Design Challenged - Help with front bed rehab
Hey guys, looking for some ideas to spruce up the bed in front of my house. This project is a piggyback off of another bigger project where we are turning the side of our house from a massive mulch bed to sod. I want to take this opportunity to update the front bed as well. We have not done much to it since moving in a few years back. I am considering removing almost everything (transplanting what I can) since I am not a huge fan of having large shrubs blocking windows and porch. As the title implies, I am good at executing a plan but horrible at designing one. Any help is greatly appreciated!
Current Situation
Work to be done on side (Please excuse my awful photoshop job)
Comments (25)
PROSabrina Alfin Interiors
12 months agoThere's nothing inherently wrong with your current beds. Put some edging around the perimeter of the bed, then fill in the blank spots with colorful flowering shrubs or annuals. I agree the taller shrugs should be move from below the windows.
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Comments (3)I bought a yew to put in there. The lady at the nursery said it could get up to 10 feet tall but can be kept trim. That should give a little vertical and also some winter green. Do you think I should still add boxwoods by the foundation? I am trying to root some now for the back, but could do some more for the front too. Thanks for the response....See MoreDesign help needed for really huge driveway bed & front yard
Comments (42)Karin, it's interesting and enlightening to read what others think of our house and landscape, even if we may not agree or take up some suggestions. We live in an area where we don't have a large number of options for landscape/garden design, unfortunately! So no worries about me being offended by criticism/suggestions, etc. We appreciate the help and we will work to think about each decision in terms of its purpose. We originally had purposes in mind for each bed in our backyard, though it may not look like it now - with the exception of the hydrangeas along the back fence. They were originally planted behind our garage (where the pool equipment enclosure is now). When we put in the pool, we moved them to the side bed (which didn't exist before the pool) along the fence, but the neighbor's black walnut tree hampered their growth. So rather than throw them away, we made a new bed along the back, sort of a temporary spot until we figure out what to do with the rest of the beds. I won't bore you or anyone else by enumerating the purposes of the other beds in the back, but just want to add that we also did have more visual interest and contrast in flower, foliage, and form - but many of those plants didn't survive. We've been in a sort of holding pattern back there for a couple years - and I'm looking forward to improving that landscape. But back to the front yard/landscape. One of our goals for changes remains to revise the long bed along the drive for the dual purposes of easier maintenance and including more variety in its plants to provide more interest in months other than July. Another goal is to revise the small bed near the side steps to make it better looking (instead of a hodgepodge of plants, as it is now) and as a memorial garden for our daughter, with beautiful plantings. We also still want to improve the visual impact/visibility of the front door. To me, that is a separate goal from emphasizing the front entrance, if by entrance one means the wide front steps (which aren't truly the entrance to the house, but visually they do give that impression). We understand the goals of Laag's ideas about beds in front of the steps and a wide path from the driveway to the steps/porch. But in terms of practicality, we don't want people to stop midway up our driveway and walk up the path, because then they block the entire driveway. Also, the steps are covered with snow for the entire winter (it's too expensive to pay to have them cleared each time it snows), and a walkway would also be covered in snow, so the practical function of a walkway beginning partway up the driveway wouldn't apply during those months. I've been bothered for a while by the sense of imbalance between the long driveway bed and the expanse of grass on the other side of the drive, so another purpose of making changes is to see if we can balance that. Laag's suggestion about a grassed area in the long bed was so helpful - I just don't know whether that is enough to achieve balance, or if we will need a bed under the birches. A new purpose resulted from a number of comments here, and that is to soften the impact of the veranda wall. I think we are just so used to how our house looks that we don't see it for how it really appears. You all have opened our eyes to this issue! I haven't been in the back yards of the houses above us (in the back) to see what they can see of our back yard. It "feels" private in our back yard most of the time, probably due to the fence, but I still don't do any skinny-dipping. ;-) The front feels very public to me (it's a busy street and in the spring/summer/fall, a very busy golf course), with the exception of the veranda. On the rare occasions when we are seated there (it's usually too hot/buggy/raining/cold), we have at least the illusion of privacy behind that fortress wall - though with close neighbors, we have to watch how loudly we talk. My sister mused aloud a few years ago about the idea of putting a hedge across the front of the yard (on the lawn on the house side of the sidewalk, if you're facing away from the house) to screen the street and provide more of a sense of privacy. A neighbor a couple of houses down has a partial bridal wreath hedge in the yard and she was noting that at the time. I'll update as we get further along in this process; meanwhile, if anyone has more comments/suggestions, we're very happy to have them....See MorePlease help me design a new bed(s) for my front yard
