Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Jun 10, 2010 11:32 am Hi All It has been a year, and I have attempted to get my front yard looking respectable. I have attached some pictures, I hate the front path that I have made, the black rocks look all dirty and there was no weed mat down, so it gets overrun with weeds. I want to rip up the pebbles on the path and do something else with it. But I dont know what. The plant box with the lilly pillys is fine, and the grass is fine. I was thinking about putting some concrete edgine from the left side of the letterbox on a bit of a curve to along the right side of the plant box. I wanted to fill it in with the same sort of pebbles in the plant box, a more 'earthy' tone than the black/white pebbles. The next thing is the plants. The Yuccas are fine at the front, but I hate the cordylines. If I where to put all the earthy coloured pebbles, there would be too much pebble and not enough plants. Any ideas what I can plant in there? And how many? The other thing, on the left boundary side (not shown) where our lawn meets the neighbours lawn (well weed garden) it looks terrible, cause the neighbours garden is overrun in weeds. Any ideas on what sort of divider I can put to seperate their weed garden from our lawn? Maybe another pebble bed with some plants? Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Blog: http://house.jay.net.au/ Re: Front Garden ideas/help 2Jun 10, 2010 10:44 pm Personally, I think its missing colour and needs a good tidy. I like your layout but I feel your grass needs to be turned into a lawn and the plants in the planter box need to be altered. Perhaps maybe use the same plants as you have in the front to create some consistency If possible, I would paint your planter box a similar colour to your garage door (again to give a consistent appearance) and lastly get the driveway and stepping stones coloured and I think it would look great. I like the colours of your facade - very modern Re: Front Garden ideas/help 4Jun 11, 2010 9:22 am Thanks for the ideas. Sounds good. DO you think getting rid of the black/white pebbles and replacing with the same colour in the plant box would be too much? Blog: http://house.jay.net.au/ Re: Front Garden ideas/help 5Jun 13, 2010 9:41 am I can only see the first photo - the other won't display for me, so I can only base my comments on that one. I'd move your lilly-pillies... unless you do some serious and frequent clipping, theyr'e going to obscure your window eventually. Maybe they'd be better along the side boundary? You could encourage them to form a nice dense, bushy barrier, so you don't have to see your neighbour's weeds. I agree with Dollar that you need a feature tree - perhaps make a small square bed in the middle(ish) of the lawn and plant one there. jaytyn1 I was thinking about putting some concrete edgine from the left side of the letterbox on a bit of a curve to along the right side of the plant box. I wanted to fill it in with the same sort of pebbles in the plant box, a more 'earthy' tone than the black/white pebbles. I like the idea of extending the garden beds...but I'd design it somehow so that your water meter and tap are within it. Not sure how that would work...but taps and water meters in lawns are a PITA to mow around, and the lawn always ends up looking scruffy in that area. jaytyn1 I hate the front path that I have made, the black rocks look all dirty and there was no weed mat down, so it gets overrun with weeds. I want to rip up the pebbles on the path and do something else with it. But I dont know what. Any kind of pebbles or gravel will always develop weeds. You just have to pull them out or spray them. Weed mat wouldn't have made a difference - the weeds grow in the surface anyway. We have gravel pathways everywhere and I don't find the weeds a drama, but I expect to pull a few out every week or two. There are lots of other options if you really want to change - solid concrete paving, pavers laid up against each other, decking.... Why do you hate the cordylines? Colour, shape, something else....? They're going to grow quite tall eventually, and all the foliage will be at the top, so the positioning is probably not ideal. You could move them to a spot where they'd be at the back of a garden bed, with smaller plants underneath. I also think your side fence needs some planting in front of it - although I can only see a tiny bit of it in the photo. Maybe the cordys could go there, with some smaller plants in front - dianellas? Kangaroo paws? Correas? There are thousands of plants to choose from, and it's impossible to know what you might like. Have a look around the local nurseries and see what takes your fancy. Also walk around your neighbourhood and have a look at what plant combinations other people have used to get some ideas. Re: Front Garden ideas/help 6Jun 13, 2010 2:19 pm I meant to add: It would be really worthwhile getting a landscape designer to draw something up for you - you can always DIY the actual work, but a professional design could give you something a bit special. I recently finished my house and after landscaping, have begun to plan a fence. To be honest its been a bit of an afterthought so I'm after some much needed advice. The… 0 801 Fig Landscapes has produced an e-book and native plant index, available for purchase from their website. It's a great resource, full of inspiration and tips. Another… 1 12168 |