I have recently redone my home and now have an empty canvas for my landscaping. It is a Colonial with a wrap around porch in front, that was recently done over with mohogany and new white railings. I need some ideas of what to do. I like the cottage style landscape but I don't know if it will be a good choice for my less than green thumb. Please help!!!!!! The pic was before the porch was done!!
Take some more pictures from further back that show how much space you have to work with, and post them...that will help with offering ideas. Also, include what direction it faces...north, south, east, west....
Yes, you can do the cottage style of garden even w/o a green thumb...if you choose easy plants that don't require a lot of fussing with...
cool house, btw !!!
Don't know if your picture was taken in the a.m. or p.m. but I do see sun slanting across the porch on the right side. A tall trellis with a clematis or star jasmine would be real pretty there--they aren't a lot of trouble to take care of. Some easy care flowers for the front would be coneflowers, Shasta daisy, coreopsis, day lilies, and salvia for starters. Rose bushes would be pretty in front of your stone columns. And you could mix in some dwarf ornamental grass (dwarf Hamlin doesn't spread a lot of seed around). I'm sure others will come along with more ideas. I agree with you--a cottage garden in front of your pretty house would look right at home.
Your house style (especally the porch piers of natural stone) look terrific with cottage gardens. Many plants for that style can be raised from inexpensive seeds and you can add plants over several seasons (or plant all at once, of course).
Thanks guys for your help! I will try and post some pics of what I did this past weekend. I planted some spotted dead nettle, dwarf day lilly, silver and gold chrysantmum, leadwort, creeping thyme, green velvet boxwoods, dwarf alberta spruce, august moon hostas. and some dwarf fountain grass. Any more sugg would be great.
This message was edited Jun 4, 2008 8:06 PM
What a nice house, is it a shotgun?
Have you had a chance to look at books or magazines with cottage gardens? If not go to the library and spend some time seeing what it is that you like about them. Which plants you really like and which you don't.
Every Cottage Garden needs Hollyhocks and Peonies. Give some consideration to native plants they are easy to care for and look good in a cottage garden. Before plants were shipped all over people grew what was in their area.
Some things to think about are. How much space are you going to devote to your garden? If you really enjoy it you will probably end up expanding it at some time so think into the future even if you don't end up planting the whole yard into gardens it is good to do some long range thinking/planning. The nice thing about perennials is they can always be moved if you decided to rearrange.
Speaking of arranging. put the plants in place in the pots and see how it looks before planting them it really helps.
I will wait for photos to say more.
I don't have any suggestions but I would like to say that you have a cool house and I love the idea of having a blank canvas to work with, as intimidating as it may be.
One dumb question...I have a very amateur interest in architecture and your house doesn't look Colonial at all to me, it looks like a Craftsman style bungalow. Can you enlighten me a bit? What makes it a Colonial? Inquiring minds want to know! :)
I think it's just the porch that looks Craftsman, the house itself doesn't. (to me at least)
I'm so off-topic here, but this interests me. (Sorry!)
I always thought that a Colonial was pretty much a two-story home with windows on the first and second floor that usually align with each other. They seem boxy and symmetrical. The front door is located at the center of the home (and the stairs to the second story are usually near that entrance). There's often that distinctive decoration (I don't know what it's called) above the door.
My idea of a Colonial something like this:
http://www.stpaulrealestateblog.com/photos/historic_homes/colonial.jpg
But that's just the general gist of a Colonial. I don't know much about the nuances and I'm sure there's a lot of variation in the style.
I think of a Craftsman as 1 1/2 stories (like this one, except it appears to have a front shed dormer), almost always with some sort of front porch, pillars, decorative accents along the roof line, etc. The stone pillars seem like a Craftsman accent to me, too. The house isn't the classic Craftsman shape, but it seems to have a lot of the earmarks to me.
Bah, I'm sort of indulging myself here. I apologize. And I could be completely wrong. But thanks for letting me ramble on about it, anyhow. I'll take any opportunity I can to educate myself about things I'm interested in, so if someone has more information please feel free to D-mail me about it. :)
Center hall colonials are symmetrical like you describe, but it can be a colonial still without being symmetrical (I grew up in an un-symmetrical one). I'm not sure about this one, at first glance it looked like it was 2 stories and since BigBeau had called it a colonial I was assuming that the Craftsman style porch was a later addition (or an architect mixing styles). But looking at the house next door, you can see that it's got the dormer rather than being a true 2 story, so if this house is the same way then it would be a Craftsman not a Colonial.
Kayly, yes that was my impression as well. I'm confused. But regardless, it is a nice style of home---would love a pic with the new updates though to better vision the landscape suggestions please!
Here is to add to the confusion. There seems to be a wide variation in each category and they cross borders.
Colonial revival
http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~twp/architecture/colonialrevival/
Prairie Four Square
http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~twp/architecture/prairie/index.html
Craftsman/Bungalow
http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~twp/architecture/craftsman/
It is a lovely house and I really do think you can use a cottage style garden and it will look wonderful.
I have a Tutor revival house with a cottage type garden in back and a much more formal garden in front. Both of which cross borders.
As to confusion. We have come to the conclusion our house is a Tutor Revival. It was photographed for a book on Cottages and he called it a Storybook Cottage. It has also been considered a Bungalow style.
Here Is my version of a cottage garden. I had to make sure the fence was in the photo.
Tutor house (?) with more formal front.
That is definitely confusing, zenpotter! lol It still looks more like a craftsman than anything else to me, though. (But that's probably because, as my husband frequently reminds me, I always think I'm right. *grin*)
I love Tudor houses. Is that yours in the photo? How cool! I'm jealous. I just have a plain ol' farmhouse. It is 100 years old, though. I guess that gives it some character.
Yep that is my house, only 78 years old though.
here is a pic
Wow, that looks wonderful! Great job on the landscaping and the house. It's beautiful.
My gosh Beau, aren't you a sneaky one. Here we thought you needed help and you are already finished. What an awesome transformation. Love the house and your beds in the front. As a southern girl, I would naturally put a few large potted plants on the porch and some hanging baskets , but even if you don't, you have done a great job.
Debbie
boy , that was fast , come help me ,i have lot's of work to do. lol it sure looks nice . sally
Nice job and he we were taking about house styles and which is which.
WONDERFUL! Your porch looks fantastic! And you did a really nice job on that landscaping!
Well you were just joshin' us--you didn't need any ideas. Looks like you did a wonderful job all by yourself! It really looks great.
