I haven't had the time to study your plan yet, the squiggley line has me a bit puzzled though. One thing I will say about the difference between then and now is how much more spacious it appears, the overall feel has benefited from treating plants individually. Original thinking: not everything needs to be planted in threes as a 'drift'.

BTW, your pictures must be marked as private because I cannot see the full sized images. It can be interesting for me to read my posts on previous threads...sometimes I sound like an idiot but my comments seemed reasonable on that one.

I agree that your Fall 2006 picture is much nicer than the Fall 2005 picture. The recent pictures are calling out for more winter interest...that much bare dirt in zone 8 seems like a crime.

- Brent

Ink, the blue squiggley line represents a screen to block the view of new construction across the street. See the little picture. A 6' screen in that area would do the job. A 6' screen that is airy and neither too heavy nor too fine in texture is what I am thinking of. What is it? Could I have yet another deciduous plant? Flowering would be nice. Of course, the right color. Lots to think about!

Brent, I think I fixed the pictures to be accessible. Yes, I certainly do need winter stuff. I'm TRYING to cover that dirt! The ground covers will help. The garrya would help too, if that is what I choose for that spot. It seems like a good choice. The comment of yours that stayed with me from that thread was, 'Where is the front door?' Ha ha!

Hmmm. . . Should I ask specific questions? Or is it just that I'm a hopeless case? :)

Maro

Well, perhaps it's time for arranging some things around those single things.

As to 'treating plants individually,' I read Grant's 'Garden Design Illustrated' recently. While some find this book nearly useless, a couple of things stayed with me for consideration. One was the 'sphere of influence' around a tree (or large shrub, I'm thinking). The sphere would made by using the height of the tree as the radius of the sphere around the tree. I think I'll try things from that perspective and see what I come up with.

Of course, some of my individuals are already encroaching upon each others' spheres, but that's the way it is. :)

Maro

Maro: I suspect that not a lot of people have not commented because there is not anything glaring to comment about. It is much easier to point out obvious issues. If you like the way it is developing, then keep doing what you are doing.

Also, I cannot quite tell what on your plan is already in place versus what is on the drawing board. Is that Red Maple shown on the plan the tree that is already planted? Do you mean Acer rubrum? I would not go out of my way to plant an Acer rubrum in this smallish area. They just get too big and greedy. Are the dogwood already planted in front of the brick (I cannot see them in the recent picture)?

One thing that I realize looking at your yard for the second time...during the first go around I was thinking of your planting as a really deep foundation bed. That is not at all what you have going there. I am often looking for examples of houses that fall outside the traditional foundation planting scheme and for some reason I could not spot this obvious example. BTW, it seems very odd that your property line is 20' back from the road. Do other people plant in this area?

- Brent

Hi Brent -
Can you access the pictures in Flickr yet? Maybe, even though I made them public, it won't affect those already here. The plants are identified there. I may have to re-post them or name them here.

In the plan view:
If you can detect the green color, those are the established plants.

The path is re-aligned and changed to all 24" squares. The current border (brown) is moved back (blue dashed), to leave a little space before the prop. line.

The maple is plant 'A' and I don't know - it might be 'Bloodgood.' I believe it is one of the smaller maples.

The dogwoods are plant 'D.' They look kind of interesting in front of the brick in winter, but there's nothing around them and they look mighty bare. They look great in summer through the window.

As to the front 20+ feet - neighbors do different things. Some have lawn all the way from foundation plants to street. Some have gravel, some have boulders or small boulders as a dividing line. Some just disregard it and fence their yard or plant ground covers.

Maro

Yes, I can see the full sized images (except when I am at work where those IT Nazis have started blocking access to photo hosting sites...errr!) Acer palmatum makes a lot more sense than Acer rubrum with what I see in the picture. I don't see a huge need to change the curve, but your proposed changes look fine. I do think you need to be cautious about walling yourself in with attempting to block the houses across the street. It seems like in order to block the view you have to go back to your 2005 planting scheme.

One thing I wonder...you have a bit of a "woodland garden" feel going there that I like. Do you think you want to fill in the open areas with plants or leave it more open?

- Brent

Well, Brent, I've been thinking. I guess I don't want to produce a garden that can be labeled. That's a pretty contrary point of view, but there it is.

I would like to leave some open places here and there, but there's the weed thing. So, I'm going to see how it looks as the ground covers cover more, and then re-think. I do want to put more plants in, though.

I've put in stuff and then taken it out and don't really want to do that any more. For example, I have Euphorbia 'Rudolph' in the front, and they're just filling in nicely. They are the perfect color in the fall, but now they're a horrid chartreuse color that is awful with my desired color scheme. Up close they're really interesting, even beautiful, but as part of a mass of color . . . they just have to be moved elsewhere.

Whatever else I put in will probably be a lot of the same thing as I have so many 'ones.' Some I have in mind are Helleborus 'Ivory Prince,' more lavender in a pale lavender color, more sedum 'Autumn Joy.' The colors seem right. In that original thread some input has me thinking about lining the path with hellebores.

Thanks for discussing this with me.

Maro

maro what i get from your garden is you are basically like me if i am guessing right :)...you dont like things bunched up and you like things that grow in a nice neat mounded look. By your garden it appears that way and that is how i like mine...although there can be things that spread but i usually thin them out to where they are a nice shape...everything is about shape for me (may be a little ocd but that is neither here nor there lol). what i don't see in your garden that i think is needed is color...lots of bright vibrant color...deep blues, reds, yellows whatever you like but it needs color. The siding on your home looks to be a neutral color and i think it would give the front of the house more interest to add color. There seems to be plenty of green in lots of size, shape, color and textures now just add the splash of color...the things that you got that are color are very subtle in my opinion and you need a splash of like a said vibrant color. It also looks to me like adding a screen would defeat the whole purpose of you making the beautiful bed which is for curb appeal...how can there be any if you block the view? just a thought about that.

Brent - I forgot to tell you that I agree about the screen. Really, the dogwoods do that somewhat anyway, in the summer.

ymaddox, I hate to be contrary again, but neutral and subtle is what I do want. LOL! There will be pale lavender in the summer, dusty reds in the fall, and I haven't thought of the spring color. Curb appeal is not something I think about.

It's an experiment, in a way. Did you see that picture in the WOW Factor thread? Really beautiful in its variety of pale greens and pale yellows and so on.

Maro

The one thing that sticks out for me is that if you do decide to plant a screen, the current plan doesn't seem to connect it with anything. Given the obviousness of the bed outlines, it might need to either go in the bed, or anchor a bed of its own. What I keep wanting to do is curve the existing bed out on the left side, then have this screen thing follow the curve.

maro i dont mind contrary when it is put nicely, if subtle is what you are going for that's perfect. I did see the picture and in case you missed the thread entirely i did'nt care for it at all lol. However that is not the case with your flower bed i just thought the splash of color would add something...all a matter of personal taste...one that some people don't quite get the jist of :). Best of luck with your garden.