My wife and I are seeking recommendations to fill in landscaping in our front yard. The rock in the center will be removed but the five bushes in the rear are going to stay. We are going to contract a local landscaper and we’ve already shared our initial ideas; the basic idea was to add an arrangement of 1 gallon rose bushes which make up most of the dirt bed, but in the diagonal section where the walkway turns the landscaper suggested putting a bed of day lilies lining that diagonal section. It’s really an open slate and I was seeking advice for how many rose bushes to add and how to orient them! And if a patch of daylilies are a good idea? We’re going to have this finalized soon and just want to have it look clean and symmetrical. Thank you for any input!
by jimbogobo
3 Comments
I was going to suggest removing the bushes and designing around the rock.
The bushes are too close to the house and are the wrong scale and size for a cohesive garden design with roses and lilies.
The plants you’re proposing combined with leaving those small bushes in will result in a boring, flat landscape bed that looks like the stuff you see at a Dunkin donuts or Mcdonalds pull-around.
Remove the tiny shrubs, plant a large serviceberry, viburnum, or some ninebark.
Add perennial wildflowers and some bunching grasses. Create points of interest.
Check out the pre-designed landscape ideas available on the Wild Ones society website to help you get ideas on how to use larger and smaller plants to create depth and avoid creating a flat plane. They’ll also have species you can use for reference in your area to browse through and see what you like.
How tall are the bushes? The roses are a good idea but it might be a strange look if they get taller than the bushes! May not be an issue for a while if you’re only using 1 gallon plants, but something to consider.
For rose layout: Perhaps an offset of the current shrubs (3 rose bushes in the back row and 2 in the front)? Then you have some room to plant with the layout of day lilies; you can reposition the rock near the front if want, and consider a ground cover such as creeping thyme or a low juniper to round out the space and suppress weeds.