much water gets dumped into the small area between the walk and the garage? If it drains a large area, this may be unplantable because it will either be really dry or flooded by heavy flow from the downspout. This may need to be a spot with less soil and a deep layer of large rounded rocks to break up the flow with a pot for seasonal plantings and winter evergreen branches set on the gravel. IME it is difficult to keep any long term plantings alive in a pot in 5A becuase there aren’t a lot of plants whose roots will tolerate -20F in a pot. The temperature swings are too great.

- How far to the right of the bed is there room? A photo with the property edge marked by an object and taken from closer to the curb will help with tree placement. It does not look like the bed currently has room for a tree that would not be against the house in a few years.

Generally speaking, you want low plants along the walkway. You don’t want to hide the walkway or the front door.

Plants under the window should be low enough to stay below the window.

Your tree should be far enough from the house and sized so that it won’t need pruning to keep it away from the wall and roof.

Shrubs should be planted so at maturity they have at least a foot between the shrub and the house. So a plant that will end up 5’ wide should be planted at least 3 1/2’ from the house. This helps with keeping moisture away from the house and allows access for things like window cleaning or painting.
Sigrid
2 years ago
Dogwood at the corner, minuet Mt. Laurel under the windows. Physocarpus tiny wine at the edge of the porch. Along the path, you want short stuff, I'd put in some salvia and phlox subulata and some purple coneflowers. Consider a climber up your column, clematis, for example.
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Circus Peanut
2 years ago
I’d do a flowering tree planted a few feet into the grass of the curve, for balance and to keep it away from the house foundation, then a mix of perennials inside the mulched area.

New Build landscaping in Zone 5A. Help please?!

Comments (3)

NHBabs z4b-5a NH

Sigrid

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