Virtual Makeover for The Neighbors - At home with p. allen smith

Have you just ever looked at your garden or an outdoor living space and said: Oh dear, I really need to make this over. It really needs help. Or gone to someone's house and seen what they've done and just thought: Oh, how I wish my garden, my outdoor living space, could look as inviting as that. Well, if you'll send me your pictures, we'll take a look at them. And one of my neighbors actually sent me a picture of their property, and they're asking for a few questions. Now, you can see, it's a charming, sort of 1910 cottage. Lovely color. Not much in the way of a front garden. We get a sense of the back here, with a little carriage house, which matches the house. Which I like very much. Very good lines. Some of the things they mentioned that are problems include: They have Azaleas here, but they keep dying. They have difficulty keeping a lawn. And we're just looking for some ideas to improve it. This is a large American Holly here, which is providing a lot of shade here. The house faces south. And this is a very large Elm tree here. And this is a Redbud tree that's blocking this window. Okay, so, I think that what I would do in the very beginning would be: There's a tree back here. Let's take this tree out. It's behind. There we go. It's a Cherry Laurel that's growing back there. And then, I think I would take out, definitely, this Redbud would need to go, because it's blocking the view down the street. And notice this hedge is growing up into the window. And It really should be cut down, and you could do something kind of fun and scallopient like that. So those would be the things that I would alter with the existing landscape. So why don't we erase this. And let's talk about some things we could do to improve it even more by adding some things. So, the first thing I would like to think about is a sense of enclosure. And what might be nice would be to trim this hedge down, just like I talked about, and let it scallop up like this. It looks as though there's a path here, which I like that very much, that runs along here. You see, with the Redbud gone, we can carry the path over to this pathway leading up to the front door. So that could be in flagstones or brick. It wouldn't matter. And then, it would be really fun to enclose this garden with a Boxwood. This is Boxwood here. And bring Boxwood here. And then do a hedge that would run all the way across this little elevated --you see that brick border there-- and come all the way up to here with Boxwood. And pick up here and then come all the way down with Boxwood like that. Okay. This is a very large Holly tree, and it's taking a lot of nutrient out of the ground. Now, I would like to think we could irrigate this with a drip water system and get these Azaleas going. So, what would be fun would be to have these Azaleas growing all back here and connecting all back behind this. This, and then maybe in this corner, add the same color of Azalea, just on the inside of that hedge, so it sort of balances with this. Of course, our tree here will be gone, so I'm gonna take that out. The other thing to think about here is to just go ahead and do a post here and here, with a cap on it and then just a little gate. Picket fence gate. It sort of repeats, you can see, the rail here on the house. So you'd have this picket gate, and you would have this Boxwood hedge that would scallop down. And it would scallop down, just like we talked about over here, scalloping down. And then on this side of the house, if you really wanted a flowering tree here, this would be a great place for a Snowball Viburnum, here in this corner. And then, one could underplant that with fern, like Cinnamon Fern or Royal Fern, all underneath it. And then what I would do is try to level the sidewalk here. And you see, we have some issues with the sidewalk. And sometimes the city will have neighborhood grants that will come in, and they'll actually level the sidewalks or replace them. If that's the case, what you could do is come out here and place a Boxwood on either side. Again, really marking this entrance. So you got the two Boxwoods. You got the Boxwood low hedge. And I see that hedge only being about 22 to 24 inches tall. Use a Boxwood like, Green Velvet, where you don't have a lot of problems with it. And then up here on the porch, this would be a beautiful place for sort of Victorian stand, with some sort of fern on it. Charming house, and I hope that these ideas are helpful. Hey, if you're enjoying these pieces on style and how to improve the front or back of your property, send me a picture. And I'll have a look at it. Give you some ideas. And make sure you subscribe to eHow Home.