Front garden plans & small plants

[Collinsc]

Hi

I am seeking some advice on a simple front garden redesign.

Key reason for change is easy maintenance. The garden looks nice in spring/summer and awful outside of that.



Option 1: Take out ALL greenery apart from the tall tree and replace with slate. Maybe add a small tree in a planter.


Option 2: Take out ALL greenery apart from the tall tree and replace with slate and have a low maintenance small hedge all the way round the boundary. Maybe add a small tree in a planter.

The idea is to also try and keep *cats out and from people letting their dogs in our garden to do their business (unbelievable!). *Yes I know cats can easily avoid the hedge, but maybe it will help! However, I appreciate even WITH a hedge people will still let their dogs pee up against it!

So, maybe I’ll drop this idea. Plus, there is a level of maintenance of the hedge.


I would appreciate any comments!

But my main ask here is; we would like to add a few simple (small or medium) low maintenance plants dotted around (maybe half a dozen, maybe some with colour) and I have no idea what would be suitable, or would look good - so really looking for guidance on this… maybe some name, or some links to images!


I can't seem to embed images, so i've uploaded a document with images.

Thanks!

 

[Meadowlark]

Howdy.

One thought I had while reading your post was good luck stopping or even discouraging cats. They pretty much can go wherever they want and do so unfortunately.

Some azaleas would look very nice in the spaces shown. Low maintenance, several different colors to choose from, and different sizes.

The ones shown below are about 40 years old and are a dwarf variety growing to less than three feet. They get almost zero maintenance.

 

[oneeye]

Hello friend. Azaleas would be a good choice if you have acidic soil. If the soil is alkaline I would choose something more suited to that kind of soil. The thing you can do is to go to a local nursery and ask for recommendations for you area. Look at other landscapes in your area and get to know whats best suited for your yard. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Collinsc]

Thanks both!
Azaleas certainly sound like a good idea for a bit of color - will think on that!

 

[Sean Regan]

Small front gardens can be a problem. The back of our house is south-facing, so the front is almost always in shade except first thing in the morning. It's a problem to keep complete control of moss on this small lawn.
This is how it looked yesterday.

A bit depressing. The "red" is a car parked in the road opposite the adjoining semi.
I have a wire party fence, between the two gardens, less "in your face" than a low post and panel one.

The planting is just acers, two rhododendrons, two viburnums and a big acer tree. I give it a "one foot haircut" all round each winter to keep it that size. The other acers, I "prune" with garden shears.

There's no bedding plants, so it's much easier to control.

But it's quite rewarding in the summer.

Once the blossom has gone, it's just "green," but we don't mind that.

 

[Collinsc]

Thank you for sharing - looks very pretty!

Small front gardens can be a problem. The back of our house is south-facing, so the front is almost always in shade except first thing in the morning. It's a problem to keep complete control of moss on this small lawn.
This is how it looked yesterday.

A bit depressing. The "red" is a car parked in the road opposite the adjoining semi.
I have a wire party fence, between the two gardens, less "in your face" than a low post and panel one.

View attachment 107094



The planting is just acers, two rhododendrons, two viburnums and a big acer tree. I give it a "one foot haircut" all round each winter to keep it that size. The other acers, I "prune" with garden shears.

There's no bedding plants, so it's much easier to control.

But it's quite rewarding in the summer.

View attachment 107095View attachment 107096

Once the blossom has gone, it's just "green," but we don't mind that.


View attachment 107098