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We have a large 2 story Craftsman style home with a red brick foundation and front porch foundation (pillars are also red brick). Our lot is only as wide as the house plus the “model-T sized driveway” that butts almost against the house and extends almost the entire depth of the property with tiny garage (12 x 20 that we turned into a outdoor room/guest house with french doors opening into the backyard) at the end. We have a dogwood tree in the center of the front yard and would like to extend the concrete of the driveway all the way toward the house to meet the foundation. We took out 2 bushes (one was a spiria and the other I’m not sure but it was yellow before it turned green) that sat at either end of the front porch. Our house has a porch the entire width and a set of 4 window above it in the master bedroom. My question is should we put any other shrubs back such as tall skinny cedars at each end? The dogwood is staying! We are planning to lay new sod down. There will be concrete up against the driveway side of the stoop so it would have to be a container shrub as well. We just are trying to proportion our home better on the tiny lot. It is the biggest home on our block and we just painted it Bamboo Shoot (spring green color – SW) with white trim. Also would you paint the red brick? We are also thinking of a black roof.
I am putting block around the base of a tree. There is tree root exposed and in the way.. Can I notch it out without hurting the tree.
I plan to put weed control membrane down with gravel on top. I was told that Plantex is the best. Plantex has a weight of 50 to 90 g/sqm. I can purchase from Allplas a 105 g/sqm Heavy Duty Woven Weed Control Fabric cheaper than the Plantex. Is Plantex better even though the other one is heavier?
I have a question concerning a small wall around a mulch bed that we need to have in our back yard.
What material is the most cost effective to use for this purpose? I am looking at ” fabricated rock and stones ” which would be used for the wall. The wall is a half circle around a mulch bed, about 14 wide by 2 feet high. It is in the back yard, so it needs to hold the bed, have good drainage, but it does not have to be made in the most expensive materials. Any suggestions?
We had our back yard sodded about a month ago. The yard is now full of crabgrass! The landscaper said this was because our neighbors had crabgrass and the pollen got in the air. Is that actually what happened? It seems sod wouldn’t be a popular choice if that was the case. That was the purpose of getting the sod.
Thanks.
I have a flower bed that is 21 1/2 feet by 4 feet. It gets full sun and I need to not plant anything that will grow over 2 feet tall so as not to obstruct the view from a sun porch. Would love suggestions.
I have a flower bed that is 21 1/2 feet by 4 feet and gets full sun. I live in the middle south area of the US. I don’t need anything that will grow over 2 – 2 1/2 feet tall to keep from obstructing the view from a sun porch. I need some suggestions.
I have two large spruce/pine trees in the front yard. At the base of them, the previous owner “attempted” to make them look nice by putting large rock tree rings underneath. (not large nice rocks either, almost like gravel/small stones which have been impossible to shovel or get rid of.) Anyway, they look ugly and messy. What can I do? I was thinking of just getting larger nicer rock for underneath or mulch but I don’t think that’ll work as there are too many pine needles.
We live at the bottom of a 15 degree grade. Our side yard has a 50 degree slope that ‘steps’ into the rest of the property. This is the same for our neighbors moving up to the top of the grade. We were experiencing extreme erosion on the 50 degree grade that was coverd by grass. Our first solution was to build a wall on the 50 degree grade with the hope of slowing down the water flow during heavy rains. However, this helped very little. Do you have any suggestions?
Hi! I live in an apt. bldg and there is a little walkway on side of buiding that has a very narrow strip of dirt alongside the fence. The bldg. manager planted lilies all along the fence there (the kind u see on Easter, big white petal with long yellow thing in middle). But now those plants are becoming so big I wonder if this is headed towards disaster. What’s your opinion? Would these plants eventually outgrow this small environment? Would it be better to plant something else?
I have a 104 year old Craftsman style house on a steep hill in San Francisco. There is a 3 foot high retaining wall/planter area at the base of the front of the house. The living areas are on the second and third floors above the retaining wall. The top of the retaining wall slants downward with the slope of the hill while all the other features of the house are plumb. How can I best landscape to hide the slant of the wall? The wall is about eight feel long by 3 feet high and abuts the sidewalk so I cannot plant shrubs to hide it. Thank You.
