Software
Houzz Logo Print
webuser_171512532

need help front landscaping design

4 months ago

Budget is quite low, but trying to figure out some ideas to make the front of this house have some character and or color. Live in Canada, so harsh winters, but nice summers. Suggestions would be so appreciated!

Comments (14)

  • 4 months ago
    last modified: 4 months ago

    Since you live in a somewhat challenging climate I would visit a local independent garden center & get suggestions from them. i think your porch could accommodate a few large containers planted with seasonal color.

  • 4 months ago

    What zone corresponds? Your lowest expected temperature will give you the zone in American terms. That will help a lot, because some parts of Canado are zone 6 and some zone 2 --- there's a huge difference. I like broadleaf evergreens like rhodos and azaleas. You can find some that do okay in cold zones. That said, what does your snow do? Mine tends to land on the porch roof, thaw then refreeze and then thaw and slide off in icy chunks onto the foundation plantings, so I have no shrubs in front of my porch. My spring starts with bulbs, because they tend to have the earliest blooms. Then, I have creeping phlox and iris crestata for early blooms, then peonies, bearded iris, moving to cone flowers, liatris, and salvia.


    I think every front yard should have a flowering tree.



  • 4 months ago

    Agree with Sigrid. A native flowering tree and perhaps an oak (a keystone species with very high ecological value) out farther away from the house I think the house itself is good as is.

  • 4 months ago

    I'd plant up your beds, but it's hard to advise when we have no clue where you are or what your temperatures are. I mean the Vancouver area is very different from the Edmonton area.

  • 4 months ago
    last modified: 4 months ago

    Blue/gray Creeping Juniper with taller light blue Delphinium behind them along the brick walls.

    A Blue Spruce with mature height not too tall in a freeform rock island with Blue Star Creeper.

    Here is the concept:


  • 4 months ago

    You’re in Toronto. Thank you so much everybody. I’ve been told to perhaps to some boxwoods and maybe some hydrangeas between them.??

  • 4 months ago

    The chairs have been replaced with nice white and gray ones which complement The house, thank you Wayfair, and we are looking for something that looks clean and simple. The above pictures is beautiful, but it looks a little bit too wild for our taste.

  • 4 months ago

    Most of Toronto is zone 6. Boxwoods are prone to boxwood blight, I would not recommend them. I'm in Z6 and I find my hydrangeas often don't bloom well after a cold winter. Maybe I have the wrong kind. My tree hydrangeas do very well.


    I like Matthew Cunningham's landscapes. He's pricey, but you can borrow ideas. This one is in Portland Maine, almost certainly Z6. It has salvias, alliums, probably some penstemmon, possibly lavender and Russian sage. I'd add some creeping phlox. It's going to disappear in winter, but then snow shed from your roof won't damage it. However, you'd probably need to cut down any hydrangeas for the winter. This would be a good scheme for the size of your bed and the height of your porch.


    There's a punch of lime green in the middle, which is probably Lady's mantle, which I dislike, because it spreads too much, but I have a lot more garden than you have. I might do a silver artemesia instead.


    Clamshell Alley · More Info


  • PRO
    4 months ago

    Something clean and simple with some boxwoods and some hydrangeas


  • 4 months ago
    last modified: 4 months ago

    I live in 5b, I suggest you look around your neighborhood to spot plantings that look good and also not so good. A local nursey guarantees everything they plant except boxwoods, a reliable hint. I have seen no one in this area successfully growing rhodos or azalea over the past decade or longer….something to consider.

    Sherry

  • 4 months ago

    A small ornamental tree off the left corner would make a huge difference. Please, no large conifer in a squiggly bed stuck in the middle of the lawn.

  • 4 months ago
    last modified: 4 months ago

    Agree with a small ornamental tree of the left corner.

    Consider using inkberry rather than boxwood which is subject to blight. .

  • 3 months ago

    It always seems odd when an OP gets halfway through the suggestions and then just disappears for the rest.