Calling all gardeners - again!
#93845 - 07/28/04 09:33 AM
|
|
|
|
|
|
I can't remember where I heard it - but I'm looking for a gardening/landscape website where you can put in a picture of your house - and then put different shrubs/flowers around it to see how it would look. Someone mentioned this one time, but I don't remember if it was on this board or not 
Anyone?
--------------------
~Cara~
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Hey Cara! I'm not sure of which site you are talking about, it sounds really cool though! This is a good site to see whats available http://springhillnursery.com/default.asp?sid=400453&EID=GSHtn
I have ordered a lot of stuff from there because its cheaper but its mostly bare root. Bare root means you just get the roots and have to actually grow them yourselves, that may be more than you want to do right now but it has a lot of good ideas. If you post a picture of your house and an idea of what kinds of things you like or were thinking about, I can help! I have more quare feet of garden area than I do house! I planted everything myself and its taken almost 5 years!
--------------------
Taking it one day at a time.....
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Hey Michele! Thanks for that website - It'll definately help. Here's a couple pics of the house. We get grass this Friday!  YAY! But it's going to be a very tiring weekend after we lay it all
I want to put flowers/shrubs in front of the porch and behind the sidewalk....basically lining the whole porch. Here's a closer view of the spot behind the sidewalk.
I'm thinking smaller shrubs - like 4' high maybe. As far as colors - I really don't know. I'm thinking white flowers? I don't want too many colors, and I want things that are easily maintained. We get a lot of sun in the front there. The house faces south.
If you're too busy don't worry about it! Any suggestion would be great. I'm not in a rush, I'm just learning all this stuff
Talk to you soon!
~Cara
--------------------
~Cara~
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
I don't have any gardening advice, I just wanted to say that your house is *gorgeous*! I'm officially jealous of your front porch!
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Well thanks! I love the front porch too That was my selling point. Our next house will definately NOT be new construction though. Ugh. What a pain, and we're still dealing with the builders!
--------------------
~Cara~
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
What a GREAT house! My front porch is similar and I just love it!
Are you going to put grass right up to the sidewalk? What are you going to use for a divider between the grass and the section in front of the porch you want to put flowers in? What about along the side of the house??
Check out Azela's, they bloom in the spring look nice and green well into late fall. Another option might be climbing roses. The climbing roses are much easier to take care of the regular roses and would look pretty winging through the fencing on the front porch? You will probably want a couple of small everygreen shrubs, just so you have some color all year.
--------------------
Taking it one day at a time.....
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Thanks girl!
Yes we're putting grass right up to the sidewalk - that's the plan.
As for a divider - I have no idea - maybe a single layer of those big flat stones? I'm not good at picturing this or knowing what will look good....
I love that climbing roses idea - I'm definately going to check that out! I don't know what those other flowers are that you mentioned, so I'll have to look them up
Thanks so much Michele! You rock.
--------------------
~Cara~
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
What a beautiful house, Cara! AND I love the new pic, too!
--------------------
Christine
Those who can do; those who want it done better teach.
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
--------------------
~Cara~
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Congrats on your beautiful new home. I just love it especially the front porch. My son & his wife have just moved into their new home and will be laying grass soon. He is working on putting in a sprinkler system first. Are you doing that, too? It will be quite a tough job.
Good luck on laying grass !!! I will be thinking of you as I am mowing my lawn !!
Barbie
--------------------
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Thanks Barbie! We aren't installing a sprinkler system - we are too poor silly! Haha. We bought some sprinklers at Walmart (you know, heaven on Earth). I have put sod down before (my husband and I both worked in construction before - he still does). It is a LOT harder than it looks! Those rolls of sod are SUPER heavy! And you get really really dirty. It's hard to go into the house for anything because you're so dirty from head to toe.
We are very excited to finally have grass though! I've never had my own yard before! They just did a final grading of our yard, so hopefully it doesn't rain before this weekend.
