Starting to Landscape

[Mr_Yan]

So I am now starting to landscape around this new patio. The first area I will have is 3.5' wide east to west x 14' long north to south. Full sun. Drive way on one side. Patio on the other side. Patio gate to the south. Raised deck for the back door entry on the north.

Limitations:
1) I want the plants to stay contained within this area.
2) I don't want a lot of height up against the small entry door deck.
3) There will be a lot of traffic along all sides of this small patch of dirt.

Wants:
1) Evergreens.
2) Some visual screen between the patio and driveway but not a solid wall.
3) Perennials with low maintenance requirements.
4) Flowers.

My initial idea is two mid size arborvitae roughly in the center, an evergreen shrub (holly, azalea, or rhododendron) close to the deck, and fill the rest in with creeping phlox, black eyed susans, and daises.

My thoughts are the phlox will spread to create a ground cover and give flowers in late April. The black eyed Susans and daisies also spread and give mid to late season flowers. Arborvitae are boring but narrow and tall and predictable - thinking ones that limit in height to about 10 to 15 feet.

Any ideas on other plants that may work in this area?

 

[Tetters]

Be careful with holly @Mr_Yan if it's near the house. The roots might not behave well, which might be a problem with rhododendrons too.
Physocarpus diabolo is a favourite small shrub of mine. Red leaves are a welcome relief to the all green look, but it is deciduous. Photinia 'red robin' however is evergreen, and just need regular clipping when the red leaves become dull, and then it shows nice bright red new foliage.

 

[Mr_Yan]

Well Mrs Yan and I went plant shopping today then I spent another few hours outside planting and moving top soil.

This is what that bed looks like after about 1/2" of rain.



In there are the two Emerald Beauty Arborvitae, two Black Eyed Susans, a Shasta Daisy, and a tomato.

Over in that red circle is where some future bush / shrub will go but some stairs have to be built then another set ripped out. So maybe that bush won't go in this year.

I want creeping phlox in there too but none of the three nurseries we checked have it in stock anymore.

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For more of the landscaping around this patio we bought these to start making the skeleton:
2 more Emerald Beauty Arborvitae.
A Bloodgood Japanese Maple.
A "Spruce Nest" dwarf bright green spruce that should be about 2-3 feet tall by 4-6 feet wide.
A "blue rug" Juniper.

 

[Mr_Yan]

OK, I cut out of work early and all 5 of us made a trip to a nursery and landscaper I've never been to. All of the kids were well behaved but two of them really liked walking in the sprinklers that were running. Any way I spent a lot of plants and we came out with:

• 2 Salvia "violet profusion" shrubs
• 2 Juniper "Blue Star" shrubs
• 2 Barberry "Sunjoy orange pillar" shrubs
• 2 Dwarf butterfly bush "Pugster amethyst" shrubs
• 1 10 gallon River birch clump tree
• 1 10 gallon American sycamore tree

The two 10 gallon potted trees are going to the south of the patio to, eventually, cast shade over the patio. Several years down the road I hope they shade this landscaping enough that I have to change it out. We're talking decades there.

I'm an engineer not a photographer so the attached pics are poor but there.

Overall I want this garden to be a lot of evergreens with different colors and textures going but there will be pops of red from the barberry and bloodgood Japanese maple and purples with yellow flowers a possibility still.

In the point area I think I want a bunch of either catmint or lavender between the butterfly bushes and the patio.

I still want to get a little more evergreen height under the center of the bay window and in the front corner where I have a blue star juniper between the fence and the maple. I think I will look to a yellow hued arborvitae, yew, or dwarf Alberta spruce.

 

[Tetters]

Nice choices, particularly the Berberis (Barberry) which is columnar and requires little pruning. Small birds like to use this kind of plant for protection. There is a golden leafed Berberis called ''thunbergii ''Golden Rocket'' if you can find it when searching for yellows. Your Juniper "Blue Star" won the RHS award of garden merit, and it is a very neat little conifer, only growing to about half a metre.

 

[Mr_Yan]

I planted the birch and sycamore trees slightly into the lawn south of the patio and planted the barberry and dwarf butterfly bushes today. As I wrapped that up and started watering in everything it started to rain. It's low 60s F and overcast turning to rain today so that shouldn't be too much additional stress on the plants getting transplanted.

I'm still waffling on the location of the salvia and blue star junipers. Tomorrow I plan to do my last purchases for this season and get some mulch, catmint, and maybe an evergreen or two.

 

[Sheal]

A nice selection of plants Mr_Yan but you might regret the Sycamore. It will self seed everywhere and they grow quickly.