Need basic landscaping help

5 years ago

I need help in zone 7b.
I’m including 2 sets of photos. The first was my house 2 owners ago, you can see how the bed between the walkway and the house has shrubs and grass lining the walkway and there is a sad Eastern Redbud (?) tree in the front. The second set is after the last owner and what the front yard currently looks like. The previous owners ripped out all the shrubs and sodded that area, added a few tiny shrubs. The same sad tree is still here.
My questions are

what do I do with all this blank space! I need some color and fullness!
can that tree be saved? Is it worth the fight? I’ve looked up the type of tree it is, and when it blooms it is beautiful, but it looks a little scraggly right now. My immediate thought is to rip it out and replace with a healthier version of the same, or a beautiful cherry tree.

Can y’all help with some suggestions or inspiration pics? I love color, all hydrangeas (especially blue/purple), roses, snowball bushes, foxtail, decorative grasses, and mixing textures.

Also to add that I would like an attractive year round yard, and that I am willing to do the maintenance. I am just stuck because this is our first time owning a home and I want it to look great! Thanks to everyone in advance!

Featured Answer

User

5 years ago

Nothern Mississippi -- so you must incorporate azaleas, magnolias, crepe myrtles or be kicked out the state! (just kidding! you have soooo many beautiful choices)

First, the little redbud. If it's not happy yet, remove it. Life is too short to baby along an unhappy redbud.

Second -- your windows! I love how generously large they are. I did not get that from the early pictures when those junipers were hiding their full extent. Whatever you plant under them now, make sure it stays at a reasonable height.

Third -- I hear you about being okay with your existing walk. It reminded me of a set of pictures from an older landscaping book, so even though this house is much smaller than yours I'm including the pic's for general inspiration:

In 1959 "modernizing the entrance walk" meant ripping out the walk that cut straight from the front door to the roadway, and replacing it with a walk running straight from the front door to the driveway -- which is about what you have now. Note how adding a triangular bed with a tree gives depth to the planting. Think about replacing your scraggly redbud with a magnolia or crepe mytle of appropriate mature size toward the driveway side of your house, either making a formally edged bed now, or allowing for it in the future.

Finally -- remember that this is your house. If you love hydrangeas, put them where you will see them often. Looks like they'd do well against the brick, on either side of the windows. Have fun!

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Comments (9)

Christopher CNC
5 years ago
The most basic landscape improvement you can make is to redo the front walk and porch entry. Currently the walk is too narrow and too close to the house. Bushes can't fix that.

Once that is planned out then you can move on to designing a garden.

A closeup and approximate age of the sad redbud is needed to determine its fate as well as how it works with the new entry.
Anna (6B/7A in MD)
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
I planted a redbud several years ago and it grows several feet a year it seems. I suspect that your tree was either poorly planted, poorly cared for after planting or a poor specimen to begin with.

Christopher is spot on--your hardscaping needs to be changed before you worry about landscaping.

Congratulations on your new home!
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decoenthusiaste
5 years ago
Noticed this evening the redbuds here are about 20 feet high; that's too high to be able to harvest the pods, flowers and leaves, all of which are edible. With uncertain times ahead, you might want to keep that in mind,
mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
5 years ago
Have you figured out where in the world you live yet?
Sigrid
5 years ago
Did someone put cement around tge base of the redbud? Or is that just an illusion from the picture? It looks small, but it should grow.
Lyndsey Pye
Original Author
5 years ago
Unfortunately fixing the hardscaping is out of the budget right now, and likely will be for a while. The walkways and front porch do not bother us, I will probably stain them or put patio tiles on them in the semi-near future, but it’s not a priority as of now. Budget is an issue. I don’t plan on a complete overhaul immediately, I just want to get some things planted this fall so they can get established for next spring.

The first set of pictures are from about 4 years ago, the second set from maybe June. So it looks like the tree was pruned, and it’s several years old and still looks like that, so I think it’s probably just going to need to go. But tips and more informed opinions are appreciated.

I stated I lived in Zone 7b. More particularly North Mississippi if that helps at all.

About the plant in cement, it’s not incased, it just appears so in the picture. It’s just a circle of landscape stones.

Thanks for the helpful comments so far, I appreciate it!
Anna (6B/7A in MD)
5 years ago
Zone 7B is a very long stretch along the lower US, providing your closest major city would be more useful information.

People need more information to give you any sort of recommendations: what kind of gardener are you? How wide and long is the planting strip? What kind of soil is in that bed? What's the sun exposure? Do you get any snow typically? What are you looking for in the plants? Evergreen? Foliage? Flowers? Pollinator-friendly?
Lyndsey Pye
Original Author
5 years ago
Wow, that's amazing! Thank you for including the pictures and for the great advice!

To answer a few questions-

I am 45 minutes South of Memphis in Oxford, MS

I am a pretty hands on gardener. I have only rented until now, but at my old rental, I maintained the existing yard and did the research to maintain plants I didn't know how to handle, such as a forsythia bush and Carolina Jasmine. I have created both flower beds and raised vegetable beds and I grow my vegetables from seeds. I enjoy a nice looking yard and am willing to work to achieve and maintain it.

Sun Exposure is South facing.

The area between the house and the walkway is 6 ft, and from the of the porch to the end of the house on the right side ( the long bed) is 25.5 feet. I haven't measured the other side yet, but I did figure out that there are two pink azalea bushes there, they were pruned back a ton. I'll want to keep those, provided they grow and look healthy next spring. There is a small bed area in front of porch, from where the walkway turns onto porch to the end of the porch, this small area is 28" deep and 7 ft. long.

We get a little snow, last year we got a lot, but its not common.

As far as plants, I love them all. I love flowers, I love color, and I appreciate year round color and interest. I'm up for anything. I do want to include a hydrangea or two!