Design help please

[Me23rose 0]

Hi! I'm attending Janet's "Gardener's Crystal Ball" class and am looking for design suggestions for my front yard. I've had trouble coming up with ideas because our septic field is in our front yard. The house is white with charcoal shutters and a grey (ugh) front door. A picture is attached. I appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!

[Guest dcsmith796]

Those with a designer's eye are probably going to ask is if you have a plan view of the lot, including the tank & drain field if possible, that you can post.

[Janet Macunovich 32]

Anyone have any suggestions for a conical medium texcture plant, and some mounded items, to create a bed like this out toward the road to echo the house peaks and eyebrow windows? Could incoporate gray, and an accent color (maybe one already in the foundation beds? Burgundy? Blue?)

Size of plants will depend on where they can be placed. Me23rose, you'll have to go place a stake of known height in the lawn where a bed might go (you can plant on/on the edge of a septic field with perennials, and slow growers. Go to the What's Up tab on our site and search for "septic" to read about that). then stand in the road to guage how tall something would have to be to look like this.

[Me23rose 0]

Thank you for the suggestions! This design looks great and I like the idea of making the bed next to the porch more distinct.

 

I've attached what I think is the plan view. The tank is to the left of the porch.

[Corky 5]

How about some "weight" to the left of the house (assuming their isn't a drive/ garage entrance there) to counterbalance the greater bulk of the house on the right? Maybe something of greater height and breadth behind the house if there is a garage entrance or drive there? I couldn't tell from the extreme close up of the plan view exactly where the drive was.

 

Also, it would seem to me that "a grey (ugh) front door" is an easy fix and could be whatever color you choose in fairly short order!

[Me23rose 0]

Thanks again for the suggestions. My husband wants to put in a water feature/pond to the left of the house. From the road, you can't see the back yard very well as the ground slopes downward.

I like Janet's idea of adding conifer plants in the front-we also have conifers at the property lines.

[Karen Skandalaris 0]

The plan view of your house and drive helps. Based on what you've said I'll just guess where the septic field and tank are. I love Janet's ideas but I'm going to take a few steps backward in the design process and make some suggestions of things to think about when planting in your front yard.

1. You need to maintain access for a truck to get near your tank for cleaning or if you need to have the tank replaced. It needs to not be directly over the septic field itself. See the dotted line going from the drive to my guess at where the tank and field are. If you have access on the other side of the tank your all set. If not leave access off the drive.
   
2. I would take Janet's designed bed and shift it so that it exists on both sides of the drive. See drive area on my drawing. This would help screen the view of the parked cars on the concrete pad and of what appears to be an out building in the back yard. It would also help focus the viewer's eye on the house and front entry. This could be further emphasized by doing a small bed to the left front. It would probably be much further over towards the property line then I have indicated.
   
3. I do think something more interesting is needed close to the house but because you may need to maintain access and again screen views of the cars and back yard, I would put a larger bed with a focal point plant near the right corner of the house.
   
4. I know your walkway probably doesn't look as I've indicated… just a suggestion of how you might get that bigger bed and have it tie in with a new walk.
   
5. Don't get me wrong, I love ponds and water features, but I would not make the investment of time and money for the left of the house location. A water feature needs to be somewhere you will really enjoy seeing it close up, hearing it and keeping an eye on possible problems. Believe me you want to know if something happens to cause loss of water when you invest in an expensive pump. And three times now I've rescued my goldfish when I looked out the windowto see one flopping on the patio.
   

[Me23rose 0]

Thank you for the suggestions! It's been a couple years since I logged in, but I attended Janet's Best Foot Forward: Ideas for Entrance Gardens class this week and figured I better get to work!

 

Thanks again! These suggestions are great!!

[Curt P 5]

I see this shrub or small tree frequently at a house near my home, and I lke it in winter. Now I have a place to plant one and need to know what it is!

 

Thanks in advance.

 

[Janet Macunovich 32]

You're probably noticing the hydrangea, but here's the whole combo:

 

A - Gold Mop' falsecypress (Chamaecyparis filifera aurea 'Mops')

B -Evergreen euonymus grown as a vine (Euonymus fortunei, may also be grown as a shrub)

C - Panicle hydrangea (late blooming type; we know this plant! -- Hydrangea paniculata 'Tardiva')

D - Dwarf Oregon grapeholly (Mahonia aquifolium compactum)

E - Creeping phlox (Phlox subulata)

[natalymalcon88 0]

Thanks for interesting advises.