Your landscape ideas, tips, pictures: (pool, grille, color, stone)

[amy234]

How did you landscape the front of your house? Has adding those pretty lights made it more dramatic? What about the backyard? Any fountains etc. Can't afford a pool, so what do you do with your backyard that is pretty?

[JeffParr]

Hi Amy,

Here is a pretty good resource I've found that may help you. I got quite a lot of tips from these guys:

Instant Access To Over 4,290+ Beautiful Landscaping Design Pictures

[jiov]

Amy, it depends on the concept that you want and your houses' theme... have you tries looking at the link above? that will give you more ideas. Practicality sake,, i don't want some flower bedding on my landscape it is hard to maintain and very expensive.

[Sweetbrightness]

Hi Amy! I'm going through this right now. During the summer (June/July 2008) we installed a nice 3 swing set and fort for our boys. Due to the gasoline prices we knew we'd be doing a lot of home barbecuing. We removed four trees, a bunch of bushes, and after the trees were removed we had the swing set installed. The landscaper came in the next day with two truckloads of wood chips (we also have 2 German Shepherds so grass is nonexistent!) The outcome is gorgeous. I'll try to share the pics here, if I'm able. It truly depends on what you want in your yard. Our boys are 3 and 8 so we know they'll love their swing set for years to come. The swinging still freaks the dogs out, so that's some free entertainment right there!

As for our front yard, we had a landscaper come in install a beautiful retaining wall, fill it with a bunch of mud, and then add mulch. He planted 5 bushes on the side of our home and 3 in front with 500 tulips. The results were beautiful. However, here's the catch: Landscapers in Illinois do not need licenses. You can one day decide you’re a Landscaper and voile! You are a Landscaper. The mud is against code and since the retaining wall is holding the mud in, the retaining wall needs to be shortened and most of the mud removed. Along with the mud that was placed in this large retaining wall, our two trees started to look sad to me - yep, sad - they're being slowly smothered because the first Landscaper covered the area that these specific (most trees really) trees breathe, hence the branches getting lower and lower. Big, Big expense. I'm not happy - but hey it's a heck of a lot better than having severe damage done to my home, or our trees dying. At least someone knew what they were doing and our village ordinance inspectors were very kind about the whole mess. The landscaper that did the back yard is going to be doing the front. I meet with him tomorrow and then move forward with him within the next couple of weeks.

Though I didn't expect to have to fix the front yard, I thought we were completely done; I'm going to expand things a bit. We're going to make a little patio area, a slew of different flowers, and whatever else our new man comes up with!

If I am able here, I'll share the photos from both the front and the back. You'll see what I mean about the front - it was absolutely gorgeous this past spring of '08.

I hope my long reply helped. The bottom line? Figure out what you'd like to see. Do not consider anyone else's ideas unless they have your best interest at heart. It's your garden, your place to go after a long hard day. Take your time, research the internet. There are pictures galore out there!! I know my answer's vague, but the answer is within you, LOL!!! There's a bit of Yoda in me too!

[anifani821]

Originally Posted by JeffParr

Hi Amy,

Here is a pretty good resource I've found that may help you. I got quite a lot of tips from these guys:

Instant Access To Over 4,290+ Beautiful Landscaping Design Pictures

Have you all paid to get access to the premium pix? I want to know if it is worth joining? Looks very interesting!

[DLK55]

Just off the cuff, you want to pick features that are in proportion to your home. A lot of small plants can look odd against a large home and vice versa.

Take into consideration the mature size of the plants you pick. That shrub in the one gallon pot that looked so nice in the picture may reach 8-10 feet tall and wide over time.

Try to use different textures and shapes. I created a large bed next to our driveway and used a mix of evergreens and deciduous plants with some perennials that bloom in different colors. I have one columnar evergreen, several low spreading ones, and globe blue spruce with a rounded habit accompanied by some vase shaped red twig dogwoods. This photo doesn't show everything and was early in the summer before some of the plants filled out.



Larger plants or plants that will grow larger belong in the back of a planting bed, in general. My wife left me with a nice little dilemma. She purchased a couple of shrubs that she wants to plant behind a contorted filbert I planted in front. These shrubs will grow fast to be 3-4 feet tall. The filbert is only about 2.5' tall but over time will grow to be 6-8 feet, eventually blocking the new ones out.

Pick plants that are appropriate for the light they receive during the day. If a plant requires full sun, it won't thrive in a shady area. The reverse also holds true.

Front yards are often more about curb appeal, back yards for entertaining, relaxing, for the kids or pets to play, etc. It depends on what purpose you want it to serve. Ours is a mixture. We have trees and shrubs around the perimeter along our fence, a lawn and several trees, a deck with a grille on one side by the house, and a swing set towards the back for our granddaughter.





My wife lived in our house well before we were together and there wasn't really much to the front ten years ago. 8 rounded evergreen shrubs in front and one big rectangular one in the middle. Five years ago I decided to do something about it and believe me when I tell you, I had very little experience with this sort of thing. I had lived a good hunk of my life in the city and hadn't even mowed a yard in twenty years when we met.

[Uconn97]

my thoughts....

You don't need symmetry per se, but make sure if you have color on one side of your house (lets say to the left of the front door) you try to mimic the color on the other side of the house (to the right of the front door).

landscape lighting is really overdone by most people. You don't need so many lights in a row that it looks like you created a landing strip for local air traffic in the front of your house. If you plan to use lighting, stagger it and pick some focal points for uplighting.

MHO - garden "features" - also overdone by many people. Pick one or two and stick with it. The only feature in our yard was a slope that I created a stone dry creek feature and added a birdbath I found with a celtic knot design throughout. we have so many plants we don't need much more than that.

All the other advice above is great!