We recently cleaned up this side of the house of overgrown grasses mixed with vetch, and I’m wondering what to do here. This is seen by everyone as you’re driving up so I’d like it to hide all the utilities and mini-split stuff. The Camellia is staying, grandma planted that a few years after they built the house. The mini split used to be hidden by a few rather ugly bushes and overgrown lavender.
To the right I’d like to build a rain garden that takes gutter water away from the house down to the ivy beds below, and to separate that brown strip between the lawn areas.
Yes it’s English ivy, no I didn’t plant it, yes it’s contained, no I don’t want to tear it out, yes I know that goes against so many people’s opinions. Also I didn’t choose the house color, nobody in the family likes it, and if you have color combo suggestions I’m all ears.
by homotreefarmer
5 Comments
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https://preview.redd.it/41ro9efolkug1.jpeg?width=2079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=292784f1b2489949d7fde58c717707a93dc8c4ee
For posterity, here’s a before picture.
Ha ha ha. I love your last paragraph. Let’s hope people read it. To cover all your utilities in the front of your house, what if you add a freestanding cedar trellis. Cedar holds up against the weather so that you won’t have to paint it or stain it very often. Then plant vines like Clematis, two or three plants along it. The trellis would be more stable if it was in the shape of an L or close to an L. A foot away from the house put a 2 foot panel facing the driveway or angled towards the street. Then add a 6 to 8 foot panel that covers all your utilities and leave it completely open over by the Primrose. The bottom couple of feet of the barrier should be more solid and maybe you can find something more decorative and open for the top half of the panel. This way, whatever vines you put there will not attach themselves to the house. If you do use Clematis, the root area has to be protected from everything to thrive better. When you do repaint your house, you should paint that white thing going up the middle of your house the same color as the house then you won’t have to cover it. I love the idea of your water garden.
I actually like the house color. 😂 It makes me happy.
r/ExteriorDesign has lots of folks that are good choosing house colors. If you want the landscape to look nice the house color needs to work with foliage color.
If water moves safely away from the house plant stuff that looks lush and pond edgy rather than digging out a dry stream bed and all that. Native water iris as the non native is invasive, Gunnera type stuff, rushes, tall sedges.
A camellia evokes Japanese garden to me so I’d work at iwaki style pruning the camellia and azalea? and using low juniper and monkey grass type grassy stuff to trim the edge of the bed against the house. Don’t trim into the tight shapes, let the plants show their form and prune long/tall stems so it looks natural. You’ll want a way to cross the rain garden to the lawn area, look up all the marvelous ways one crosses water in a Japanese strolling garden to find one that appeals to you. It’s not just arched bridges. There are boardwalk segments set at angles so spirits won’t find a way across, all sorts of stepping stones, really great stuff. The camellia is very awkward looking now, perhaps this will help it show its true beauty. They aren’t just about the flowers, the shrub itself is beautiful.