Your pictures do not give enough information. You show the back yard and a few feet of what appears to be a garage door, yet no reference to the garage. My spatial understanding is low.

Emmarene - In an effort to help you help me, I added additional pics for your spatial understanding. I hope this gives you and anyone else a better idea.

Thanks.

You know you want a six foot fence on the tree stump side of your yard. You know you want a dog enclosure fence on the opposite side of the yard. It sounds like you are generally content with the garden as it is now. I know people hate chain link fencing but I would do it for that side.

I think you should draw on paper or with software, something like an overhead It would need to be to scale. I can't really tell how close that Lilac is to the deck. I borrowed a picture from another thread to show you what I mean. will help more than you know.

That little strip of edging under the garage area plants is fooling no one. You think the shrubs are over grown because they have grown larger than two feet in width. I am referring to the shrubs planted along side of the garage.

I actually really like your backyard. It reminds me of a nice play yard that has established plants. It has room for vegetables or grapes or anything you think you want in the future. To me it is a yard that real people have.

Emmarene - Thank you so much. I just drew this up. I enjoy having the Lilac because it blocks the view of my other nieghbor and gives deck privacy. The bed next to the garage is a joke. Before we cut down the huge tree my back yard was very much in the shade.

By the way. Sun rises SouthEast of the large stump and sets NorthWest of the deck. That makes True North in the NorthEast corner of drawings.

Yardvaark - Thank you. Indeed, a more formal direction needs to be considered. Deck redo would be a few years down the road since we are redoing our kitchen very soon. Retrofitting to any new deck layouts would need considering. thanks.

Thanks!

By the way. The back left corner behind my garage is no man's land. And my neighbor has bamboo along our property line (ugh). From my deck I don't see this area at all and for now do not wish to add anything to it. Where the ivy gets removed in this area I may just try and grow grass. Thanks again!

19Kev, do you agree with this anyalysis?...

I commend your efforts at drawing the proposed plan. If I could offer some constructive criticism, it seems that you're not addressing some of the issues that landscape planting should resolve. Another criticism is that the overall lines and dimensions look a bit engineering-like ... as if you're designing a circuit board instead of a landscape. I think it will look better and be easier to maintain if you eliminate the tight radius curves and go for a more fluid appearance, such as in this example...

Yardvaark - let me first say that you bring great value to this forum. I have seen your many comments on here.

Yes. I do agree with your analysis. I would love to not see the blue house and neighbors white garage. And it is clear that the azeleas bushes are really obstructing the view of my yard.

Are you proposing the following?:

1. Completely remove azeleas

2.Create beds that have a continuous flow.

3. Add perhaps evergreens (or year round foliage) to block unwanted views.

Question.

1. It appears you are cutting off 'no man land' behind the garage with bed running from yew bush to the rear property line. Is that correct? I'm not apposed to that. Maybe just a stepping stone or two for access?

This is a great start and thanks for going easy on my initial plan.

Thanks for commenting and for any additional thoughts you may have to offer.

Kevin.

I'm not offering a finished plan plan, but a general direction to lean toward. As far as the bed I show cutting off the space behind garage ... everything needs to be worked out. Maybe you need a path. If that yew were mine, I'd be turning it into a tree and continuing the view below it, but I don't know what you're going to do.

To answer your questions, I wouldn't have massive shrubs (those azaleas) so near the center of the yard. If you're intention is to make the yard good looking -- create a view -- why cut the view off before getting started. No matter how nice the azaleas are, they are in the wrong place.

Yes, create beds that flow within the overall space.

Block unwanted views. It's a primary purpose of landscaping.

Here's an update.

We have most of our fence installed. I have a 3' spaced picket going between the garage and deck, not yet built.

I brought in topsoil to help create beds. I wanted to incorperate the tree but need to thin out the soil in that area as not to kill the tree.

While I don't wish to see the Blue house I also don't want to block out the sun. My thought; for now is maybe a Crepe Myrtle or Dwarf Cherry Blossom in the fence corner and Hydrainga spaced in front or side. Hostas under existing bloodgood Maple Sun hit the corner all day and sunset hits the back center of fence.

My goal would be to have color from spring to fall using mostly care free perennials. Thought to add an azeala/blossom cherry for spring, hydrainga/Crepe Mrytle for summer...fall?

Also thought Hinoki Cypress/ evergreen mixed in. As you can tell Im all over and have no real plan. ...yet.

Any thoughts? What might you do? Zone 7 (PA)

Thanks

Is that landscape fabric I see under the topsoil?

Good work so far, you've been busy.

Thanks Emmarene.

The topsoil area had been full of English Ivy. That got dug/scalped out with a tractor and I cleaned up the roots the best I could. I bought a 250' x 36" roll of cardboard for $36 and simply rolled it up and down the area overlapping and pinning to ground. Im sure I'll have some growing back but this was my remedy, right or wrong. I have done this with newspaper prior to mulching and it has worked pretty well so far. Time will tell.

I bought a 'Cargo Unloader' from Harbor Frieght and was able to place topsoil from the bed of my truck. Never used a wheel barrel or shovel except to fine grade. Best $40 I have spent in a long time. Moved 6 yards of dirt.

Waiting to plant until after the August heat but need mulch to help stablize soil. So far I'm thankful the cardboard is not acting like a slip n slide.

Researching ideas for the corner.

-K

I was going to suggest that the back bed would look nice in a ground cover like Geranium Rozanne. I am not sure if it could spread if there is fabric. I hear it called low maintenance. I do think the bed should be filled with one type of groundcover so you will have a full sheet of color back there, I also think you should make space for a large specimen shrub. Weigela Sonic Bloom for example. I just heard of it and I am so sad that Weigela really do not like my growing conditions. I can't say put it on the left or right side because I am confused about direction. It will need sun.

You still need something tall to block the neighbor's garage. I would suggest a tall shrub that can be shaped like a tree. You still need to find three plants for the back fence, as per Yaardvark's drawing. They must all be the same species. As always, I am no expert and not in your zone, so these were vague suggestions. I am glad you remembered to come back. Btw, how do you access No Mans Land?

Thanks Emmarene.

I should add a picture of the 'No Man's Land' approach. And then you can see the wonderful Bamboo. Ugh. ...and the forth (4th) Japanese Maple in my Backyard.

Basically you would walk right of the new bed in the back. I actually thought to cut down the Maple right next to my garage to help open up the yard more. It slightly blocks the view of the one in the back bed.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll have to look up the Weigela Sonic Bloom. Never heard of that one. Yes Neighbors garage is more distracting than blue house for me. But both need screening.

Perfect spot for a secret garden.

I forgot I had this thread. Any thoughts on my vision for final bed layout and plant ideas? I am intersted in a low maintenance and partial evergreen for winter foliage. Any general thoughts or constructive critisim would be great appriciated.

I hope to make a big push this fall and get this done.