The cold winter snapped a lot of ivy we had in our front beds and specifically, lining the stairway to our front door. I kind of hated it because of its tendency to overgrow onto the stairs so I don't want to just replace it but I'm not sure what to plant in its place. Any ideas? DH has requests that it's somewhat easy to mow around.
I also want to add more to the bed with the maple, ultimately to cut down how much mulch I have to do every year. Any suggestions are welcome, please help! I'm in zone 6a and the front is northwest facing so it gets some sun, but the house shades it a lot in the afternoon.
The space to the left of the steps is probably 18 inches to two feet wide.
I have huge hostas on the other side of the stairs and I love the look of having ground cover between them. The lavender is beautiful too!
Annuals are beautiful and what I've done the last few years but it gets expensive so I'm trying to fill in with more perennials. Maybe a few flowering bushes. I have a hydrangea and a few butterfly bushes that I added last year.
Post by simpsongal on Apr 21, 2015 11:11:51 GMT -5
I'd definitely add creeping thyme or creeping phlox to hang over that ledge - so pretty! Maybe add one more evergreen to fill the space and lots of perennials & a few annuals. We have one of those generic, creeping spruce like evergreens....I'm not sure what it's called.
I'm always rather fond of lithadora, its a nice lowish height, mounds prettily and has a good variety of flower colors (blue, purpley blue, white stars on color, pinks). Not sure about how it does in your zone though.
I don't think lavender will be happy there since it sounds like its shaded a good part of the day.
Creeping thymes are my favorite to fill in along the ground. Woolly spreads well and is a fun texture, caraway is one of the faster spreading ones. You can vary the thymes you plant for interest as they'll have slightly different leaf tones and flower in white, pinks, pink-reds, pink-lavenders.
I'm always rather fond of lithadora, its a nice lowish height, mounds prettily and has a good variety of flower colors (blue, purpley blue, white stars on color, pinks). Not sure about how it does in your zone though.
I don't think lavender will be happy there since it sounds like its shaded a good part of the day.
Creeping thymes are my favorite to fill in along the ground. Woolly spreads well and is a fun texture, caraway is one of the faster spreading ones. You can vary the thymes you plant for interest as they'll have slightly different leaf tones and flower in white, pinks, pink-reds, pink-lavenders.
Ditto Phlox as well.
It would depend exactly where it's put. I have a bed of lavender planted at the front of our house - which faces north. It gets filtered sunlight in the morning and more direct sun in the afternoon. The largest plant is about 3 years old. I added the smaller ones last year.
Alternatively, here's what I have planted along our front walkway, which gets much more shade:
So that's daylilies (Stella d'Oro and Earlybird Cardinal), coral bells, lady's mantle, Vintage Gold False Cypress, Barberry, and Viburnum.
I'm always rather fond of lithadora, its a nice lowish height, mounds prettily and has a good variety of flower colors (blue, purpley blue, white stars on color, pinks). Not sure about how it does in your zone though.
I don't think lavender will be happy there since it sounds like its shaded a good part of the day.
Creeping thymes are my favorite to fill in along the ground. Woolly spreads well and is a fun texture, caraway is one of the faster spreading ones. You can vary the thymes you plant for interest as they'll have slightly different leaf tones and flower in white, pinks, pink-reds, pink-lavenders.
Ditto Phlox as well.
It would depend exactly where it's put. I have a bed of lavender planted at the front of our house - which faces north. It gets filtered sunlight in the morning and more direct sun in the afternoon. The largest plant is about 3 years old. I added the smaller ones last year.
Alternatively, here's what I have planted along our front walkway, which gets much more shade:
So that's daylilies (Stella d'Oro and Earlybird Cardinal), coral bells, lady's mantle, Vintage Gold False Cypress, Barberry, and Viburnum.
You have a really lovely traditional home and I think something formal would look really nice. Like a pair of trees/shrubs flanking the stairs.
Box is formal but it needs regular trimming. There are conifers (pine tree family) that stay small. For short and fat there is "Mr. Bowling Ball" arbor vitae. You could probably have two lines of these guys march up the staircase. For just a tall and skinny accent maybe Tiny Towers Cypress or Columnar Golden Yew?
Post by treedimensional on Apr 23, 2015 5:44:09 GMT -5
It's really tough for me to offer suggestions because the design bothers me so intensely. I want to take out the awful stairway and redo the whole entry.
I'm not being snarky! It certainly is not the homeowner's fault and I would never mean to imply that.
I just feel like this stairway does not belong on a Colonial house, and it bothers me greatly. Wrong architectural style. Disharmony. Incongruous.
I know, it's not like you to be snarky. But that would really bother me if I was the OP.
My MIL said to me recently "your backyard was really nice... when you first moved in!" I know I'm sensitive but dang, say that shit behind my back. It hurt my feelers when said to my face. And I KNOW my backyard looks like shit right now. But thanks for the reminder, dude.
Eh, I don't care lol. I certainly didn't put it in, the previous home owner did and compared to the builder grade look that plenty of houses in the neighborhood still sport for this exact home, I find it an improvement. However, this is $200,000 two story planned development land, I'm certainly not wasting the money to rip it out, LOL for days. I'll just find something pretty to plant around it, which is what I was asking for with my OP.
Also, since I've opened the whole front up to critique, how about color pallet suggestions? We'll probably have to paint the exterior this year and we'll stick with the tan/cream trim because it matches the siding in the back. But I want to switch up the shutters and door. The previous owner had a fascination with hunter green circa what, 1990, and I want it all gone lol. We just had green carpet replaced yesterday, far bigger issues than disharmonious stairs lol.
Also, since I've opened the whole front up to critique, how about color pallet suggestions? We'll probably have to paint the exterior this year and we'll stick with the tan trim because we it matches the siding in the back. But I want to switch up the shutters and door. The previous owner had a fascination with hunter green circa what, 1990, and I want it all gone lol. We just had green carpet replaced yesterday, far bigger issues than disharmonious stairs lol.
I'm thinking black shutters?
Can't go wrong with black shutters on a brick colonial.
Lemme see if I can dig up a photo of my folks' house.