Begone Grass: New Landscape Beds Take it's Place!

Ok most of it.

So here are some photos of my freshly made beds on the front of the house. They pretty much eliminated all but a bit of lawn up front. I have a few drought tolerant foundation shrubs planted in them to get started, but will be filling them in with all sorts of pretties over the spring.

The beds on the front of the house face North West...it's a tough exposure. Plants against the house get shaded a good part of the day, then get blasted with the hottest of afternoon sun in the summer. For foundation plantings, I went with a Southern Wax Myrtle, Juniper 'Wintergreen' for some height, Texas Sage 'Desperado', Loropetalum 'Ever Red', Nandina 'Obsession', Abelia 'Kaleidoscope'...there is also a grey leaf Cotoneaster on the corner for some accent. In the outer part of the bed I planted a Maple 'Red Sunset' to eventually provide some shade on the corner of the house. These are not huge trees, but should round out at about 40-50', 30' wide. So I planted the wax myrtle, loropetallum and abelias because while they can handle that hot sun, they can also do well in the shade that will eventually be cast on them by the tree. Now, the Texas sage may eventually have to go if it gets to shady, but that's not going to happen for quite a while. On the outer part of the bed I planted a dwarf Peach 'Bonfire'...this is a cool purple leafed peach that only grows to 6'-8', but produces normal sized peaches. There is also a Leucophyllum langmaniae 'Rio Bravo' thrown in there along with an Agave Americana and a Barberry 'Orange Rocket'. There is also an evergreen Wisteria over on the corner of the fence with some transplanted Iris. I will add a number of different sun perennials and bulbs to this bed. I may even add some dwarf columnar apple trees against the house.

On the East side of the house I basically mimicked the same foundation plantings, with a few spacing adjustments. This side is a bit more difficult because the part against the house and in the corner plants will receive even more shade, but still get blasted with the hot afternoon summer sun. It's not an idea exposure for sure (not to mention I have that giant concrete driveway that is a conduit for massive amounts of heat..ick. I have dreams of jack hammering it ALL up...lol). There is a Sweet Olive hiding around the corner and a Holly 'Nellie R. Stevens' anchoring down the far corner. I also planted a dwarf Apple tree 'Empire' over in the sunnier part. I plan on tucking in some Hellebores and wood fern in the shadier corner and adding some 'Spring Bouquet' Viburnum and a 'Mutabilis' roses to the far end. Plus any number of sun perennials and bulbs.

We used the leftover stone to edge the front of the crazy driveway bed...

All in all, I have lots of space to garden up front and I'm super excited..it looks pretty empty right now, but all of these shrubs I l planted will fill in to capture a lot of the corners. It will be crazy looking in no time! Check back for more plantings soon...