Need Some Landscaping Recommendations

[Matt_]

Today marks the 2 year anniversary since we've moved into our first house. I've been working CONSTANTLY. The inside is completely different, no room has gone untouched.

 

For the outside we've put on a new roof, gutters, shutters, garage doors and i just powerwashed the entire house yesterday (and a million other things that you wouldn't notice from the pics... back windows/stumps dug up/ new gates/ filled in a pond/ edging/ mailbox/ etc etc).

 

I'd like to start planning some landscaping..... being an engineer, im inherently blind when it comes to being pretty and artistic . I know we have some well seasoned members here so please throw some ideas my way.

 

Also... my wife and I are very young with a 6 month old baby (and hopefully a 2nd one in about a year). So right now im looking for some "basic" ideas to get started... like i'll probably use stones on mulch for a walkway which could be turned into pavers down the road..

 

OK some pics:

 

Here's what we moved into:

 

 

 

 

And here it is as of today:

 

 

 

 

 

For now, the area i'd really like to focus on is best seen in that last pic.

I want to make a walkway from my front porch that goes around the side of the house to the backyard. And i'd like to put a small/nice looking tree off the corner, so the walkway would go between the tree and the corner of the house. And add some small plants or bushes on the exterior of the walkway for some "depth" i guess you could say

 

Thoughts/ideas? Tree or bush recommendations?

 

[wurgs]

Are you looking for a larger tree for shade or an ornamental smaller one? For larger trees I've always been a fan of maples. They grow fairly fast and turn amazing colors in the fall. A good smaller tree would be a flowering crab, they don't grow very big and have nice flowers in the spring with no messy fruit to pick up.

[Matt_]

I'm looking for a smaller ornamental tree...

 

I looked up some pictures, is the flowering crabapple tree what you're talking about?

[hockeypro1411]

Avoid a fruit tree like the plague. They're a mess and attract bees. Another thing to avoid is that black landscape "edging" crap. I've been doing this long enough to have figured out that it's a pain in the ass to install and an even bigger pain in the ass to trim around (assuming you cut your own lawn); not to mention it looks like crap. With the way the lawn slopes toward the back you could make a wicked nice retaining wall berm there and just do the standard plants and a flagstone walkway. Smaller decorative grasses always look nice when they're put in along any kind of walkway.

[Matt_]

thanks for the tip man.

 

and yes, i cut my own lawn. I used to mow for a company so im very particular about my lawn (its not much yet... but i have to regrade the back so i haven't put much money and effort into the grass yet). Thus... i agree. that plastic trim stuff is junk! Im going to cut my own edge and do it right; and im a master with the weed wacker keeping those edges clean

[SavageNFS]

I like the idea of a retaining wall coming off the corner of the house and forming a circular tree/plant bed. Probably around 10-12' in diameter. You could return the wall into the house right where the siding elevation changes on the side. Put an ornamental tree in the center with plantings around it. There are a ton of trees that will look great there, but it really depends on your climate as to what to put in. One thing we like to do is mix plantings that bloom in different seasons. That way we get nice color from different parts of the yard at different times, but rarely is something not in bloom. Keep that in mind. You don't want a one season wonder.

[Matt_]

I like the idea of a retaining wall coming off the corner of the house and forming a circular tree/plant bed. Probably around 10-12' in diameter. You could return the wall into the house right where the siding elevation changes on the side. Put an ornamental tree in the center with plantings around it. There are a ton of trees that will look great there, but it really depends on your climate as to what to put in. One thing we like to do is mix plantings that bloom in different seasons. That way we get nice color from different parts of the yard at different times, but rarely is something not in bloom. Keep that in mind. You don't want a one season wonder.

 

 

That's exactly what im talking about but didn't specifically word it that way... I can go to the store and pick out some plants/shrubs/etc... but i dont know what blooms when and i want my house to look nice for more than 1-2 months out of the year.

 

I'm actually going to build a retaining wall in the next season or two next to my driveway. See how the yard slopes down toward the driveway? I'm going to cut away that slope, widen my driveway and put a retaining wall there. On the "lawn" side of that retaining wall i plan on putting a walkway straight from my front door to the sidewalk (it'll actually be right in line with my mailbox too). I plan on tying that retaining wall/walkway into the landscaping that we're talking about.... oh man now the gears are turning

 

ok ok, back to basics... any suggestions on plants that do well in the NJ area? Hot/humid summers with sporadic rain and will survive cold/snowy winters so i dont have to replant them every year?

[RyanbabZ71]

Avoid a fruit tree like the plague. They're a mess and attract bees. Another thing to avoid is that black landscape "edging" crap. I've been doing this long enough to have figured out that it's a pain in the ass to install and an even bigger pain in the ass to trim around (assuming you cut your own lawn); not to mention it looks like crap. With the way the lawn slopes toward the back you could make a wicked nice retaining wall berm there and just do the standard plants and a flagstone walkway. Smaller decorative grasses always look nice when they're put in along any kind of walkway.

 

Yea 5 yrs ago I put the black plastic edging around my mulch (see photos). Well after weed wacking and normal weather it needs to be replaced. We are going with concrete curbing, almost 200ft around the house and trees. Having it done next weekend I will post photos of the after.

