Sometimes landscapes, like house guests, overstay their welcome.
Want to make a change?
Just take a deep breath, make the decision, and, in short order, you will have a fresh, flowering, and flattering landscape.
Pictured here is a house foundation planting that overstayed its welcome. The arborvitae grew into the house overhang. Rhododendrons were a headache to keep pruned below the window, in unnatural rectangular shapes, guaranteeing few flowers. The deciduous spirea shrubs in front looked like a line of bare sticks for many months of the year. Also, the shrubs wanted to grow twice as large, requiring the homeowner to repeatedly prune, reducing their flowering potential. The lawn was worn out by everyone cutting across to the front stoop.
Once the decision was made, it only took a week for the makeover.
The first thing was to transplant and reuse all of the existing plants in better locations on the client’s property. Then the front foundation was prepared for new plantings that would both be in scale with and flatter the home.
Russian sage, astilbe, reblooming dwarf bleeding heart, and daylily were added to provide summer-long flowering perennials. A multitrunked river birch was placed off of the corner of the house to extend the edge of the garden, provide afternoon dappled light against the house, and offer year-round interest with its handsome peeling bark. Large flagstones defined a clear path to the front stoop, allowing the lawn to flourish.
