Every spring the wife tries to come up with ideas for this section of the front yard. This year is no exception. Any ideas???

Issues:

The center is essentially weeds, which every fall get covered by falling leaves.

When the tall trees bloom the area gets no sun, so it seriously limits planting flowers and bushes.

She runs a hose through the center to water the flowers in front of it.

Any bushes we’ve consider planting in the middle would likely be eaten by the deer in the winter.

 

A collection of different Hosta...

https://www.google.ca/search?q=hosta...ej_xibE98M_LRM

 

I'd say ground cover, for less work, but those deer would dine on that too. Rock garden?

We have a rhododendron and another shrub in front of our bay window. It only looks nice when in bloom. It really needs to go, to open up the area, but like you, no idea what to put there.

 

Hostas are a delicacy for deer. We have to spray ours with deer repellent to keep them from being destroyed.

I will ask my resident landscaper to take a look at Dave's pictures. Maybe she has some ideas.

 

detached garage?

 

LOL, no need. After downsizing to three vehicles I have an empty stall.

 

I'd get rid of the white fence corner that's just drawing attention to itself (and nothing else) and maybe put the pet tortoise currently sitting on the front lawn back in the pen.

Filling the area with perennial wildflowers will work. Sure the deer will eat some of them but they'll come back. Make a meadow.

My landscape architecture book notes the landscape should draw attention to the house, not the landscape. Comments of "nice landscaping" means you've failed -- comment should be "nice house."

-- Chuck

 

Thanks for suggestions Chuck. Remember its early spring here... the last two nights had frost warnings!

Here's what the front of the same area looked liked a year or two ago; she's always making changes but you get the idea. She isn't worried about the street view as much as looking out from the house or lawn view.


As for the house being the focal point - don't tell a flower garden lover that. Just a couple examples of flowers by the house. There are three other large gardens in other parts of the yard. We have tried planting wild flower seeds in the past in other areas with zero success.






That's no pet in the yard, its a fake rock over the well.

 

I would mulch the whole area, it can be done every 2 years if you lay it down nice and thick, bring it by the trailer load instead of bags. Fresh mulch looks sharp when it goes down. I like the smell and look of it. Any accent shrubs or plants put in that area can look good against the colour of the mulch and stand out nicely. Groundcover is a good long term option, like periwinkle or ivy but it is a slow process and can be a bit pricey for large areas.

 

That seems to be the only solution. She's thinking off bringing in dirt to level the center, then put down the black weed killer paper, and mulch it. One issue is the area catches so many leaves from our trees and other yards the mulch would make it very difficult to blow leaves out of there in the fall. If they are not removed the high winds will continue to blow them into the front yard for weeks. I would love find some plants with 2 to 3 feet in height that would grow there to help fill it in and limit the space for leaves in the fall.