Landscaping Ideas Please

The house is edge with white gravel all the way around the house against the foundation, about 12 inces wide and about 3 inches deep. I was told when we bought the house, this was done because the rain water from surronding houses drain into my yard. I'm pretty sure I have clay dirt. The front of the house faces west and gets a lot of sun. I have hostas on the right side of house that are doing okay. I had to plant past the gravel and even then my dirt has a lot of gravel in it.
Please help with some ideals for the west (sunny) and north (partly sunny) side of this house It's so drab looking. I live in Richmond, Mo 6a. I can put closer pics on if you need. I would love perrinals and small shrubs or small trees
Thanks

Down here where I live, the west sun gets VERY hot. Through some trial and error, I've found some plants that are tolerating the hot sun very well. I have coneflowers, larkspur, blackeyed Susan, Gurnsey Cream clematis, yarrow (paprika), dwarf Mexican petunia (not invasive like it's standard size big brother), and several types of day lilies. I also have two butterfly bushes. I can't remember everything I have out there but, if you need more ideas, I can go look after it stops raining :-}

Harleyfan with that house color anything you plant will look great....how about climbing vines on the porch posts.....what are your favorite colors?

I just bought a coneflower & a balloon flower and a lily plant. I love deep purple{my husband says I over do it on this color:)}, yellow and dark red. I would love to put some fragrence by my frontdoor.The sun in the front gets blazing hot. It's 93 today. Under the front bedroom window I was going to plant this beautiful bush with white flowers last year and when I started digging the hole (about 5 inches deep) I noticed a pvc pipe. I of course couldn't put the plant there and I have noticed this pipe runs along the north of the house too. Don't understand why so i might be limited to how far I can dig. how far do roots go into the ground anyway and you think it would hurt the pipe? here's a pic of what i'm dealing with.

I wouldn't plant in that gravel, I'd leave the gravel there & make that area 3 feet ( or more) deeper (out from the house). Then the gravel will do the job with the water runoff, which will help water anything planted in front of it. Plus I read that plants don't like stone as mulch, it gets too hot ( but I know of plenty of people who use it without problems). I have lots of purple & yellow plants, many heat & drought tolerant, marcus salvia, hyssop agastache, coreopsis, if you go to a site like naturehills.com or springhill.com you can plug in your zone, sun or shade, and the colors you want & you get a list of plants, trees or shrubs, with pictures. They're great sites for research. Also check out bhg.com for garden plans, you can look by color, by sun or shade, or by area (foundation plantings, mailbox garden, etc). Also I found it helps to do one area at a time...tackle the area near the porch first, or on the side first...also, you can call 1 800 digsafe or whatever it's called, they can mark out the area where you CAN'T dig...do that first, no need to get hurt or damage your house. Sorry this is so long! :)

Thanks Lynnie!! I called dig-rite monday, gas man came out and did a great job marking his spot, but the other ones haven't shown up yet. I'm thinking i might have to do a raised bed around the front. I gotta try something. This empty area in my front needs something!! Thanks for those sites, i'm going to check them out right now:)

harleyfan34,
I have a beautiful, large flowered clematis on the west side of my house that gets blasted by the hot afternoon sun but it has been doing very well there for the past four years. You could try one of those. Just make sure the roots are shaded (heavy mulch will do) as they don't like their roots to get hot. I put the Gurnsey Cream clematis on the west side too because it says it can take full sun. This is it's first year and so far they're doing well.

Just a thought - the 12" of gravel would make a great pathway for weeding the *back* of a flower bed.

~Sharon

Thanks sharon. That is a good idea. Past the gravel (i found out by digging a huge hole) that there is a pvc pipe that runs underneath the edge of the gravel. I would say about 1 ft deep. It's right past the edge of the gravel. That's my delima. I want/need something to bring this house alive. I'm wondering how far roots travel and would it hurt that pvc pipe. In the pic you can see where the gas line is marked also.

I live in a 50+ year old house. They replaced the old clay waste water pipe with PVC. There was a big maple in the front yard and the installer said its roots wouldn't hurt it from the outside. Some plants have very strong aggressive root systems. I wouldn't plant one of those close by but there are plenty of plants to choose that should do fine.

Another thought: If that PVC pipe is perforated for drainage, roots might grow into it - enough to clog or even enough to crack it. It would be interesting to know if this was the drainage solution before the gutters were placed on the house and not critical to drainage or if it's in addition to the gutters. If the gutters took over moving water away from the foundation, the PVC pipe may not be doing much these days.

For the gas line... there is a number on my gas bill to call before digging anywhere near the supply line. In Illinois it's a free service called JULIE. The gas company (electric, cable and phone too) sends someone out within so many hours after calling. They place flags or spray paint on the lawn to show me where these things are. Then I can dig with confidence that I'm not going to blow up the neighborhood. ;) They probably have a similar service in your area. I have spirea and tall sedum planted near the meter. They were planted by the previous owners about 20 years ago and all is working fine.

~Sharon

Thanks sharon. I'm going to have to call electric and water company directly. I do know the land this house sits on use to flood fast when it rained. When the duplexe got built next to my house its sits higher then mine. The ex-owner built a wire fence around the house the was put in concrete thats about a foot deep in the ground. I guess they got a lot of water damage. I know there is an old drain under the house. Our ground is not all that wet. There is a line that comes out of the basement to pump out any excess water.
Since i started gardening last year at this house, it's amazing what you find in the dirt from the previous owner. Old flower markers, glass, nails and bottle caps:)

I've found a few interesting things while digging too. It's been many years since I've lived anywhere with sunny spots so feel like a new gardener in many respects a well. I have a little birdhouse area down by the street that gets blasted with sun most of the day. I've filled it in with sedum, balloon flowers and purple coneflowers. Added a double knockout rose bush, dianthus and perennial geraniums this year for earlier blooms. This sounds similar to some of your plant choices so far so that's why I mention it.

If the fence is too big of a project to remove (sounds like that's what you'd like to do from what you've written), plantings will soften it. Could use it to support tall plants or vines...

You have a blank slate to work with instead of having to tear out someone else's landscaping mistakes. So exciting! I bought Sunset's "Big Book of Garden Designs" this year. It has groupings of plants for different zones and have used it not so much for the plans as for finding potential companions for areas I'm "growing" with added plants. There are, however, fence plans, foundation plans, narrow area plans, walkway gardens, island gardens, patio gardens, butterfly gardens, herb gardens, tea gardens and just about everything else. If your local library has a copy, might want to take a look at it.

Best of luck!
Sharon