Sure you don't want to come help??
~Cara
--------------------
~Cara~
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Ok, heres my idea! I LOVE the ideas of rocks! All my flower beds are lined with large rocks, the only problem is, they can be a little expensive. You will need something to keep the grass divided from the flower bed area in the front. You can buy this black edging stuff at Home Depot. Its pretty cheap, you just decide the outline of the bed and dig a small trench. The plastic divider goes down about 4 or 5 inches to keep the grass from growing into the flower bed area. All you see sticking up from the ground is a small black "lip."
Instead of using mulch to cover your beds in, you could buy small white rocks, like pea gravel. You can get that at home depot! Then, you could go to a land scape company and big 10 or 15 big rocks (like 12-15 inche diamter) to use in the front as a kind of boarder.
Have you thought about a small tree to put just off the other side of the porch? Imagine this, looking at the picture, draw a line from the cement step to the the left. Like if you were to take the sidewalk and flip it to the other side. At the end of where that imaginary sidewalk would be, plant a small tree. Countinue your edging and smaller rocks under that tree and back to the corner of the porch. Did that make sense? That would balance out the two sides of your house and wouldn't be too much work!
If you are feeling energetic  you could also egde out a little circle under your lamp post in the front yard and grow some climatis or other flowering vines up the post! Actually, honeysuckle would be great and it smells lovely!
--------------------
Taking it one day at a time.....
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Oh my gosh Michele. Will you come over? PLEASE?? Haha. I'll pay you!
I'm going to print what you wrote and show it to Justin. Maybe we can draw something up in Autocad or something.
Thank you SOOO much for taking the time to think about it and help me out! I definately need help in this area 
I love that idea about the light post - I had thought of it- but our neighbors just did it and I would feel like I'm copying. I hate that. They got grass way before us so they are a little ahead.
I'll have to look at how expensive those rocks are, because I love that idea. I didn't even know about that divider thing! LoL. I know what it is, and I've seen it, but I didn't know you had to do it even if you put rocks there. I'm going to go to Home Depot soon! Maybe next week.
Anyways - thank you thank you thank you! You rock, I know I tell you that all the time
I'm off to my therapist. I don't really feel like going to day Have a good day!
--------------------
~Cara~
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
It is a full time job around here just keeping my lawn and flower gardens looking good. The grass grows so fast here that we need to cut twice a week. Just when everything looks sooooo good the next day it needs cutting again...UGH
AND....it's so hot!!! 
Thanks for the invite, though, and have a good time. I bet the house will look great with the grass in.
Barbie
--------------------
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
Wow!
#93947 - 07/28/04 02:09 PM
|
|
|
|
|
RachelT
Reged: 07/01/04
Posts: 2350
Loc: Minnesota
|
|
|
What a beautiful house Cara. Once again, I'm jealous.  (I'm jealous of Casey's house too) Good luck on the sodding!
PS. Cute new pic!
--------------------
~ Rachel (IBS-C)
If life hands you lemons, make lemonade!!
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Thanks Becky!
It's a good starting house for us - it's smaller than it looks in that picture I think, but it has 3 bedrooms. The living/family rooms are real small - almost like bedrooms! But our room is HUGE, and we have a big walk-in closet! And we have a full basement, so that's nice. We are young (~26) and have only been married about 16 months, but we have SO MUCH STUFF! We are bad at throwing things out.
Anyways, thanks! We love it too. It's just exciting to own a house, and we love the neighborhood. We have a big pond right in the backyard!
--------------------
~Cara~
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
PS -
#94082 - 07/28/04 09:07 PM
|
|
|
|
|
atomic rose
Reged: 06/01/04
Posts: 7013
Loc: Maine (IBS-A stable since July '05!)
|
|
|
*Great* new pic! Very nice!
I think that out of all the houses we looked at, the one we went with was the only one that didn't have a porch. Figures! I've wanted a house with a big front porch for as long as I can remember. Ah well. Sorry to hear you're still dealing with the builders, but it's *bound* to be over with soon, huh?
