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sweetmagnoliame

Design Challenge - For fall planting

sweetmagnoliame
16 years ago

This is my first time to post on this forum, so I'll thank you all in advance for any advice you can offer!

I wish I had a true "before" photo to show you of the space I'm working on designing - envision a patch of weeds, rocks and 300 concrete pavers and you'll be close).It was a mess. Now it's essentially a blank canvas waiting for the artists' touch. That's where y'all come in!

In the photo below, you're looking at the space from the north. The area I'm hoping to design (or at least design first) is on the east side, at the left of the photo. That side is bordered by one of the most unsightly chain link fences I've ever seen - from the era of weaving green and white strips through the links. Hence, although I know we're not supposed to plant in rows, I've planted a row of lilacs of varying colors, in the hope of completely covering that fence with green.

In this photo, you can get an idea of the planting space.

And in this one, a bit more "context" as to how the space fits into the backyard overall.

What I'm hoping to do here is create a perennial or mixed border/bed, starting from the post/Russian sage area and curving back to the edge of the arbor. If you think the arbor goes nowhere, and that it's tilting forward, you're right. At this point, it's just there as a placeholder while I look at it from various points and decide if this is really where I'd like to have a vine covered arbor as a shady spot for one chair and a very small table. I considered putting it in the middle of the concrete block fence at the south end or the yard (under the trumpet vine), but that looks too symmetrical to me. I also considered putting it on the east side of the space (in a photo below), but that will not give me the view of my entire yard that I'd like to enjoy while sitting there.

The distance from the telephone pole/Russian sage to the concrete wall on the south side is 23'. From the pole to where the arbor is currently sitting is about 16 1/2 feet. The depth of the border will varying (if it curves) from just over 10' from the green/white fence to the black-eyed Susans at the edge of the path, to about 7' from the fence to the edge of the arbor. The space will be in full sun from fairly early in the morning until the sun gets fairly low in the sky in late afternoon. The soil is amended clay...still lots of clay, amended with sand and mulch, and the area has an automatic sprinkler - useless for most of the summer secondary to being behind some really large plants that were behind where the arbor is now sitting. Obviously, with regard to depth of the border, I need to plan for the lilacs to grow out into the border another couple of feet. They're planted on 3 foot centers in an effort to cover the fence more quickly and I planned for keeping them at about 5 1/2 to 6 feet in diameter. It's going to be awhile before that's an issue!

As for blooming times, I'd love to plant a three-season garden here...but, don't know if I have the space. I like primarily cool colors, all kinds of textures, and would like to make this as xeric as possible. Somewhere in the mix I would like a bright contrast area of orange, blue and yellow.

For reference, the west end of the space, directly across from the arbor and directly behind my garage, looks like this....another project in itself.

I know it's hard to envision the whole space from several photos. Looking from the north, I hope to have the curving bed/border described above...then some shade tolerant plants under the trumpet vine (I have a HUGE bleeding heart and some great columbines there now)..curving on around the west end space to the drip line of the apple tree. In thinking about this entire space intially, I had planned to put plants underneath the apple tree, creating a north-south path through the garden....at this point, I'm rethinking that. In the event you're not yet confused enough by all this, I've included below a photo taken from futher north in the yard to give you some perspective on where the apple tree fits into this whole east side/west side discussion.

If no one replies, I'll assume I've overdone it! In addition to suggestions/questions re: design, please don't hesitate to give me feedback about the mechanics of this post...are the photos too large, for example?

Thank you all so much!!!

Mags

Comments (8)

  • bpgreen
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I think it sounds great. I'm not much at design, but I like the fact that you're going for a xeric landscape.

    Here's a link to some conservation gardens so you can see some of the "water wise" options that are available:

    Conservation gardens

    And here are some other links I found when I searched for utah water wise:
    Utah water wise plants
    Water wise landscaping (pdf)
    Waterwise plants for Utah landscapes (pdf)
    Water wise plants for Utah
    Water Wise Native Plants for Intermountain landscapes

  • bpgreen
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    If you mentioned where in Utah you are, it slipped past me, but there's a garden fair at the Utah Botanical Garden in Kaysville (920 South 50 West) On Saturday 8/25 from 8 AM to 2 PM.

  • stevation
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi Mags,

    It's hard to answer this, because your photos show that you are doing quite a good job with your gardens, and I'm confident that whatever you are thinking will work well. I noticed your post on the Rocky Mountain forum didn't get answered for a while, and I think it's because your gardens really look good, so many of us didn't have much advice to offer! You seem to be a fantastic gardener.

    I think your photos are fine that size, but my only advice on whether you've "overdone it" is that smaller requests on more specific questions may get people to respond better. It's just that when I'm busy and see such a long post, I always think, "I'll come back to that one when I have more time to focus."