Comments (20)I remember how difficult it is to get started when you have a bare, flat yard. I kept staring out the windows, trying to imagine what I could plant where. It helps if you have someone stand outside while you look out the windows. Have your helper walk around from place to place, waving his/her arms, and maybe even holding a broom up overhead. Try to imagine your helper is a bush or a tree. When your helper gets to a spot that looks good from the inside, make a note of the position, or have your helper plant a garden stake (much easier to move than a tree!) Then go stand outside, or across the street, and see if that really is a good place for a tree. Use pots of annuals which you can move around until you find a space placement that suits you. THEN dig a bed. You can always set out empty boxes, or laundry baskets or even chairs to find spots for a shrub. Anything of a similar size that's easily movable will do. Here are some general principals I've found helpful. If the front is your main entrance, plant things that you will be happy to see when you come home. Start planting close to the walk and steps. This will encourage you to expand. Take it slow. I read once that you should live in a house though one set of seasons before you do any major changes. I translated that into planting annuals at first...which will have to be redone anyway. Fall is really the best time to plant trees and shrubs, as then they will get lots of rain. And, they will be cheaper at the 'year end' sales. Plant evergreens and long season perennials in the front as you and the neighbors will be looking at this area every day. Don't be afraid to take out something you don't like. Try to transplant it, or give it away. If it lives, fine, but you don't have to put up with something you don't like. Bare ground will make you feel better than a plant that irriates you. Don't plant acid loving plants close to the foundation of the house or near the cement path or sidewalk. They won't thrive. I figured this out after losing a row of azaleas, one by one. You can buy spray paint that is specially made to be sprayed holding the can upside down, so you can mark the edges of the beds. Just make sure that it isn't 'clear' paint. (Yes, it does come that way - a friend did this!) Or take a container of flour out and use that to mark plant placement or bed edges if you want a very temporary marking. The front yard is your house's public face and a place to show off your gardening skills. Rather than screening off the street, plant so that people driving or walking by will have something pleasant to look at and your visitors will find inviting. And for safety reasons, you don't want to 'hide' your house. Burglars go for entrances that are screened off from the view of the neighbors. Re paths: Make sure you leave good access to the utility boxes. Make sure you can get a lawnmower and wheelbarrow everywhere they'll need to go. You won't want low branching trees too near paths, either. If you don't have a pleasant view out the windows, one small patch of bright color will draw your eye away from the eyesore. Try a few pots of color, just set out on the ground, and see how they draw your attention. You do want to 'hide' the foundation of the house with taller, more solid shrubs. This will help transition the house into the lot, and help it look 'planted' rather than just 'plopped' onto the lot. Place lower plants further away from the house, along the path and sidewalk. You don't have to have ANY lawn in the front, but you don't have to take it all out at once, either. Have fun! Daphne in Tacoma...See MoreHelp with Front Yard Bed Design
Comments (8)By the way, it was immensely helpful for you to post the plan of your yard. Just because people commonly do something a certain way for eons does not mean it is the right or best way to do it. Builders have been installing chronically undersized front walks to homes since ever ... better sized for RVs in campgrounds! And everyone is completely used to it. :-( For the most part, the trend of encapsulating the front walk with landscape beds got cranking in the 1960's and 70's on account of a resurgent interest in gardening & landscaping. It provides more places for plants. But it also shrinks the view and approach to the entrance. Go into any 15 year old subdivision with this scheme and see how enlarged plants can utterly destroy the entrance to a home. Is it always the case? No. But it is more often than not. Beyond that, most people who are landscaping are copying, not thinking. This includes professional landscapers. (Sorry guys.) Another factor that lurks in the background is that landscapers like to sell more plants rather than fewer. The red areas in my sketch are either annuals, or perennials or something showy, attempting to bring cheer and attention to the entrance area....See More
Lyn Nielson
12 months ago
Paul_DE-7a
12 months agoThanks Lyn, I am slowly reducing/shrinking the mulch beds so that I don't have to continuously apply 25 yards of mulch every other year. I am definitely interested in shrinking this bed a bit. I also don't want it to look too unbalanced with the other side of the porch. See pic below. I was thinking of a few evergreens close to house (maybe boxwoods) and then a couple pops of color in front via flowering perrenials maybe?
Front Flower BEd PRoject · More Infojck910
12 months ago
PROYvonne Martin
12 months ago
RedRyder
12 months ago
PROPaul_DE-7a
12 months ago- PRO
Dig Doug's Designs
12 months ago ptreckel
12 months ago
cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
12 months ago
Barbara Almandarz
12 months ago
Rachel Lee
12 months agoPaul_DE-7a
12 months agolast modified: 12 months agoI agree. I am considering starting from scratch on the entire front. I have room in the backyard to transplant many of these shrubs. I don't really like the heavenly bamboo so those three I will likely get rid of. Would like a more cohesive design across the whole front of the house using smaller shrubs. Here is a picture of the whole front. I'll likely need to hit a site like upwork for design help. I have tried local landscapers but most do not want to offer design services alone.
cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
12 months agolast modified: 12 months agoPaul_DE-7a
11 months agoUPDATE - the work on the side is finished so I have a better idea what I am working with now. Im gonna do the beds this weekend so want to create a plan before heading to nursery. Want to put some smaller shrubs on side of the house and maybe a taller narrow one in corner by the AC unit. Then need some low plants to go around the dogwood. Any plant suggestions for these spots? After this is done I will pull the nandina in front of windows and revamp that whole bed as well.
ptreckel
11 months agoPaul_DE-7a
11 months agoSo I am trying to incorporate the ideas I have gotten from this thread but struggling to finalize a plan I can execute this weekend. I used photoshop to the best of my ability to remove everything from the front bed to perhaps solicit some mock ups from all of you that are soooo much more creative than me. Since it is the front, I really want to use mostly evergreens so it isn't bare in the winter. I definitely want to use some smaller hydrangeas to add color. The wife dislikes hostas and grasses so I will exclude those. I think the issue we have is that we are trying to find a happy medium between an overcrowded/wild look and a super formal design where everything is pruned and in rows. Everything I come up with looks too "planned", if that makes sense.
- PRO
Dig Doug's Designs
11 months agoThis idea uses Soft Touch Holly, Hosta, Dwarf Cryptomeria & Chamaecyparis:
Paul_DE-7a
11 months agofloral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
11 months agoPaul_DE-7a
11 months ago
BeverlyFLADeziner