How do you plan your garden? (lawn, landscaping, grown, trees)

[ferraris]

We have a new house and are basically starting from scratch -- the back yard is just lawn and the front yard is all lawn except for some very basic foundation plantings that look like they were put in just last year for real estate picture purposes. There's no other hardscape features at all. How do you go about planning your yard and garden? There's so many possibilities that it seems overwhelming. I usually take the "one step at a time" approach, but with landscaping, it seems like you have to have an overall plan in mind before you start.

This is our second house, and with our first one I just did things on a whim as the ideas came to me. It mostly worked out, but there were a few times that I realized I over planted an area or had veggie boxes where I really should have put seating or arranged things so it was hard to mow the remaining lawn.

I'm not really looking for specific ideas for our house, but just looking to hear other people's experiences and methods for planning.

[bigbear99]

Let's start with foundation plantings. First, think about decks and patios, where you don't initially need plantings. Next, think of mature size of plants, not the size in containers. I can't tell you how many homes I've seen (and had) where the mature plants cover windows and features of the house, not to mention the ones that need constant pruning because they block sidewalks and doorways. For instance, living in the south once, I had a constant battle with photinias planted next to the house. Worst thing about landscaper specials is that they often don't prune or shape well.

The next considerations should be size of lot, size of front/back yard, streetscape and trees. If you have large trees, on or edging your lot, that will affect what you plant where. Then there are issues like play space, pool and such.

Much has been published on landscape design and plant choice. You might check your library or (gasp) a bookstore, since the print material seems (to me) to be better than what you might find online. More complete and thorough, for a start.

You could even draw and post a sketch here, along with your wants, for better advice. A pic of your sketch with your phone would do the trick.

[ferraris]

Good idea about using a physical book. That will be a lot easier to browse and compare and contrast different ideas. And easier to share with my wife, too.

[oldgardener]

I went by amount of sunshine in each area. The sunniest spots were allocated to vegetables, the shady spots were planted with things that didn't need a lot of sunshine, etc. After the sun considerations were done, paths were added to connect the planted areas, then decks and other people needs were added.

So, plant needs came first.

[hotzcatz]

A plot plan would be very useful at this point. Or perhaps zoom in with Google Maps and then do a screen print? Then you'd have something to draw on.

Write in which is the sunny side and where the wind comes from. Add in your prospective outside living areas such as a gazebo or barbeque area. Figure if some seating throughout the yard would be nice and where the views are. Having a seat looking at the garden or through a big ornate gateway is nice for some yards. Also figure where you'll want shade and what time of year you'll want the shade.

So, with a map of your yard (in some sort of scale would be good) then you'll be able to draw up a few different designs and see which you like. If it's to scale, you'll be able to draw in the full sized tree and see that it fits when full grown.

Also take into consideration the folks using the yard. If you want to age in place, then raised bed gardens and wide walkways that are cane or wheel chair friendly may be good.

For us, we're planning on building some structures in the back yard eventually, so the trees and raised bed gardens are placed so they will be in the right spot when the structures are built. For the raised bed gardens, they're being used to terrace the yard as well as be a garden. We've also placed the plantings according to their use. The kitchen greens and herb garden as as close to the kitchen door as possible.

Oh, and if you live in a place with seasons, then working out or thinking of how the yard will look in each season may be helpful.

[texan2yankee]

In every new garden, I have picked our landscaping based on what:

plants are native to or thrive in my area,
the wild animals in my neighborhood won't eat and kill,
the sun/shade conditions are, and finally,
plants I enjoy.

[Robino1]

You might also consider using the services of a good nursery.

We just had someone out from our favorite nursery. She took pictures of our property and drew up a plan.

The quote is sectioned out for the different areas for this phase. We have three areas that we are finishing up. Well actually we were looking at just two but she had a marvelous idea for an area we hadn't considered. We are going to do that third because it will make that area (we can see and enjoy from inside the pool area) have a finished look.

The person from the nursery listened when we expressed our desire for very low maintenance options. Also, they can suggest plants that will do well in our part of the country.

[bigbear99]

Unfortunately, using nursery personnel is a good example of "you get what you pay for". I've done it several times, and found every time that the plans were pretty stock examples of the use of that nursery's material and nothing else. The ones doing the plans were always young - probably fresh out of a landscape design class. Not the worst plans by any means, but far from the best.

Plants that do well? Very important, and material in any good book on plant selection. It is an important consideration though, since some plants don't do well under soggy conditions, especially in winter, while others need it, like Cardinal Flower. I've never grown it, since I've never had a wet location!

[ferraris]

I was considering hiring some sort of landscape architect just to draw up some plans, but not actually do any work. I didn't realize that a nursery would offer that service. I made pretty hefty use of Lowe's "half dead" clearance section at my last house. Lots of $1-$5 plants that turn out fine if you don't mind waiting a while for them to regain their footing.

Having some professional plans might help too, because we have a vacant lot next door that's in the city's land bank. We can get it for basically free through the city's side yard program, but we have to present a proposal for how to use the land before they'll sign it over.

Honestly, I now think delaying most of the outside projects by a year might be the best bet. It'll give me a chance to get the lay of the land. Just yesterday I discovered a part of the backyard pools with water after rain, so that needs to be re-graded or turned into a rain garden or something. I'm sure I'll find out some more things like that by living through the full 4 seasons before making major decisions. And frankly there's plenty of inside-the-house projects I can work on in the mean time.

[Robino1]

Originally Posted by bigbear99

Unfortunately, using nursery personnel is a good example of "you get what you pay for". I've done it several times, and found every time that the plans were pretty stock examples of the use of that nursery's material and nothing else. The ones doing the plans were always young - probably fresh out of a landscape design class. Not the worst plans by any means, but far from the best.

Plants that do well? Very important, and material in any good book on plant selection. It is an important consideration though, since some plants don't do well under soggy conditions, especially in winter, while others need it, like Cardinal Flower. I've never grown it, since I've never had a wet location!

It was an older lady that came out. You do have to go to a good nursery. We lucked out when we found the one we use.