    Anyway, here are a few quick thoughts:

    I always seem to bite off more than I can chew when it comes to complicated flower garden ideas, and then I find I don't have time to maintain it very well. But I am finding that some of the most enjoyable things in my garden are the fruits and berries. Sure, it takes some time to spray pesticides on fruit trees, but once every two weeks isn't bad, and you probably have to do that with your apple already. If I were you, I'd consider a nice peach, nectarine, or cherry tree in that spot. Maybe even two if it's big enough. Another consideration is a good patch of raspberries or strawberries. I have about a 10'x15' area dedicated to Canby raspberries, and I love it! Not much maintenance -- no pesticides -- and great rewards! I also have two strawberry patches near that, which are equally low maintenance.

    As far as high maintenance stuff, how about a rose garden? Some varieties that are strongly fragrant, beautiful ones for cutting? I like my flower gardens to be seen, and if this area is a spot where people won't see it much, it seems to me that having a cutting garden makes it much more enjoyable for sharing with visitors who come to your home. Maybe consider other flowers for cutting besides roses? Digit on the Rocky Mountain forum could give you great ideas for a cutting garden, since he grows flowers to sell at farmers' markets and such.

    Was that helpful? Good luck!
    Steve

  • stevation
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hey Mags,

    Now that I'm looking at this on my home computer, the photos are going off the edge of the screen, so perhaps it would work better if the images were kept to 800 pixels wide, like 800x600 or something like that. Just a thought, since you asked about it.

    I think there's also a way with Photobucket to place a smaller photo that links to a larger version when people click on it. I don't use Photobucket, but I believe I've seen others do that. I know how to do it with Picasa's web albums and with my own website, but not with Photobucket.

  • sweetmagnoliame
    Original Author
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    bp - Thank you for the waterwise links and for the info about the garden fair in Kaysville this Saturday. I live in SLC and will plan to check out this fair!

    Steve - Thank you for your feedback about my photos and my skills as a gardener! I truly am figuring out this gardening thing as I go. Design and plant selection are areas where I need to know lots more than I do now!

    I appreciate your suggestion about making my posts more focused and concise. I really value the input and can understand that longer posts might result in them being skipped over. We all have such busy lives that there's only time for so many things!

    I like your suggestion about growing fruit in this area. Behind the camera in the photos taken from the north end of my yard are a pear tree and a plum tree. The pears are delicious, the plums mediocre. Along the north fence, I have enough grapes, of three different varieties, to supply my entire neighborhood, several times over. They were horribvly overgrown when I bought the house 3 years ago. I pruned them back hard after the first summer, and I've never seen so many grapes. It would be nice to add a patch of strawberries to the mix!

    I also like the idea of a cutting garden. I love roses, but really love a mix of flowers for cutting. I'll give that some serious thought. I've put so much work into my garden that perhaps it's time to do something a little less labor and time intensive.

    Thank you so much for your suggestions!

    Mags

  • bindersbee
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I tend to find with xeric landscapes (and I do get paid to design them) that it seems to work well when you do bigger swaths of the same plant and create some density with it. A 'big swath' on a lot your size will be different than a 'big swath' on a 1/2 acre. It might be 3-5 of the same perennial if they are smaller or just one if it's the size of a Russian Sage, perhaps 7-9 if they are small plants.

    Structure becomes an important component because a xeric landscape can look unbalanced if it's just perennials and mulch. If you can, put some larger rocks in the border that are not regularly spaced, vary them front to back, some in a cluster, some as singles. They needn't be huge but they do add some structure. Also, don't just plop them in. Dig a hole, roll the rock in it then pack some soil around it so that maybe 1/3 of the rock is buried.

    The other challenge is getting in some evergreen foliage. There are a lot of newer junipers on the market that don't really 'look' like junipers. I'm thinking of the 'Prarie Pillar' juniper for a tall, narrow backdrop for the plants along the chain link fence- with the added bonus of screening the neighbors! Just a cluster of these in the location where they would have the greatest impact will work- a solid formal line wouldn't be ideal.

    Finally, think in terms of foliage color too keep the plantings interesting. A clump of 'Purple Volcano' Salvia toward the front with some Lemon Thyme growing next to it adds lots of punch and season-long color, even when they aren't blooming.

    Those are just some quick, general thoughts. My big 'secret' to a gorgeous landscape is all about foliage with flowers playing a supporting role rather than the other way around. As much as I LOVE the flowers, it's the foliage that makes the garden.

  • snowdogmama
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    One of my favorite evergreens is a self fertile holly. I have two on the north side of my house. They are very drought tolerant when established, like shade and can be pruned in December for fresh holly for Christmas. Be sure to get a self fertile so that you will have red berrys. Mine are about 12 to 15 years old now and are tall and narrow due to my pruning. The leaves are very sticky tho.

    Another favorite evergreen is a weeping norwegian spruce. It can be trained to go over the top of your arbor. I have two arbors with trees trained that way. They weep thru the openings in my arbors. I think they are beautiful with the feathery new growth and pine cones drooping thru the arbors. They are slow growers tho. They are drough tolerant once established and take pruning well. I have two planted at each arbor, one on each side.

  • stevation
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hey Bindersbee, maybe you'd have some ideas or general concepts for me to consider in redesigning a long, narrow flowerbed in my backyard. I posted today in the GW Design forum. Since you're local, you might have some insight that others on that forum don't? Thanks!

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