all our boxwoods were 100+ years old and what was left of them was falling to pieces.
house is in maryland near the bay. i’ve been thinking about something like double knockout roses in back, smaller evergreen in front of those, and then space for perennial and annual flowers.
the front (right side in photo) faces north. the side is east facing. the side does get shaded by the house quite a bit.
in the planter up front i’ve considered a low japanese maple with a wide canopy.
by c0wlick
2 Comments
Look at the sheer scale of that house. It is a massive piece of architecture and your plantings need to stand up to it otherwise they will look like a row of cupcakes sitting on a banquet table. Ditch the idea of lining things up in straight little rows of roses and small evergreens. You need sweeping connected masses of plants that flow together to anchor that heavy brick foundation into the lawn. Since that side yard gets heavily shaded by the house and the front faces north, double knockouts are going to stretch for light and look leggy and weak. Stick to structural shade lovers there like Oakleaf Hydrangeas or broadleaf evergreens like Schip Laurels to build your backbone first.
Putting a low weeping Japanese maple in that corner brick planter is a solid move for a focal point. Just make sure you underplant it with a trailing evergreen to soften that hard masonry edge. Before you drop a few thousand bucks filling those massive mulch beds with random nursery pots, run a photo of this blank slate through the GardenDream web app. It lets you overlay different plant layouts and test the scale of those masses visually so you do not end up with a restless polka dot clutter of isolated plants. Get your evergreen structure set in the app first, then layer in your perennials for seasonal color where you actually have the full sun to support them.
This is a project worthy of hiring a professional to at least give you a plan to work off of.