Front Walkway Landscape Design - Plant Ideas?
Seeking advice on plant selection for center of walkway (where our 2 bushes are dying). We would love to have a bonsai/japanese style plant (or 2), that won’t create a threat for our foundation in terms of roots.
Since installing gutters on our MCM home, the water is much less in this area, which is part of the reason the bushes are dying.
Respectfully, please don’t ignore my posted question to recommend something unrelated or extreme (e.g., new paver walkway, build an addition/garage).
Comments (10)
PROBeverlyFLADeziner
12 months agoIt seems reasonable that if the gutters have reduced the amount of water in the area, then planting something new and expecting a different outcome might be a stretch. Have you considered adding drip irrigation to the area?
I believe you want the shape which could be a Japanese Maple. That might work depending on your Zone and exposure. Check to see what they require in terms of light, water, and temps. Be careful because the space is limited and they might outgrow the area. You can check with your local county extension service. Every county has one.
https://plantscraze.com/dwarf-weeping-japanese-maple/
I would consider a drought resistant ornamental grass suited to your area.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
12 months agoRelated Discussions
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Comments (6)Your entire property would look improved if you remove the low hanging tree limbs. When they hang that low it gives a neglectful look to the overall scene. While I'm generally not a fan of smothering an entire house with shrubbery, I think there can be a case made for concealing the entire overhanging portion of the house at the left side. It would look better not to see it. There only need be shrubs for the windows and the concealing filler could be some kind of perennial that reaches tall enough to cover the foundation. The same perennial theme could be carried to the right side of the house, or that side could just be a low groundcover. The step and walk are a bit funky and diminish the overall appearance. I would redo them, widening the walk and squaring the step to the deck. The walk could meet both the deck/step and street straight on if it were curved, improving the overall appearance....See MoreFront porch landscaping design ideas
Comments (6)I wouldn't use yews there for a couple of reasons. If you have any deer, there will be bare sticks all year since yews are their favorite plant IME, the only plant I have had regular problems with as far as deer. Also, even dwarf yews will be larger than optimal for that area unless you want to,fill the front bed with them. Even the smallest yews I am familiar with are 3.5' or 4' tall x 5' wide, somewhat large for that spot. Adding a combination of an evergreen groundcover (Iberia or Veronica Georgia Blue would work in my area) and a single smaller evergreen conifer near the far corner such as one of the slower growing Chamaecyparis AKA false cypress might work better. I can't tell from your photo, but if those are rocks, you want either larger rocks or to get rid of them entirely....See MoreFront landscaping design ideas?
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Comments (9)A couple of things I can agree with: choose now if you would like foundation plantings in front of your railings, and as long as ordinance will allow, please move the downspout to the other side, fastening it to the porch post, which could also have the benefit of making the post look a bit beefier and robust. It seems natural to drain out to the slope which would move the water swiftly away from the foundation. Just take steps to prevent erosion. Since you have a concrete guy, I would suggest a broad level walkway that is the width of the entire porch and gently pitches away from the house just enough to shed water. If I were pouring, I would do a very subtle half-moon arc that makes the patio/walkway narrowest on the edges including the driveway and deepest in front of the stairs. If foundation platings are chosen, keep the bed deep enough that the plants won’t touch the porch even after growing to mature size for air circulation. If no plants, run the walkway right up to the porch. Your guy can use concrete block to build the stairs and cap the treads with real stone. THAT will be the big splurge. He can skim the block so you can’t tell its block. Since it would all be concrete, he can put anchors into the walkway at the foot of the stairs which allow wood posts and railings or vinyl, if that is what your porch posts are now. Just don’t let him imbed wood posts into the concrete as they will rot before the concrete fails and you’ll never be able to replace them without cutting up the concrete. Obviously you have a frost line to deal with, so the anchors may have to be big or have a deep footer below them to be to code. IDK because its been a long time since I’ve lived in snow country....See More
elcieg
12 months agolast modified: 12 months agoJapanese SKIMMIA, a broad leaf evergreen shrub that provides multi-season interest in the landscape. It grows from 2 feet to 7 feet tall and about 5 feet wide.
Does very well in the shade.
Looks like you could plant a few...stagger, so the plants have room to grow.Get one male, one female plant. After that you can do all female...lovely red berries.
Can be toxic to dogs.Japanese
elcieg
12 months agolast modified: 12 months agoLove Japanese maple...we have one beauty. The plant will thrive where the rock is near driveway because is grows best in dappled shade. Make sure you get a dwarf plant...read the description for full grown height.
https://gardenerspath.com/plants/landscape-trees/best-dwarf-japanese-maples/
As for the "dying" bushes...they're not dying, just in the wrong spot. If you can find another. spot...maybe the back yard, dig them up and try to save them.
PRO
Barbara Almandarz
11 months agoZach
11 months agoelcieg
11 months agolast modified: 11 months agoI have drip irrigation around the pool. As you do, I have stone, with perennials, climbing Autumn Clematis, euyonmus, and cherry laurels. We have full yard irrigation and that is set to the days and hours that our water dep't allows, but we run the drip zone every morning for about 30 minutes. There isn't enough water to cause water damage...it just is a very slow drip. You can do it yourself with a drip hose, dig a little tunnel in the rocks, wrap the hose around each plant, cover up the hose with the rocks. Viola!
Here is our "drip" irrigation". with the hose wrapped around the baby hydrangea.
Melissa L