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
Michele
#94107 - 07/29/04 04:56 AM
|
|
|
|
BarbaraS
Reged: 02/12/03
Posts: 1939
Loc: Wisconsin
|
|
|
Okay Michele since you are the expert Gardener and Optician on the boards - I have more questions for you.
I have a two story deck on the back of my house. The deck is about five and half feet off the ground. The back of the deck takes afternoon sun and portion is on the north side. I like to do a combination of tall flowers and bushes, but I'm nervous about planting the right flowers on the west side of my house. Any suggesions?
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Thanks! I figured I'd switch the pic, I get bored easily.
I hope we are done with the builders soon. Yesterday they came over to finish putting hooks on the cabinets (the cabinet people sent 3 too few - idiots). And they were grading our yard because we're laying the sod this weekend. The cable people haven't buried the cable yet, so it's laying across our front yard, which is stressing me out because we have to lay grass on Friday and we need it buried!! Then we have a 30 day punch list of little things we want fixed, and who knows when they will be coming over to do that stuff. I'll be glad to be finally settled!
Oh - and you have a huge deck - if I had a deck that big I wouldn't care as much about the front porch! I would love to have a deck. How far is that house from where you are now?
--------------------
~Cara~
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
Re: PS -
#94143 - 07/29/04 07:56 AM
|
|
|
|
|
atomic rose
Reged: 06/01/04
Posts: 7013
Loc: Maine (IBS-A stable since July '05!)
|
|
|
Just keep taking deep breaths and reminding yourself that it's small stuff. (Even if it really isn't, it might help. LOL!) I know you'll be glad to be finally done with it all, though. We do have a list of things the house needs done, and initially, I was like, "I'm not moving into that place until EVERYTHING is done" - because we're talking things like replacing the roof and several windows and tearing up walls to rewire outlets. I didn't want to deal with the mess. NOW I'm thinking, eh, I'll deal with the mess. LOL! I just want to move in and have everything done by Christmas, maybe, hopefully.
I guess the deck makes up for the porch. It'll definitely be nice when we have company in the summer and early fall, but a shaded porch swing would have been nice too, heh.
The new house is about an hour north of where we are now, as I drive... an hour and a half if you actually drive the speed limit.
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
Re:barbra
#94155 - 07/29/04 08:29 AM
|
|
|
|
michele
Reged: 06/02/03
Posts: 6886
Loc: southeastern michigan
|
|
|
Ok, I'm just a little confused. Are you wanting to plant flowers in the area under the deck? What color is the outside of your house? Is the soil more sandy or more like clay? And one more, how big of an area?? I'll be more than happy to help, just need a bit more info! 
--------------------
Taking it one day at a time.....
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Sorry for the confusion. I like to plant bushes with flowers in between.
The deck is about 9' across. The side is smaller and we decided to plant a lilac bush there. Our house is white. The soil is great - it is a dark brown color, so more like clay.
This is my second year planting a garden and my tomatoes are at least five feet tall. Everything is doing well except for the spinach. I planted it more in a shaded area and the spinach just didn't grow well. Not sure what I did wrong.
Any advice will be apperciated - THANKS!
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Cara, what a sweet house! Very nice! It's so pretty. I missed your post when I was on vacation.
--------------------
Laura
Keep it simple!
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Oh thanks! We have grass now! I've been busy keeping it watered. It looks so much nicer with grass!
--------------------
~Cara~
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
Cara
#95622 - 08/04/04 03:23 PM
|
|
|
|
|
BL
Reged: 06/01/03
Posts: 3522
|
|
|
Your house is beautiful! Good luck with the landscaping. I remember when we bought our first house and it didn't have any grass or shrubs. We didn't realize how much work it would be to put all of that in---especially when we had no yard tools! But we gradually did it. You learn by doing---sometimes things that don't work in one part of your yard will work in another area. Just pull it up and transplant it if it doesn't do well. And water, water, water whatever you put down---in this hot weather!
