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Landscape Design

Landscape help, please.

3 months ago

I am just not happy with my landscaping. I’ve been working on it for five years with, and without professional landscapers. I am in NE Ohio, zone 6. I keep getting the same advice, hydrangeas, azaleas, hostas and a line of boxwoods against the house. Ugh. I love color. I love Proven Winners. Let’s talk about the back. It’s 2 layers. One bed is raised, along the patio perimeter and is about 2 ft deep. The second area is lower, between the lawn and a back fence and is about 4 ft deep. Both get full sun except at both ends of the yard, where a single tree blocks some sun. I just planted 6 Proud Berries along the fence. Id love to put something purple in front of them and then, if there’s room, an annual along the lawn line. Or, maybe my idea is too linear and the plans should be in groupings instead? I’m in my 70s and would like to keep any deadheading to a minimum. Here are some pictures. I appreciate any help you can give me.

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Comments (11)

Gayle Retske
Original Author
3 months ago
Here are more photos
Sigrid
3 months ago
I don't quite understand what you mean by two layers. That said, I like Liatris. It will make a nice contrast in shape and color to your coralberries. In general, you want to focus on a rhythm, rather than lines. I might punch up the Liatris with a hot pink echinacea. For spring color, you can add moss phlox and bulbs. In general, I think you just need more plants.
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need privacy landscaping help please!
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Comments (10)
Wow, if that were my property and I had access to the water, I'd definitely be marking it as my own. Does your neighborhood association allow you to plant right down near the water? I'd be tempted to take that bed with the two palms surrounded by hedges right down the side of your house to the water with an interesting mixed planting, native grasses, local waterfront plants, etc. Would be a big project but you could tackle it over a few years. Even just getting a bed laid out and mulched might signal a boundary line that warns people off. I'd also plant some stuff directly outside your pool fence on the side that faces front on with the water. Even some bougainvillea or something on the fence would give you a bit of privacy. And then another bed or planting that runs down the side of your house on the neighbor side to keep folks from coming in from the waterfront on that side. Given the long swathes of grass that seem to be between all the houses and the water, though, I suspect there may be some restrictions about what you're allowed to do.
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Landscape Help Please
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Comments (11)
"... cover in concrete, brick, rock, etc and put some planters." This could mean something almost tolerable ... or it could be the worst. It's not specific enough to evoke a meaningful image. But 25' of "a big flower bed" for not particularly the gardening types doesn't seem like the ticket either. Is there not the possibility of avoiding extremes and compromise with something like normal landscaping? It seems like a shrub or two, some groundcover and then a 4' x 5' patch of flowers by the door would be generally pleasing, colorful and not difficult to maintain. BTW, it seems to me that without auto. drip irrigation, planters are much more difficult to maintain than are plants growing in the ground
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landscape help please :)
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Comments (5)
Doug, thanks for the idea. I love the grasses in the river rocks but not so much the other plant. If there something else you would suggest for there? We have azaleas in the pool area with grass would that work? Thanks so much for the design :)
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Landscape Help please
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Comments (1)
I would not put the rounded garden in front of the entrance.
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callirhoe123
3 months ago
Please yourself. Plant the things you like to look at. It's your garden after all.
Gayle Retske
Original Author
3 months ago
Sigrid. 2 layers meaning one area is elevated by the raised patio and the other area is lower and against the back fence. I’m going to check out your suggestions.
Gayle Retske
Original Author
3 months ago
callirhoe123, you are so right. I’m going to take a trip to a Proven Winner garden center in April and hopefully gets some colorful ideas!
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
3 months ago
You should be aware that Proven Winners is just a marketing company. They don't 'create' plants but just gather together selections - sometimes new introductions; sometimes older varieties - that they predict will be strong sellers and good performers. Many other plant distributors and nurseries sell the exact same plants.
PRO
Dig Doug's Designs
3 months ago
Here are a few suggestions:
kitasei2
3 months ago
If you really want nonstop color you should cram in annuals in all the bare spots. Choose ones that dont need deadheading, like wave petunias and impatiens. Having a rolling display of perennials and shrubs in bloom is tough. Foliage can provide some of the color you crave but in a muted pallet.
beesneeds
3 months ago
If you love color, then go for it, get color. Proven Winners is just marketing- kind of like how many seed companies can carry the same kind of tomato seed. It's the same kind of seed, just marketed by different companies. If you find something you like, it's OK if it's not in a Proven Winner pot- it's also OK if it is in a PW pot.
violetsnapdragon
3 months ago
I love the garden area in the last photo--do more like that!
floraluk2
3 months ago
Fill in all the empty spaces and plant in groups. Like pix 2 & 3. Not in isolated rows of blobs surrounded by mulch like pix 1 and 2.

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