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goshsmom Cincinnati, OH(Zone 6a) Mar 26, 2007

Would anyone like to help me find solutions for my oddly shaped lot? Make decisions about trees & plants? Ply me with great ideas? I need a LOT of help.
I'll post a plat map that I've embellished with the current plantings. I'll post pictures, too, so you can see what we're up against --- and what the possibilities are.
Here's the basic situation: This is a one story suburban ranch house that I purchased abt a year and half ago. It's in Cincinnati, OH, which is zone 6. The soil in the beds around the house is very heavy clay. The yard, and the neighbors yards, all have mature trees that were planted abt the time the houses were built in the 1950's. Last summer, to get things rolling, I had a truckload of topsoil delivered and started a few new beds. I've started a compost heap. My goal would be to be able to look out every window in the house & have something blooming outside.
Pat

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goshsmom Cincinnati, OH(Zone 6a) Mar 26, 2007

A little more info: the living room faces the back of the property. I tried to make the tree circles brown and the shrubs green, but my artistic skills are limited. And yes, the flower beds have names. I'm disabled, but very lucky to have a great "yard guy." I named the beds so he could know where to plant, or where to pull up things. I used up my immediate family names & I'm onto friends now. It's wierd but helpful.
The house has a pretty large sized soffit. It keeps the basement nice and dry, but the roof & soffit sizes keep most of the area by the house shaded. The front of the house has the most southern exposure.
This is a picture of the front of the house as it was when we first bought it. The yews and the tulip tree on the right of the picture are now removed.
Pat

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goshsmom Cincinnati, OH(Zone 6a) Mar 26, 2007

Here's the front yeard with the dogwood in bloom last spring (06). I have bulbs planted along the stone wall this year.

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Caladiums4Less Lake Placid, FL(Zone 9b) Mar 26, 2007

Pat,

Caladiums will look great planted around your trees. There's a bunch of different varieties that'll handle full sun. I'm a little impartial to Caladiums but they do add some awesome color!!

Bill

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goshsmom Cincinnati, OH(Zone 6a) Mar 26, 2007

Bill, thanks for your suggestion. The bed by the dogwood had some small yews and bellsflowers planted when I moved in. I took out the yews (we've had some bad bagworms around here), & added some daylilies & a few spring bulbs (hyacinths, tulips, and daffodils). I personally like the cottage garden sort of look, and I like flowers that even my best friend describes as "weedy." I can't decide if I should put a specimen-type shrub smack in the middle, or just more of my favorite weedy types. I sure need to get something with some height, though.
Thanks again,
Pat

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