I am buying a home with a bacci ball court in the backyard that I don’t want. Seeing how deep these are and needing to use my small budget on improvements to the house, what can I do to convert it to something other than an eyesore? This is in Tulsa.
I have one side of my house that doesn’t get any sun. When it rains that side of land stays wet for quiet some time. What can I do with that side? I
I just recently had my backyard graded. when you walk across the grass should it sink under your feet. It has been about a month and so has rained.
Hi, We have tall pointed Leland Green Giant pines across the front of our large (2 acre) place. But they are so tall, our beautiful yard with flowers, trees, etc can’t be seen!! Can we trim the tops off so these trees become a hedge?
I’m looking to plant two rows of bushes in my flower beds at my house I want to use taller in back and shorter in front and am wanting evergreen… Not wanting them to grown over 3ft tall in back and 2 or less in front (don’t want to use gardenia ) I live in N. Louisiana
I have a small ranch style house with a red brick wing wall in the front. I tore out all of the yews that were across there.
I’m starting completely over. I want to put a grass in front of the lower part of the wing. I can’t decide on which kind of grass to use either maiden grass or feather reed. I love more of a cottage look. Full sun in the front of my house. It is about 15′ from the end of wing wall to my stoop. Which one usually looks better? Just an opinion.
Hello,
I previously built a dry river stone channel to act as a divider in my yard and really like it. I would like to continue this look in another area but I will need also a path to walk on. I have looked on the internet and found pictures of this but no instructions on how the flagstone would be attached (e.g. to the river stone or to bricks within the river stone?).
Your advice is greatly appreciated.
Dan
If you entirely remove an Oleander tree stump, will the remaining roots in the ground die, or do they have to be treated?
Hi! I am planting a steep slope in Pennsylvania with Blue Rug Juniper. I plan to place the plants about 5 feet apart. They are small right now. About 6 inches tall. At the top of the slope, is a fence. How far from that fence would you begin the top row of plants? Ideally, they would spread “uphill” to just touch the fence, but not grow past that point or crowd into the fence. So, do they primarily grow downhill? Do they sort of “hang” from their planted location? Or do they spread evenly from their planted location, in all directions, including uphill?
I would be grateful for your advice on the proper distance from the fence for the top row.
Thank you!!
Hi. I just had a question on mulch. I have a dark blue house with red front door and was wondering if black mulch or brown mulch would look better in front? I plan on mostly planting green plants. I also have a swing set coming with brown rubber mulch and I didn’t know if it would look bad if I had brown mulch for the swing set and black mulch beds everywhere else around the house?
Thank you for your time
We recently were given some really good sod for our poor dirt lawn. I want to make sure that the weeds and weed seed is gone before we lay down this new sod. I don’t really want to use harsh chemicals like Roundup to get rid the existing weeds. What else could I use that isn’t going to make us wait a long time, before we can lay the sod down? Also, can we keep the sod from dying if we be sure and water it good everyday? Also, if we till up the soil, smooth it out again and put new top soil over that, would that keep the new weed seed from sprouting into our new sod or would we have to lay black plastic down over the new top soil?
Please help!!
Thank you so much!!
Hello, I live in Paris, Ontario and built a new home in a typical city lot subdivision. My back yard is very small with nearly no privacy beyond a 6ft fence. The rear neighbors have two-storey homes that can easily see into my backyard space.
I am looking for ideas for getting privacy via trees,etc. for example that can have maximum height beyond the 6ft fence (dream would be 10+ feet above fence line, so 15+ feet from ground if possible), but as narrow as possible to not take up too much of my already very small backyard
Open to any suggestions including building the trees up from the ground to allow quicker options to get height from start, etc… Hoping someone can help me here – really need some privacy!
. I have a landscaping expert question for you. We are wanting to auger a 16” wide by 8’ deep hole within 14 feet from the base of a 40’ tall evergreen. Would we be hurting it?
We have steel bordered paths filled with 1/4” crushed gravel. The gravel is constantly leaving the path to the adjacent grass. Is there any way to “hold” the gravel in place?
I have a retaining wall across the front of my property with a strip of ground that has been left bare (with weeds growing) after the construction of the retaining wall.
Previously it was planted with trees, and had large rocks with flaxes but after the 2011 earthquakes in my city, the wall had to be rebuilt.
