Dog and kid friendly yard ideas
limelookalike
2 years ago
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Rebekah L
2 years agowoodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
2 years agoRelated Discussions
Hoping for helping in designing kid-friendly, family backyard
Comments (14)Thank you all for your help! Saturday night we went over to a friend's house and I love their yard. Very kid-friendly, but also areas for veggies and fruits. We had him come over and help us with some ideas too. Between the ideas we got on here and the help he gave us with the shape of the yard, etc. we finally have a plan we like and can start implementing in stages. We are going to have the kids area (sandbox & playhouse) up by the house. That is the only area that gets any shade, and with these 100 degree days, well we need a shaded area for the boys to play in. We will move all the berries to the far east end of the yard, all together. We will build another planter box along that side for them. That will put the yellowjackets far away! He helped draw out a yard shape, kind of looks like a golf course green, and I like it. It will still leave most of the area lawn, which we wanted for as the kids grow so they can have space to run. But what it will help with is drawing everything together, making it look less fragmented. We now are just trying to decide what to use for the border between grass and the other areas: concrete curbing, pavers, etc. Thank you so much for all of your input. Thank you saypoint for the drawing you took the time to make. I would still love to see some pictures of other people's backyards, so if anyone has any, please post a link. I'm very visual. I do much better to say, do it like this person did, instead of creating my own ideas!...See Morepretty hedge for privacy - kid friendly
Comments (7)Drive around and look at different property line plantings to get an idea of what you like. A hedge of all one kind of plant tends to look a bit more formal, expecially if trimmed. My personal preference is for a mix of several kinds so there is a variety of textures and flowering times to increase interest, but it may not be yours. If you want flowers, you'll get some bees, but unless the girls are actually playing in the shrubs while they are blooming, it shouldn't be a problem. I'd guess that they are old enough to remember to stay out of the shrubs while they are blooming. Diggingthedirt has made some nice suggestions. Hydrangeas, especially H. paniculatas like Tardiva, Pinky Winky, Limelight, Pink Diamond, etc, or H. arborescens, like Annabelle, are pretty trouble free and they bloom for long periods. Kousa dogwoods are just starting to bloom here now. I've got 2 that I got cheaply at a big box store three years ago. I wasn't sure if they'd be hardy, so didn't want to spend too much on them, but they have done well and have bloomed for two years now. They are about 10 feet tall, and were maybe 5 or 6 feet when I got them. Forsythia is nice for the early color, but also because the branches if untrimmed grow up and arch down, and can be trimmed from below if needed to make a nice play space underneath for the kids. Blueberries have bright red fall color, white spring flowers, and the kids can compete with the birds to get the berries unless you put nets over the shrubs. I love many of the Viburnums, but until I know whether or not they will go the way of chestnuts and elms, I'm not spending any money on them. I'm hoping that the viburnum beetle gets under control before it gets to NH because the genus provides an nice range of shrubs, many offering nice flowers (some with scent), berries, and fall color. There are native and imported varieties. If you have deer, I'd not suggest yews; they are the one plant that regularly got completely denuded, nibbled down to stubs at my previous house. Needless to say, I haven't planted any where I live now. Some of the hardy deciduous azaleas or rhododendrons, like the Lights series ('Northern Highlights', 'Rosy Lights', 'Golden Lights', etc.) have lovely, scented flowers, colorful fall foliage, and will look nice against your neighbor's trees. Between the wind and the sun, you probably don't want evergreen rhodies, though I love them and have a number along my woods edges. The one exception might be some of the PJM series, which are rock hardy and don't seem to mind winter sun. They have reddish to olive colored winter foliage that greens up again in the spring. There are also some summer blooming deciduous rhodies - if you want info on them, I'll look some up and add them - just let me know. One of my favorite native small trees, also a dogwood, is Pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia). It's blooming now, but doesn't have typical dogwood flowers. There are creamy clusters which turn into berries that eventually are almost black on bright red stems which the birds love. Fall color is nice also, mostly pastel shades. Farther south it needs some shade, but it does fine in full sun to full shade in NH. If you have some areas of wetter soil (anywhere from average to soggy) a native deciduous holly, winterberry holly (Ilex verticillata) is nice. It's a plain green in the summer with nonprickly leaves that drop in the fall, but has stunning red berries that last until the birds eat them either in the late autumn or early spring. You may have noticed them growing wild in wet areas. You'd need one male plant (unless you have wild ones nearby) for every 6 or so female plants - the females won't fruit without a male, but I've found I have male plants growing in a nearby wetland, so I didn't have to buy a male. Magnolias don't grow fast, but if you choose a variety with later flowers (to escape late frost damage) they can be pretty stunning small to medium trees. They grow slowly, so wouldn't be really tree sized for a number of years. If you check frequently, especially early in the season when the care (or lack of care) won't have influenced plant health, you may find some of these at Home Depot or other big box stores to help stretch your budget, or you can get small starter plants at Bluestone Perennials (http://www.bluestoneperennials.com). (I think they may have some of them on sale now for something like $5 each, but they are tiny!) If you want a whole hedge of something, a nursery that sells liners ( basically rooted cuttings) by the flat is Western Maine Nurseries. They do have a minimum order, I think 2 flats (the two flats don't have to both be the same kind of plant) or $100, but if you are doing a long hedge on a small budget that may work out for you in the long run. They would need good soil prep and mulch along with regular watering for the first year, but I've had good success with their plants. Here is a link that might be useful: Western Maine Nurseries...See MoreDrought-tolerant yard options for dogs and kids?
Comments (17)Nothing that I would recommend, sadly. We ended up turning a bit more of the formerly grassy area into landscaped space (creating tree rings and planting some young trees, etc.) and the rest we have ceded to oxalis and its brethren until we have some time and money to do a more extensive overhaul. At this stage we're thinking most seriously of creating some hardscaped space to extend the living space a bit and then putting down sod in the small space that remains for a play space. We are in Northern CA where grass is challenging and expensive to maintain as far as water use, so want to minimize that use but do also have kids (no longer as young as when I first posted this!) who run and play pretty actively in that space, despite its small size. While the weeds make me nuts, they have actually done a decent job of holding the soil and addressing the mud, for better or worse. With the rainy winter this year, some of the original no-mow grass has returned, too....See MoreIdeas for Dog friendly landscapes that are also beautiful for people!
Comments (1)I've created a lot of dog friendly landscapes and even given seminars on the topic at the Atlanta Home Show. Hope you enjoy reading these posts about Bailey's yard. It was such a muddy mess when I first visited! The primary goal was to provide an economical solution to the mud problem while accommodating Bailey's favorite routes thru the yard. The solution had to also be easy for the homeowner to walk on because she had knee problems. The secondary goal was that the landscape had to be pretty year round. To accomplish that, I designed with "trample proof plants" in problem areas and "barrier plants" in others. Lots of easy care perennials were added for color choosing only those that would readily replenish should Bailey decide to take a nap in the middle of the flowering display. ..... that's just the beginning ..... I'll post more ideas later....See Morewoodyoak
2 years agolimelookalike
2 years agowoodyoak
2 years agolimelookalike
2 years agowoodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoPatricia Colwell Consulting
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