Garden Goals

 

Goals I want for my garden

When we started the yard renovation, we targeted areas that might be vulnerable to natural elements (rain, snow) so we laid rock around the house foundation. Our second goal was to reduce the noise from the freeway. We added plants along the west back fence to reduce noise.

The following are our new goals:

A play area for kids and animals (pets) (football, corn hole, etc.)

Attract birds and pollinators

Ease of maintenance for mowing (decrease lawn size)

Add planter beds on the deck in the back yard

Incorporate swing set into the garden to reduce noise pollution and improve the view of the yard

Add a trellis to the west fence to reduce view of neighbor’s yard/home

Expand the fire pit area and put in an area for golf practice

Hide unsightly gas pipes on the back side of the garage in the back yard

Add a screen to the spa deck area (prevent neighbor viewing)

Add additional two feet to the east side of the wood fence (backyard) to reduce noise pollution/neighbor views

Soften hardscape lines of front yard and garden area

Garden dreams/design

Front Yard and west yard

This is the current layout of the yard. 

One goal is to incorporate the old swing set into the west side yard garden plans with flowers. It is located toward the back of the west property. 

I would like to put clematis or climbing roses around the frame portion (to make it more like an arbor). I also want to add more shrubs to the fence behind the structure in order to highlight the lilac bushes that grow there. Ideally, this will hide the freeway and reduce some freeway noise.

Looking at the current yard layout (map), I am considering expanding the small garden bed (triangle) on the far southwest side of the property, near the road.  There are trees on the south side and west sides. It doesn’t make sense to have such a small garden this far from the house, other than to define the boundary of the property. It looks like an afterthought. Expanding this would also set the boundaries along the fence more eloquently and reduce mowing maintenance.   The unfortunate thing about this area, SHADE. This area gets sun early in the morning from about 7 am until about 10 am during the summer. However, the trees along the fence shade it throughout most of the afternoon. This suncalc.org indicates where the sun should hit the yard. On 27 May at 8 a.m. it should just be hitting the front yard area. However, the trees in the neighbor’s yard block the sun until 8:30 a.m. You can also see the sun is not hitting the west side of the property. It usually starts to hit the west side of the house around 10 a.m., most days. At noon, the sun is blocked by the trees to the left; even at four in the afternoon, the sun is blocked in this area due to the trees on the right. There may be a short window of about an hour that it gets late afternoon sun.

Creating a new bed that extends from the drive-through gate over to the small triangle garden area will give the yard depth and character.

In the overlay for the yard, you can see the plan for the larger plant bed. This larger bed would have many of the same plants found in the yard. Repeating plants and colors will unite the newer design to the older garden. 

The fence that borders the neighbor’s house needs something to hide the unsightly tarps they have in place to prevent their dogs (Great Danes) from jumping the fence. I propose trellis.

Exterior west side of the house

The exterior west side of the house definitely needs something. The bushes at the foundation are not that tall. So I propose a trellis with some climbing plants. This will add interest and hide the cables. It will also provide a focal point for this side of the house.

propose trellis

Back Yard

In the back yard, the north-facing garage wall will be updated with trellis and the gravel area will have a nice rock garden added to it. The trellis will span the garage wall to hide the gas pipes at the end of the garage. This area is in the shade throughout all seasons. When we moved in, it had moss and mud along this area. My goal for this area is to ensure no moss grows. Having only rocks in this area should support that goal. 

In the back yard, I would like to put in a putting green. My husband loves to golf so a practice area would be nice. There are trees above the area (from the neighbors' overhang). This area gets shade most of the day. The sun might hit it past 1p.m. and until about five p.m. The late-day sun (after 8p.m.) might reach this area as well.

In addition, I plan to improve the fire pit area with more permanent seating

Elements of Artistic Garden

The feel of the front yard is vastly different than the back yard. I think the front yard has more of a casual, informal (a bit of whimsy) vibe to it.

There are more shrubs, flowers, and curves to the front than to the back yard. I chose colors and plants that would support the overall casual feel of the front yard. Yellow, purple, and white are repeated throughout the flower garden beds and planters. I tried to incorporate plants that flower for different seasons as well as flowers/plants that are continuous throughout the summer.

 I have ninebark, barberry, boxwood, and bush dogwood throughout the landscape. When I make the new beds, I intend to repeat plantings to unite or tie the whole yard together. I want to include more, pink spirea and roses for more seasonal flowers and colors.

After thinking back to our projects last year, I feel I may need to recheck soil composition to determine if the soil we laid had enough to sustain plant growth. If not, I will need to amend the soil with additional compost or fertilizers.

Whereas, the backyard has more of a formal, minimalist feel to it.

It is probably because of the gravel and the straight lines of the decking and tree/planter bed, and lack of flower beds. While there is one small area for garden flowers, the majority of the back yard is without them. The gravel beds are somewhat curved and the fire pit is round but it does not take away from that formal minimalist vibe. I am hoping that adding planters to the deck will relax the atmosphere of the space.