[ShimanoFisherman]

I just finished an extensive landscaping project about a month ago. All I had was the three front beds and no concrete in the back except for a very small porch. I didn't do any of it b/c I wanted it all done at one time, but the plan might give you some ideas. Something you might think about, is getting a plan like this done for you and then you can work on it at your own pace. That way you get to sit down with someone who does it for a living and will know all about appropriate plants to use and where they should be placed.

 

Definitely till in lots of pre-emergent herbicide (Amaze around here) when you're setting up any new beds. They obviously didn't put enough in mine and I have weeds already coming up through the mulch. They're supposed to come back next week and deal with that.

 

I put in a drip irrigation system after they were done and that really makes it nice. Everything gets watered the proper amount and I don't have to worry about it during the hot summers around here except to extend the duration of the watering as it gets hotter.

 

As far as plants go, I know you're in a totally different zone and I don't know how the ones they planted for me would work up there. I know someone else mentioned Maples. I had two large Red Maples planted in the back for shade. Those are native to Louisiana so I don't know how they would fare up in NJ.

Landscaping.pdf

Landscaping.pdf

Landscaping.pdf

Landscaping.pdf

[wurgs]

I'm looking for a smaller ornamental tree...

 

I looked up some pictures, is the flowering crabapple tree what you're talking about?

 

I believe so, put it in about 3 years ago.It has grown pretty fast and up north here will get about 20-25' tall/ Right now its full of flowers.

 

As far as plants go, I know you're in a totally different zone and I don't know how the ones they planted for me would work up there. I know someone else mentioned Maples. I had two large Red Maples planted in the back for shade. Those are native to Louisiana so I don't know how they would fare up in NJ.

 

Maples should work just fine. I was told they were a hardy tree. I put in a silver and a autumn blaze Maple 3 years ago and they are doing very well. If they can handle the weather up here they should grow pretty much anywhere in the lower 48.

 

If you get concrete edging ask if they put in reinforcing rod. I had them put it in mine when they poured it and it hasn't even cracked in the 3 years I've had it. I've heard of some problems after a few years of the freeze and thaw cycle don't think you have that issue in NJ but something to keep in mind.

[sab316]

You need some height against that 2-story house bad. I'm a landscape contracting (basically a Landscape architect but without the name because I take all LA classes).

 

If you're looking for a smaller tree with flowers look at a Flowering dogwood, Crepe Myrtle (if you let it grow natural and don't chop it off... and if it grows in your hardiness zone) because the spring/summer flowers, red bud because of the bright pink flowers in spring, Japanese Maple will add some color but not much in the way of flowers. If you went the Jap. Maple route I would look at a laceleaf (very thin and delicate leaves) cultivar and one that stays that burgundy year round because that will stand out against the white house. Don't know if they will grow up there in Yankee land but you can look at a Golden Rain Tree... has yellow flowers that are pretty showy and they don't get very big.

 

You could make a very nice dry stack (no mortar just the weight of the stone and dirty behind it to hold in place) of field stone and plant some shrubs of your choice in there. Me and my father own a landscape business and we recently put in 2 retaining walls of dry stack stone where a driveway from the neighboring house was 8ft above ground level to the clients house. The dry stack stone has held up very well and looks great. You could also look at a ginkgo for the neon yellow fall color... if you get one though make sure its a male. The females have a fruit that smells like throw up.

 

If you want more of a ever green tree on the outside there you could look at a Youpon Holly. They get about 20-25 ft tall (here in Mississippi.. of course you'd have to check hardiness zones again) and have almost translucent red berries if you have a male plant around. You could look at a Sweetbay Magnolia, they stay small and have a silvery backside to the leaves which makes them look good in the wind (yet again.. hardiness zones)

 

Now if you're looking for something bigger... like real big... one of my favorites is a Lace Bark Elm, has awesome shades of orange/blue in the exfoliating bark.

 

As far as shrubs, if you were in Mississippi, I'd go with some type of Encore Azaleas. Not real sure if they would grow up there or not but they flower in summer and fall and look beautiful. You could also look at putting in a wildflower bed. We've done this for a bunch of clients recently and we just till it and throw in the seed, you can find native plants to your area, and let it do its magic. It really bring some color to the site.

 

This is all I can think of after 36 hours of work in two days! Sorry for the huge post... This kind of thing just gets the mind kicking.

[ryan_hermanutz]

Matt, I'll ask my Landscape Architect guy if he has any recommendations for multi seasonal plants. As for retaining walls, those really are pretty cool, but a couple things to think about. The most important is your kid(s); you want something that they are not going to fall off of. I don't know the code where you live but here anything over 3 feet needs a handrail and anything over 4 feet needs an engineered plan. Other than that I have always been found of large flat lawns, maybe because growing up I had 2 acres of not so flat land that I had to mow with a push mower.

[Matt_]

Awesome! Thanks for the input everyone.

 

Seth.. no need to apologize - that's exactly the type of input i was looking for.

[AThomas7782]

I'm closely watching this thread for ideas since we close on our first house next week. Nice house Matt!

[RyanbabZ71]

Had the curbing put in today. We werent home so I got these pics tonight when we got back. I think it looks much better Total of 186 ft done