Would love some input on what to do at the end of my driveways, we have two different ones. I need some things that die all the way down in the winter, as this is the husband who has a bobcat to clean the driveways and the SNOW was BAD this year. I need help..I will attach some pictures of what the other driveway looks like and then the front of the house to give ideas...thanks
This message was edited Jun 1, 2008 9:48 PM
this is the other driveway...
front of house (last summer)
This message was edited Apr 30, 2008 11:52 PM
front of house and one garage
this is the front today, some of my stuff made it thru the freeze the other night..
I think it's beautiful the way it is.
That being said, let me tell you two things I learned from landscape designers:
#1 - Be careful that what you put in doesn't obstruct the vision of someone backing out of your driveway...that they can see the oncoming traffic, and that the oncoming traffic or kids on bikes can see them backing out. By traffic I just mean a car/bike/moped/skateboard on the street, not highway traffic.
#2 - Never have prettier things at your driveway entrance than you have near your front door. Nothing should take the eye away from the front door and front of your house.
Right now it is very cottagey.....Then only thing more cottagey is roses. What would you think about a 3-board white fence across the front? With blooming roses on it? It's a lot of maintenance, and I'm not sure you really need it, but you were asking. You'd have to put a little section on the lefthand side, too.
What would your husband think about removing a small square of driveway concrete between the 2 garage doors and putting a clematis on a trellis on it? Or something green in winter? LOL! We'll just assume he's going to nix it, so maybe you could grow them in a pot. :))
Is there a flag? It just seems like a house like that needs an American flag flying from the front porch. (And in case you think that sounds snide, I have a flag on my own front porch, so it was an indirect compliment.) LOL!
I think the whole set up is great, so I would tend to do nothing....or buy a new mailbox. I don't think you need a thing at the end of the driveway. Have some lemonade on the deck. :)
Suzy
I agree with Suzy that the area is very nice already. That being said, if you are dead set on plants along the driveway, you may want to try Mexican Heather. My neighbor has a similar driveway situation and planted the Mexican Heather. It turned out beautifully. It's not too showy, but breaks up the straight edges of the concrete. Plus, it's pretty durable and can stand to get run over a few times.
Jennifer
WOW, Never thought about it that way, (taking away from the house)
I just thought...
We are going to replace that piece of fence coming out of his shop this weekend, with the new vinyl stuff to match the back yard, and maybe that will make me happy... And the mailboxes are an eye sore, but there a 4 famiies on that group, I plant around them so it really gets nice and filled in, and hides them....
And yes the flag is a great idea...thanks
Naw, the mailboxes were fine, I was just teasing you. I would also add that one can hardly add a big ole fancy mailbox to a street without it looking funny. Run some Clematis up and over them. (But then you have to keep them watered, so maybe not worth it, but it would be very cool! I have seen it where they put 2 fence posts about a foot taller than the mailboxes at each end of the group, and then have a 2 x 4 or 2 x 6 going across the top. It sort of ties the mailboxes together visually, then you can put little nail and clips along the post and top for the vines to grab on to....very cottagey, but you'd have to get permission from the property owner and mailbox owners, too, I expect, and decide together on a color, which I'm sure would be nearly impossible.)
Just don't make it so pretty people can't appreciate your house when they go past and their eye stops and looks at your mailbox instead.
All-in-all, I would skip it all and concentrate on what you see when you look out your kitchen window or what you see whan you are sitting on the deck, instead, because the front is very, very pretty.
Suzy
want to see what i see from my kitchen?
And those mailboxes are on our property...
last summer
some more
ROTFL!
Ahhhh, NOW I see why you are fretting about the end of the friveway; there is nothing left to do in the back!. :))
Okay. You are itching to do something.... right? Take a look at the second driveway where the neighbor's blue house is in the background. Now, pretend that house is blocked off from view with a pink magnolia like the one your other neighbor has....put one right smack dab in the line of sight.
Suzy
This message was edited May 1, 2008 2:17 AM
when you said about blocking the driveway view, well the neighbors tree does make it hard for us to back out...and she doesn't trim it back....
No, I am doing more in the back...I'm NOT done...There's always more to add.right?
This message was edited May 1, 2008 1:28 AM
The magnolia might be in the backyard..or sideyard. I'm just trying to come up with something for you to do that hasn't been done. :)) And maybe a crabapple, but I thought that magnolia would echo the other neighbor's mag.
I swear I see a chicken coop in the photo, so in front of that, but behind the 2 trees. If it's not a chicken coop, then I see some sort of line at an angle in the photo...hard to tell what it is I'm seeing as it appears to be the same blue as the neighbor's house. There is a little shrub in front of it? It might not even be your property, but I am just thinking of ways you can plant more flowers. :)
Oh, yes it's a storage building...
But, I have planted along that whole side of the garage over there, plus I have moved all my (ditch) lilies back behind the garage too. I call all that back there my holding area...So when the neighbors sit on there deck out back they have something pretty to look at, not just WHITE fence and white garages....
That's the neighbors grape vines by the building.
This message was edited May 1, 2008 1:39 AM
