This is my first post in this forum and I should admit up front that I am not a gardener. I'm looking for ideas to landscape my front and side yard. I live on a corner lot and my house has a wrap around porch. I've been searching magazines and the internet for ideas, but I just haven't found any good sources. If you have anything that you think will help me out, please pass along.
My preference would be to do the landscaping myself so that I can save some money. I like plants over flowers (I like boxwood but know almost nothing about it or any other greenery). I need something fairly low maintenance, but with some visual impact given the location of my house.
Thanks for anyone who can help me! Here is my house ... I have grass now.
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Have you had a look at the Spring2007 edition of Gardening Life? I found it very informative on how to start and what to do. It also suggests a book called How to Make a Garden by Marjorie Harris. Maybe your local library has a copy.
I had a landscape designer come for our place and she did up formal drawings and a plant list with all the plants marked. We did our own planting and changed some of the plants but kept the main idea as some of the plants she had chosen were only available at her nursery and very expensive. She did say it was a 5 year plan and to buy a few each year. It was priced on the size of the yard and the number of plants she picked but it was $800.00 it did help us get an idea of how things would look but I thought a little pricey.
Don't forget to send us your 'AFTER' picture!
Thanks for the suggestions. Mrs. Fancy, I'm going to check out that website in more detail. Thanks for the link. I think the idea of a getting even a rough plan from a landscape designer is probably worth the money. I've done more searching on the internet since my first post and I think I'd be in over my head to come up with a design on my own. I have only a vague idea at best of the overall look (I know more about what I don't want which can be helpful I guess), but have absolutely no idea how to get there.
We've walked around our neighbourhood and have looked at many of our neighbour's landscaping. Many have hired professionals to design and implement. Maybe that is why there are so many "finalists" in our city's community in bloom contest in the summer!! This is our first winter here, so I'll be interested to see how my neighbours' gardens have fared in the winter.
Yes, get a landscaper design something for you.
I can see some yellow toned shrubs mixed with other green tones in the future here. You will definitely need a large tree in the area where the porch corners in the front. Do not plant too close to the house. It's a common mistake with landscaping.
Some rock elevation would look great here to add depth and texture (especially around and near the future large tree.)
You have a big yard to establish, so I agree with DBD - hire a professional for the plan at least.When I moved to new house, I walked a lot around in the area trying to find how other people do their landscaping. There is a big difference when it's done by professionals or total beginners - it's more style and taste for the first group. Particulary it's hard for beginners like me when you dont know what plants can live with each other and how to have continuesly beautiful garden during several seasons. Have a look at the link to understand how complex it can be:[url]http://www.gardenplans.com/[/url]
If you really want to do this right and don't have much experience, you might want to consider paying a landscape designer to come out and give you a plan. To do it and end up with a rough sketch and plant list costs about $200 - $400 depending on who you get. It more than doubles if you want them to come back with a formal plan.
The helpful part of doing this is they can show you how the yard will ultimately look but give you a 1 - 5 year plan, suggest where to get materials, etc. IT really will save you some money in the end as you will be confident in what you are doing and buying. I can't tell you how many hundreds of dollars I wasted trying to make a yard look right and in the next house I got a plan and it was right from the start, all the plants lived, and the yard looked okay from year 1 with me knowing what it could become over the years.
Some garden centres have designers on hand or can recommend people and this is probably a good time of year to get someone out to give you some advice.
Go to your local nursery and they will help you pick plants for your area if you go to HD or Costco the plants they carry may not be the best for your local growing but the nursery will usually only carry plants that will do good in the area. Take a picture of your place as sometimes they have people on staff that will help yu pick out a design your plantings. It yu are going to install underground sprinklers they will wan to know where your plantings are going. Remember don't over fill your beds as the plants will grow and fil in the space so it may look a little sparse the first year but the second it willbe much better. You can also save lots on the smaller version of the shrubs and just let them grow.
sandra...your pic seems to have disappeared :eek:
I'm in the London, Ontario area. Typical southwestern Ontario weather. That tells you how little I know - it didn't occur to me that plants would thrive in different regions!!! Wow, I need more help than I thought!
I think your idea about something at the corner is worth considering. As we found out in September, our corner is a school bus pick-up / drop-off! Wish I had known that before I picked the lot! Oh well, live and learn.
First off beautiful house and yes you do want something that really makes a statement being on the corner. I would want a corner bed to keep the people from taking a short cut across your lawn maybe something with shrubs and big rocks. It is hard to suggest any plants as you didn't say where you are and the ones that work work may not work where you are.