The contractor has decided to cover all the weeds with soil, then place a weed inhibiting material over the top. He has not removed the existing weeds. Should he have removed the weeds first or will they wilt down? Thank you!
I have a professional installing 24×24 porcelain pavers for a patio. The pavers are on foam paver panels and they have installed a low profile edging to keep the tiles in place. They say grass will grow on top of the edging but there is maybe a half inch of dirt right now before the sod is installed. Is this correct or will the grass die, weeds take over, and I’ll have to do something else in a year?
What is best way to remove stump from a queen palm tree
Im installing 20mm porcelain and fake grass over around 250m2 of garden. I will be laying 100mm crushed concrete as a base for both products. When I lay the crushed concrete will it be ok for a couple of weeks if the weather turns and I can’t lay on it straight away? Don’t want to waste money and have to re lay it. Thanks
We are installing new landscaping in front with two, 1- 1 1/2 raised mounds. We would like to cover the planting area with weed block fabric, the for ground cover wood chips. How do you avoid the wood chips from sliding off the weed block fabric on the mounds? Do we put the fabric everywhere except the mounds?
Thank you
I live in Indiana and is early December too late to plant Emerald Green Arborvitae trees. I am wanting to plan to use as a privacy fence for a hot tub. I just don’t want to plant them now and have them die in the winter and waste money and time.
A storm drain line runs through our backyard, and no matter what we plant or seed( lawn), it dies. Any recommendation?
Hi! I have a mature stand of bamboo that lines the entire length of my property to shield from busy street, probably 20 feet in height. I have struggled with it for years because I see it’s potential. I finally had a bamboo barrier installed last year so I don’t have to deal with unwanted spread anymore. Now the issue is there is a LOT of dead cane. I have been trying to thin it for years all on my own but I can’t keep up and we recently had a very bad winter storm that killed a lot more. My yard guy advises that I let him cut it down to about a foot and let it grow back. I am nervous that now we’ve put the barrier in it won’t reach it’s original height. My other thought is to hire a boy scout troop or something to come in and take out all the dead canes (they just lift out) all at once and have done with it. Thoughts?
I have dogs and a very muddy yard. I am thinking about getting rid of the grass and landscaping with a few different things such as gravel, mulch, and raised beds. Can I just kill the grass and throw these things on top of the area, or do I need to do something with the soil to ensure that the area doesn’t just end up super moist again?
I am in zone 5b and building two small flower beds one in our front yard and other in the side yard near AC unit at the end of the driveway. My front yard is in northeast direction and side yard is on west side. I want to plant Magnolia and 3 Rhododendrons shrubs around it for front yard . What other small evergreen shrubs and annuals I can plant in this bed. Will it be too much to have a magnolia and 3 rhododendrons along with other small shrubs all in one bed?
Can i cap the top of a 6×6 pressure treated retaining wall with stone block? My concern is protecting the wood from rot as it will be used for a vegetable garden.
I planted 60 arborvitae trees along the border of my property. My neighbor has a spotlight that shines in my yard all night every night and 6 of my trees directly under the light are dead. Is it just coincidence or can lighting damage trees?
I live in a berm home. The gutters are chest high from ground level and drop to just above the knees at the lowest level. I have 36′ of roof overhang. I need some good ideas of landscaping under the overhang. Rock garden? What to plant? I would like low maintenence but need to ensure I don’t infer with the drainage away from the house.
When is the best time of year to sod a lawn?
Can I sod a lawn this time of year (October)
In zip code 40356 is it too late in the year to trim evergreen shrubs such as boxwoods and skip laurels? If too late, when is next best time?
Can I lightly trim my burning bush branches? I have 3 bushes the one the branches are a little longer than the other two. It’s about 5 inches too long
My scrubs are starting to turn yellow or brown in some places I’ve removed one that completely dried up, what is causing this ?
I have a big hill in my backyard that is too steep to mow (I have to weed-eat it) I want to know what you would recommend I plant there so I no longer have to weed-eat and would be pretty to look at year around?
I’m raising a large area in the garden to lay a lawn. Too big and too much area to raise using topsoil. Topsoil very expensive at the moment so I’m starting with a few loads of subsoil to raise the area and then putting topsoil on top. My question is, do I compact the subsoil using the mini track machine to avoid sinking later or do I just compact it in the same way you do topsoil by waking and rolling etc. Thanks