suggestions on what to plant in my front yard

we have an Austrian black pine and a Arizona blue ice cypress in our front yard. Privet bushes were planted with our new house but they clash with our trees. what can I replace them with that will work well with our trees?

Pictures are always helpful, and info on sun/shade.

ok how about this

and this

btw thats morning sun so it gets a lot of hot late afternoon sun.

You have a lot of beautiful green for San Antonio!
I agree, I am not a fan of privet. Were you wanting something evergreen? More shrubs?
On the corner of the house you could do a taller flowering shrub like oleander. (be careful if you have small children-poisonous)
If you want lots of color you could go with lantana mixed with something else.
Ornamental grass is always interesting. There is a really pretty purple fountain grass that doesn't get extremely tall.

i was thinking evergreen...what you cant see in those pics is a dwarf mugo pine which I have on the left of the driveway... looks a lot like this pic.

last year with 59 days of 100 degree weather and virtually no rain last summer, my bermuda grass died and I had 2 live oak trees in the front which were taken out so I could plant those other 2 trees and some el toro zoysia.



This message was edited Aug 1, 2010 10:54 AM

It can be brutal there temp-wise in the summer... I have a sister there in S.A. I noticed on our last visit that there are a lot of rocks and yuccas in many people's landscape, And a lot of live oaks, haha.

We have 100+ temps forecast for us here in Alabama all week. (+ is for the humidity, yuck)

I love the little pine in your last picture. Good luck with the new grass. It looks beautiful right now!

Try trimming your privets as a tree, cutting the lower branches to the trunk. This will allow for flowering plants below and is much less work for you.

I live in Oregon and I know that's really different from the Texas climate. I always lean towards the English garden style, so if it were me, I would get rid of pine and add a few ornamental trees for a softer look.....have to go with your own personal style, though.

What you've got in your front yard already will quickly overwhelm it.

I would remove the Pine. It's going to get way too big for that spot.
Maybe you could move it to the back yard (far from the house).

The Arizona blue ice cypress will get large too, but I think that it is
better placed, and that your yard can support one large tree.

I'm not a big fan of privet either, but your's looks pretty neat ... and I'm
thinking that it will continue to be a nice complement to the Cypress,
as long as you remove the pine.

I agree with leisure. That's a small yard. The privet is nice and one large tree could be considered to have impact. The garden bed could be enlarged to include the tree perhaps. The configuration of your lawn is how to achieve a dramatic look. I can't tell how far from the privet the cypress is. Seeing the whole thing from the street would be helpful. I think that what is unsatisfactory for you is that you have 3 unrelated parts in your small front yard.