This is the transition area between my driveway and backyard. It currently feels like a random patch of grass.
My goals:
– Create some privacy from the road (The road isn’t to the right — that’s the driveway. The road is behind the camera.)
– Make this feel like a more intentional entry into the backyard
– Keep a rustic / woodland aesthetic
– Moderate budget ($500 or less)
– Zone 6
by Hall_of_Faith_Pod
10 Comments
I’ll be setting a series of arched iron trellises this spring for the very same purpose. I was going to go with only climbing flowers for the butterflies, but at least one or two will be grapes for the birds. Mulch path on the interior.
Could pop up a volleyball net
Make an L-shaped bed along the driveway apron and the foundation wall. Stick some ornamental clumping grasses along the driveway edge, then transition to shrubs along the foundation to help screen the patio. Viburnum, Arbs, panicle Hydrangeas, whatever your preference. A small ornamental tree in the lawn area could be nice too.
Put in a putting green
Figure the paths you require and grow native flowers on the rest.
You have a wide open bowling alley right now so the space just bleeds out into the street. To fix that and get your privacy you need to choke that entrance down. Build a deep sweeping planting bed right along that driveway curve and bring it inward to create a clear threshold. You want to mass your plants together into one continuous woodland edge instead of spacing them out like lonely soldiers. A mix of evergreen structure like Eastern Red Cedar or large Rhododendrons in the back mixed with understory shrubs like Viburnum will give you that rustic thicket look and block the sightlines.
With a five hundred dollar budget you are going to have to buy smaller plants but they will grow fast if you prep the dirt right. Smother the grass in that new bed area with cardboard and a thick layer of arborist wood chips to build the soil and keep the roots cool. Before you start laying all that out run a picture of your driveway through the GardenDream web app. You can use it to visualize exactly where that bed curve should swoop and what the mature shrubs will look like so you do not waste your budget putting things in the wrong spot.
Horseshoe pit
Half pipe and hydrangeas
Trampoline. Swingset. Giant playset. THINK OF THE CHILDREN.
Veggie garden