The need for low-work planting is greater in the front yard than in the back. You want a planted area that provides easy access for you and your visitors, rather than dense plants that will require constant trimming and pruning. Aim for a welcoming appearance and easy care.
Plants also need to be tough and capable of recovering quickly from damage. Children may take short cuts over the beds; cars and trucks may pass by, belching their fumes; dogs may trample on beds; and pedestrians may throw their litter into shrubs.
Good companions – Rosa ‘Golden Jubilee’ and Clematis ‘Vyvyan Pennell’ – add color to a cool-climate wall in early spring.
The most suitable plant candidates are also those that need no regular pruning - they must thrive without pampering. Remember that plants with prickly stems or leaves, such as Grevillea rosmarinifolia, may help to deter intruders, but they make picking out rubbish more difficult. For the design of a front yard to work well, the plants need to have additional functions. Some are needed to guide visitors up to the main access to the house, and possibly to and from a side garage or a car parked in a driveway. Possible candidates are a low, evergreen hedge of Lavandula angustifolia 'Hidcote' for a sunny site, or Japanese box, with its neat, glossy foliage, for a more shady location.
Scented shrubs are also well placed to mark the main entrance, to greet people before the doorbell is answered. An easy-care shrub rose, such as the deep yellow Rosa 'Graham Thomas', or choisya, gardenia, luculia, mintbush, osmanthus or philadelphus would be ideal.
Choose a style of planting that fits in with the message that you want to give the world. Include easy-care plants already featured in the back yard to provide unity of design to your garden. The dramatic forms of architectural planting, such as phormium, philodendron or yucca, are particularly suitable for town gardens. Cottage-style planting may be better for a rural location, using easy-to-grow, self-seeding annuals and perennials, such as Californian poppy, agapanthus, cosmos, love-in-a-mist and Japanese anemone.
Don't forget to add a vertical element for impact. Choose a small tree with more than one season of interest such as a crepe myrtle: it has delightful late summer flowers, colorful autumn foliage and very attractive bark in winter. Avoid trees which grow very large or those with water-seeking roots, such as willows or pepper trees.
Plants also need to be tough and capable of recovering quickly from damage. Children may take short cuts over the beds; cars and trucks may pass by, belching their fumes; dogs may trample on beds; and pedestrians may throw their litter into shrubs.
Good companions – Rosa ‘Golden Jubilee’ and Clematis ‘Vyvyan Pennell’ – add color to a cool-climate wall in early spring.The most suitable plant candidates are also those that need no regular pruning - they must thrive without pampering. Remember that plants with prickly stems or leaves, such as Grevillea rosmarinifolia, may help to deter intruders, but they make picking out rubbish more difficult. For the design of a front yard to work well, the plants need to have additional functions. Some are needed to guide visitors up to the main access to the house, and possibly to and from a side garage or a car parked in a driveway. Possible candidates are a low, evergreen hedge of Lavandula angustifolia 'Hidcote' for a sunny site, or Japanese box, with its neat, glossy foliage, for a more shady location.
Scented shrubs are also well placed to mark the main entrance, to greet people before the doorbell is answered. An easy-care shrub rose, such as the deep yellow Rosa 'Graham Thomas', or choisya, gardenia, luculia, mintbush, osmanthus or philadelphus would be ideal.
Choose a style of planting that fits in with the message that you want to give the world. Include easy-care plants already featured in the back yard to provide unity of design to your garden. The dramatic forms of architectural planting, such as phormium, philodendron or yucca, are particularly suitable for town gardens. Cottage-style planting may be better for a rural location, using easy-to-grow, self-seeding annuals and perennials, such as Californian poppy, agapanthus, cosmos, love-in-a-mist and Japanese anemone.
Don't forget to add a vertical element for impact. Choose a small tree with more than one season of interest such as a crepe myrtle: it has delightful late summer flowers, colorful autumn foliage and very attractive bark in winter. Avoid trees which grow very large or those with water-seeking roots, such as willows or pepper trees.
No comments:
Post a Comment