Landscape Garden Design and Ornamental Plant Choices

mdvaden

mdvaden

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If it loads, here's a video for our home front yard landscape. I plan to post later in the "gardening" thread which seems to be mostly vegetables and food. We're also doing stuff with corn, zuchini, etc., in a back garden arrangement. Our front yard, when bought 2016, had one big declining maple, a weathered old lawn, and a Wisteria in the entry, causing people to duck. We culled it all, added a rock water feature, and installed small trees, shrubs and flowering plants.

If anyone cares to share their landscape or volley ideas about design, that's something I've followed for years.

 
Interesting Mario, but it’s not just about getting as many different things in as possible, they don’t seem to have any relationship with each other.
 
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Mick! said:
Interesting Mario, but it’s not just about getting as many different things in as possible, they don’t seem to have any relationship with each other.
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From one point of view, maybe, but otherwise it can make sense if people think about what's there. The Chitalpa tree blooms all summer. When it goes dormant and loses leaves, the evergreen Japanese holly retain foliage. When the day lilies die back in winter, the winter blooming Camellia flowers. The weeping cedar grows perching so birds can wait for each other to get water. Quite a few cars stop, as folks photograph the front. So something makes sense to people in the neighborhood.

Actually, no plants have relation unless they are the same species. Other than that, there's a lot of options for fitting growth habits and mixing characteristics.
 
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My technique is I see what pops up, and decide if I'll keep it. Wineberries are always welcome, but the blackberries started to sprawl too much for the fruit produced. I have some kind of shrub(might be privet) that I thought would turn into something interesting, but never quite did. Good enough to keep though. Pretty much endless walnuts, and plenty of locust. I got a nice weeping cherry pretty much dead nuts on the right front property corner. My tree hating neighbor said people were stopping to take pictures of it when it was blooming. Some ferns came up on the north side of the house I like a good bit, and I've planted some Siberian squill, snowdrops, and daffodils recently. I rescued those from a site that got graded out this spring.

I also have some nuisance shrubs, as well as English ivy and bittersweet, which aren't welcome at all. A bit of poison ivy too, but that's not too hard to control. Chaos. Just the way I like it :^)

Oh, I forgot Virginia creeper. Not much to love about it, but not much to hate either. I cut that down when it cools off. Otherwise, I let it shade the windows.
 
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That sounds like how my mom landscaped when we moved to Beaverton in the 1960s, if I'm understanding your post. If sword ferns and Douglas fir germinated, or vine maple, she would save or transplant, some for the wooded area. Although, she did get a few imports from nurseries, or divisions from friends.
 
More or less, but it's typically on keep or cull terms. I haven't dug much up. Something comes up, and I decide if I like it there. My biggest debate atm is a white oak growing 7' from my back door. It really shouldn't be there by any sane standard, but I like it. It's leaning over the house, so I guess I'll have to drop it eventually, but I'm keeping it for the time being.
 
I dont know about on the west coast, but both Japanese barberry and burning bush are aggressively invasive here in New England.

Nice color/ texture variety though, really pops.

I'd personally have more low stuff/ groundcover. More thyme, dianthus, ornamental grass to fill in where the mulch is and hopefully keep weeding to a minimum.
 
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ruel said:
I dont know about on the west coast, but both Japanese barberry and burning bush are aggressively invasive here in New England.

Nice color/ texture variety though, really pops.
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That's interesting. Over here in Oregon, another, "Butterfly Bush" is on invasive lists, although in 40 years of horticulture, I don't recall a single seedling in landscape or forests. In contrast, I see Japanese maples seedlings continually in landscape beds, but those are not on the invasive list.
 
My only complaint is it's a little too polished for my tastes. I like things a little more... Rustic I guess? The look I'd go for is a natural meadow, perhaps with some stone works. *Much* better than lawn in any case. I hate grass.

edit:
This is something like what I'd go for if I were gonna put work into landscaping...

old-english-cottage-3063371.jpg


That wouldn't work in CA of course. If I lived out there, I'd try to go for the high desert equivalent, but I'm not exactly sure what that would look like off hand.
 
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lxskllr said:
That wouldn't work in CA of course. If I lived out there, I'd try to go for the high desert equivalent, but I'm not exactly sure what that would look like off hand.
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Depends on where in California. It would probably work most anywhere in northern California near the coastal area, and other pockets.

One advantage of that style of garden is that if some various seeds germinate, weeding can be spaced out by weeks because the density cloaks extra stuff.

In open spaced plantings with smooth mulch, germinated plants (weeds) become obvious sooner, for some who may become annoyed. I tend to weed by hand or spray about every 6 weeks. We don't get much sprouting

I also thin the density of growth every 6 weeks.
 
In Bermuda we had a saying. 'Bermudians decorate, they don't landscape' :lol:
Along the lines of..I like that so I'll plant one.
I did 15 years of landscaping before becoming a tree elf...but you'd never know it to look at my garden, always so many plans, never the fruition.
 
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At our last home, we opted for a circular paver block patio kit. Here's a before and after photo of part of the back yard, from one week to a week following.

IMG_3028.JPG IMG_3947.JPG
 
Very nice!
I would have extended the paving on the right to eliminate that little 'jog' of turf, easier for maintenance and larger hard surface for walking and siting the chairs...but that's just me
 
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That would work too.

As an extra note - this was the first time I offset wall blocks like this, to use them as steps, and not just to retain soil.
 
Ha, I really like that, utilizing the retaining bricks as the steps! Nice flow for the eye.
Would you fill the gaps with substrate and maybe plant thyme, oregano or such like...handles wear and lovely scent when crushed
 
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Nutball said:
What is under the steps to support them?
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Packed 1/4 inch minus gravel with the front half inch of the top block overlapping the back of lower blocks. Used them for the 7 years we lived there and they never budged.
 
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