need some advice on what to do with landscaping for my first house. this pict shows my sunroom and my kitchen window. I had a large rose of sharon there but it was blocking my window. I would like something that won't block the window and look good in the winter also. If you have a main plant in mind that is easy care for the new gardener it would help. This part of the house is south facing.
here is where I am thinking of putting my garden. I don't like those bushes and if you live in CO MO and want them you can have them. My roomate thinks though that when the sun shifts in the summer the plants will lose lights. I have a ROSE ZEPHIRINE DROUHIN ordered that I am going to put in the corner where a blue spruce was before it died from bagworms. (This happened before i bought the house.) These bushes are covering up my AC unit and that isn't any good for the electric bill. I am thinking of mixing in some small short grasses for winter appeal. If you have any advice I would appreciate it.
My back yard is visible from a well traveled road. Across the road is a field but it will probably be annexed in the future and knowing my luck I will have a Chucky Cheese there. I am planning on putting white pines on both sides of my raised bed. There was a Black Locust in the raised bed but it was damaged in a storm and was dieing so I had it cut down. I have Daylilies on both sides of the raised bed but I was just curious as to what type of tree you guys would suggest there. I would like something easy care and colorful.
Especially if you've got a back door from your kitchen/sunroom somewhere near the area in your first picture, I'd think about putting in a kitchen garden with herbs, edible flowers, maybe a couple of cherry tomatoes or little pepper plants, borders of lettuce or chard in spring/summer... Although you'd have to check on hardiness (and choose the hardier varieties), I'm thinking that nook might be a sheltered micro-climate where you could have rosemary, lavender, and sage -- all of which can grow into fairly large, shrubby plants that would still give you some winter interest. And herbs would smell wonderful when you opened the windows of your sunroom in the summer!
I think you can definitely come up with something more interesting than those evergreens (junipers?) along the side of the house. Although you don't want to block the air flow, having something that shades your A/C unit can be a good thing for your energy bill, I think. You'll love ZD... one of my favorite roses, and it'll bloom even in a shady spot! It's nearly thornless, too. :-)
I don't see a raised bed in your last photo, so I'm not sure what you're talking about... do you mean that little stretch of brick back by the fence? It looks like you have a *lot* of space to play with there! I'd think about an island bed or two, maybe with some trees to anchor them, and an undulating bed running along the fence (not necessarily a straight edged bed... it'll have more interest and give you room for different plants if you widen it out here and there to make room for a larger shrub at the back (like maybe a rose of sharon, if you liked that plant except for its location before).
I've not much advice for your zone but wanted to say congrats on the new home and WOW I love your backyard! What a beautiful expanse and also with a pretty fence to. Would you consider thuja green giants along the road frontage?
For the side of your house with the junipers (?), if you are looking for ornamental grass, dwarf Hamlin is a good choice. I checked out the ornamentals carefully to make sure I wasn't getting one that would freely reseed itself and Hamlin has turned out to be a good one. I have blackeyed Susans and various coneflowers mixed in with mine which adds color and interest. A trellis with a climbing vine (clematis?) of some sort would add visual height behind the grasses and flowers and a little more color on the wall of your house.
I hadn't thought of the Thuja green but there are already some White pines there and I was afraid of breaking the sequence and not have a flowing look. I may look into it now and see what it will look like. Thanks for the info on the grass and I have never thought of having a climbing vine there!!! I will definitely incorporate a few of those now.
Critterologist, Those bricks are my raised bed that I was talking about. It is fairly long and it is taller then it looks in the pict. I do have A LOT of space in my yard. It is my goal to shrink it over the next few years with shrubs and plantings. This way the next buyer won't need a riding lawnmower and it will look better with the plantings. Here is another pict of a building that I am going to try and screen off. I was thinking of Viburnums and serviceberrys.
OK, then I'm definitely thinking you could use some more island type beds and plantings... both your eyes and your feet could meander from one to the other. :-) Breaking things up with some mix & match evergreens is a look that I like, but everybody has different tastes... If you've got several areas where you're putting in windbreaks or view-breaks, or wanting a couple of evergreens to provide a little structure to anchor an island bed, you might consider picking an evergreen that you really love and repeating it (you can do different combinations with other evergreen and non-evergreen plants) in different places.
With that much space to play with, I'd suggest not spreading your efforts too thin to start with... pick an angle or a view, and put in a new border, a new island bed, etc just off in that one direction. The next year, expand from there or pick a different section entirely. It'll come together as you go... having a master plan with some idea of where the "big beds" will go might help, too. But unless you have hundreds of thousands of dollars, you're not going to make it happen overnight, so concentrate your efforts on one area at a time. Otherwise, you'll wonder where all your effort went, because that big sea of green grass will still be the dominant feature in all directions.
You've got a wonderful space to work with! :-)