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Was it as horrible as you anticipated, or easier?
--------------------
~ Rachel (IBS-C)
If life hands you lemons, make lemonade!!
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Thanks for asking!!!
All I can say is - I'm glad I have a college degree!! (Even though I'm not using it at the time...)
That is HARD work! Much harder than I thought. It's a good thing I do yoga religously or I'd be in a lot of pain - so much squatting and standing up. It was about 95 degrees when we did it too, so that was bad. It took about 16 hours total to do both the front and back yard, but it's finally done. And let it be known that I will never lay a strip of sod again!
--------------------
~Cara~
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
We love the house. However, I don't think we'll buy new construction again. Lots of stress involved - and I'm sure Bev would agree with that!
We didn't have any yard tools either, but we're getting them slowly as we need them. We need a lawnmower now!
It sure is a lot of work. I was telling Michele that I think I'll wait until next spring to plant anything. I am so clueless when it comes to landscaping that I really want to spend the time to learn it before I just jump right in there and have a jungle outside my house.
We have been watering like CRAZY. We're going to have a million dollar water bill Well, hopefully not that high....We have water going outside from 6:30am-10:00pm! It is supposed to cool off this week so that's good, finally.
--------------------
~Cara~
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Wow! I know you are tired! That's a lot of work. Been there .... done that! Guess you don't have to worry about insomnia tonight.
Now what you need is 2 rockers for your front porch. And a couple of big Boston ferns hanging in pots, one on either side of the porch. Maybe paint that front door brick red (my favorite accent!) and put a brass kickplate at the bottom and a brass knocker at the top. That house would say, "Welcome and come on in!"
BL
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
http://img1.uploadimages.net/706102Aug4-04_007.jpg
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
We are definately getting 2 rockers, we want the ones from Cracker Barrel, but they are expensive. We've got a broken car to deal with right now, so we're waiting until we have some more money.
As far as painting the door goes - I love that idea - except our next door neighbor painted their door red, and I don't want to be copying. I was thinking of painting it blue like the shutters to tie it all together.
Thanks for the suggestions! That's a good idea about hanging some pots, I think I'll do that for sure!
~Cara
--------------------
~Cara~
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Porch rockers, you say?
The new house we just finished building has a wrap-around porch on 3 sides, and I was desperate for porch rockers. They're so bloody expensive, I was bummed out -- UNTIL I found the great rockers from Home Decorators Collection. Check 'em out: Porch Rockers Web Page
They just arrived yesterday, and I gotta tell ya, I really like 'em. They're great-looking and damn comfortable! Not a bad price either, even with the $10 shipping surcharge.
I'll post pix of the rockers on my front porch when I get 'em developed.
Bev
--------------------
<img src="http://home.comcast.net/~letsrow/smily3481.gif">Bevvy
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
We don't have a big front porch so I can't put a rocker out there but we do have a large covered back patio and have a double rocker swing which is great. If we ever get a new house I want one with a big front porch so I can have my rocker in front.
The idea for a boston fern is good. We have a really large one in a hanging basket on the front porch and it really adds a lot to the house. They aren't very expensive either.
Good luck
Barbie
--------------------
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Thanks Bev! Those look great! Still a bit expensive for us, but I'm going to show my husband when he gets home. I'm going to start teaching swimming lessons on Saturdays soon, so maybe we'll use that money for them! We have a swing out on the porch on an A-frame, but I want 2 rockers and a little table for the other side. I just love sitting out there!
I would love to see pics when you get them developed!
~Cara
--------------------
~Cara~
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Thanks Barbie! We have to figure out how hang stuff from this porch, I'm not sure how we'll drill holes in the ceiling part - it's not wood, it's plastic or something. That's for the boy to figure out though.
