Shape and form for front bed

11 years ago

Hello! This is my front yard, and my current project (I have to do things a bite at a time because of money) is completely redoing the southeast front bed, starting with good shrub 'bones'. I have lots of ideas for the kinds of plants I could use and the general look I want (naturalistic and balanced as opposed to formal symmetry) but this is my first time planning on this scale and I'd really appreciate some ideas for general lines and shapes to please the eye and look balanced.

Practical stuff: zone is Pacific NW 8, exposure is full sun, the wall with the front windows is 8' from the porch to the corner and the south side of the house is 18' to the sidewalk. I have the luxury of expanding the beds as much as I want. Where the round bush is by the kitchen door (pic 1) is where my figs are going, so I don't want to significantly block the sun there. Grading, retaining walls, etc aren't in the budget.

First pic shows the south side of the house; second pic the east side (bed in question on the left, looking mostly bare), third pic the other side, where lots will be changed eventually but not now. Yes, the overgrown meatballs will go. The Japanese maple and the shrub garden behind it will largely stay.

I would love some quick general sketches of the sorts of shapes you would put in this yard. Thanks!

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Comments (4)

laceyvail 6A, WV
11 years ago
The overall problem is that the beds are too close to the house, as are the existing plants. Pull out the beds, especially on the left side of the front picture so the bed curves out from the porch, the house and down the left side with the widest point of the curve at the corner of the house. It looks as if the same problem exists on the right side, but it's a little hard to tell. The meatball shrub on the right side of the porch should probably go.
PRO
Yardvaark
11 years ago
Wish the pictures showed house faces square on and in better lighting. It would be easier to understand.
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junco East Georgia zone 8a
11 years ago
Is that a rose on the left of the front steps? I can see more roses in the sunniest parts with spireas and abelias filling in. You could have roses and clematis climbing over the porch. Looks like a perfect setting for a cottage garden! Cute house!
Kristin
Original Author
11 years ago
Yes, it's a quite old Queen Elizabeth -- not what I would have chosen but I love it. I think when I remove the lollipop bush on the other side of the porch, I'll plant a similarly sized and colored rose there as well.

I've worked out a plan that pretty much eliminates all the grass in the southwest part of the yard except as a path to get around the house. :D The existing bed is being bumped WAY out, a small tree is going in to fill the high blank wall between those two small windows on the south side, and trees and shrubs will soften the corners.

What I'm going for is a lush but not chaotic space that feels like stepping into a completely different place when it's entered. I want it to look nice from the street, of course, but I also want it to be beautiful from the porch, to screen the porch from the street and sidewalk a little, and to attract birds and butterflies for us to watch.

I'll try to take photos of my sketches tomorrow, and upload them. I can't guarantee my scribbled writing will be decipherable though.