Relandscaping

[Tolak]

As if I don't have enough to do with all the tanks, I finally had enough of the box shaped bushes in front of my house. They came with the house, & I've been spending 10 years trying to keep them square & level. This was in late March, before the roses on the left started to bloom;

One Saturday I was left to my own devices, as my wife & daughter went to a shower, & son went to a baseball game. I mentioned doing something with the bushes before she left, I don't think she expected this;

It's a wonder what you can do with a truck & a tow chain. The following weekend we picked up some retaining wall blocks & caps, got them set up & somewhat level;

My nephew was over the following weekend, we were telling jokes while we were working, makes 3 tons of dirt go easier;

Got rained out the following weekend;

Got the plants in the weekend after the rain, transplanted the roses to the back yard, & shoveled in 3,000 pounds of stone the following weekend. My wife picked the plants, & planted the flowers in the flowerbox;

I put in some lighting a couple of weeks ago, I just have to figure out how to get a decent night pic with my digicam. I think it turned out pretty good, I'm glad that the angle to the brickwork is showing on the right now. It mirrors the angle on the left of the planter, no one but me knew it was there, since I got to deal with bush trimming.

I have to thank my wonderful wife for her help with this. She helped with the design, and added moral support on the day it was 90F & I had a truck loaded with stone. Thanks honey!

 

[Opcn]

I like what you've done with it, I really like that stone wall/plantar infront of your door; Very Frank Lloyd Wright. I do hope that the informal turn of century look imparted by the concrete retaining wall blocks fits better with it as the planting bed matures. Also, if you swap that gravle out with some brown bark mulch it may fit the brick in a more plesing manner. You've done good, Formal hedges are over rated and planting beds are often the cure. I especially like how well you have matched the gentle crowning nature of your soil.

Also, I see what apears to be a Picea Glauca var. 'Conica' (dwarf alberta spruce) out mostly to the left, did you completely remove the soil in the pot it came in? I've found that those tend to be very root bound, I got one in a gallon pot (a little larger than that one there it looks like) and in that little pot I found a 33" root, it took me half an hour to free all the roots from the tangled mess, tree wouldn't make it through winter if I hadn't.

 

[Silverlady]

Looks great Tolac.

 

[Bloo]

You should have done that 10 years ago

It's looking fab !

 

[Tolak]

I like what you've done with it, I really like that stone wall/plantar infront of your door; Very Frank Lloyd Wright. I do hope that the informal turn of century look imparted by the concrete retaining wall blocks fits better with it as the planting bed matures. Also, if you swap that gravle out with some brown bark mulch it may fit the brick in a more plesing manner. You've done good, Formal hedges are over rated and planting beds are often the cure. I especially like how well you have matched the gentle crowning nature of your soil.

Also, I see what apears to be a Picea Glauca var. 'Conica' (dwarf alberta spruce) out mostly to the left, did you completely remove the soil in the pot it came in? I've found that those tend to be very root bound, I got one in a gallon pot (a little larger than that one there it looks like) and in that little pot I found a 33" root, it took me half an hour to free all the roots from the tangled mess, tree wouldn't make it through winter if I hadn't.

I intentionally got the plants smaller, as to have more control over the growth. After 10 years of trying to control those monsters, I learned my lesson. Those variegated plants across the outside edge shoot off a vine type of runner, which I hope will trail over the edge of the wall in a couple of seasons. The rock in there has more of a caramel stripe effect through it I'll try to get a closeup if I remember. Everyone around here has mulch, either brown or that tacky dyed red stuff.

That is a dwarf alberta spruce, it wasn't too rootbound, but I know they grow with a taproot. The soil beneath was pretty loose from digging out the roses, and it already has some nice green buds coming in. They have the advantage of getting water from my 65 gallon every week or so, I think this helps.

I would have liked to have gotten retaining blocks to match the planter, but that was built in '52, good luck. Went for a match on the face brick, hoping it would blend in a little better.

There are a couple of boxwood in the back, those I can sculpt to any shape except square. I should get some pics of the shrubs neighbor across the street from me has been sculpting. He's 94 years old, has some interesting things, a cowboy being one of them.

 

[Opcn]

Two of the most common foundation planting errors are making planters too narrow, and buying plants that grow to large to fit under the windows, Lots of people plant green giant arborvitae on either side of thier doors and do stuff like that (although green giant's can be trimmed to about 6' and make a fantastic hedge). The reason so many people have mulch is because its such great stuff, Leaves lots of nutrients behind after it decays, And never ever get the tacky red stuff, not only is McMulch ugly as sin its also just repurposed industrial wood, bound to be covered in arsenic and heavy oil and nasty things of all sorts. Also, with the dwarf alberta spruce the soil is generally very full of wood chips, which as they decay will rob the soil of nitrogen, in the nursery they provide lots of osmocote to prevent this from killing the tree, they really grow the tree in a chemical soup, at home the nursery soil can kill the tree unless it gets established in the surrounding soil quickly. I've found that when ever I completely strip the soil off of a tree I completely avoid transplant shock problems.

Personally I am a big proponent of edible landscape, You know, you could take out the plants in front and plop in a Fava bean every 12", useually they grow to 3 ft or so and they produce considerable greenery, but a garden just for looks is good to, Although I'm not sure if the plant in the pot fits.

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Looks very nice

 

[wendywc]

Clean; I like it alot. The gravel really brightens up the area.

To let you know: I made the mistake of using mulch for my front landscape... it seemed to attract alot of stray cats who liked digging in it and using it as a litter box. Nasty. I wasted so much time cleaning it up so often. I finally changed it to gravel and at least I don't have that problem anymore.

 

[kribensis12]

I like what you did Tolak!!!!!!!!!!!!