I definately love having a big frong porch, I don't want to move anywhere after this w/o a porch! Unless there's a big deck/patio in the back, we don't have that... that sounds beautiful!
~Cara
--------------------
~Cara~
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
Re: barbra
#95767 - 08/05/04 08:59 AM
|
|
|
|
|
michele
Reged: 06/02/03
Posts: 6886
Loc: southeastern michigan
|
|
|
Are you wanting plants just at the back of the porch or along the house as well?
Butterfly bushes are really great. They come in differnt colors and, as the name implies, the butterflies love'em! They are kinda like minature lillac's but bllom all summer and smell great. They would look nice as a back drop to some smaller prenninals. You can trim the butterfly bushes to any height, typically they reach about 4-6 feet, but if they get too tall you can trim the top of them, no problem!
Yellow evening primrose would be pretty growing under the buses. Its got dark green, waxy looking leaves and is low growing with beautiful, big yellow flowers that bloom every evening!
If you wanted more variety, you could do tall daylittles in the back with the dwarf daylillies in front. The fill in quickly and would cover the foundation of the proch. They come in every color imagianable and are super easy to grow and maintain.
If you want a really tall flower, hollyhocks are my favortie! They can get really tall though, mine are over 6 feet! Again, these come in different colors. They can be a little prone to certain problems with insects and whats called "rust" but they aren't terribly difficult to take care of. They do sometimes need staking or extra support. Daisies and blakeyed susans go well with hollyhocks but they do require a certain amount of deadheading!
Any of those things sound sppealing to you? Give me a little more of an idea of what you have in mind and I'm more than happy to help!
--------------------
Taking it one day at a time.....
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Do you have a JoAnnes Fabric store in the area? They have all there outside garden stuff like 60-70% off right now! A couple of years ago, I bought some hanging baskets from there and I just refill them each year, its so much cheaper that way! The ones I have are that brown mossey looking stuff for the actual basket part and it has black "wrought" iron chian and metail around the basket. I think they look nicer than the while plastic baskets and as I said, this way, you can buy whatever you want each year to put in them. Some of those pre-made hanging baskets can be very expensive!
--------------------
Taking it one day at a time.....
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
We do have one! I just looked it up. I need a car dangit!
Maybe I can take Justin to work tonight, but then I'd have to pick him up at like 3 or 4 in the morning. My car will be fixed Monday, maybe the sale will still be going? Thanks Michele!
--------------------
~Cara~
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Yeah, I think the sale goes until they sell out of everything or need the room for new stuff! They had some really cool "wrought iron" little mosiac tables also, great for putting potted plants on. They had all sorts of cool stuff for the garden!
--------------------
Taking it one day at a time.....
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Thanks Michele...I think I am going to take him back to work today!
--------------------
~Cara~
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
The eye doctor gave me a different contact for my left eye. I've had this set in since 10:30 this morning---and no headache---yet! (I'm holding my breath.)
While sitting in the doctor's office this morning waiting to see him, I was so nauseous and dizzy and my head was throbbing so much that I thought I was going to throw up! I felt carsick like I do when we drive in the mountains. I couldn't wait to get a different contact to try.
Hopefully, this one will work.
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Hey, that fabulous! Keep me posted, lets hope this is the winning combination!
--------------------
Taking it one day at a time.....
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
I already have flowers on the side of my house. The biggest problem I have is growing flowers on the north side of my house. I still need some height in my flower bed. Can daisy and blackeye susan handle shade? There is a part of the north side that doesn't get sun and there isn't anything there.
The butterfly bushes sound awesome along with the yellow primrose. We are still thinking we want a lilac bush on the side of the deck and we will wait until Fall to plant one. I was thinking of a bush on the two corners of the deck and filling inbetween with tall flowers and low lying flowers in front.
My neighbor has hollyhocks, but disappointed her flowers didn't get tall this year. I do love blackeye susans and daisies, so those are going in my back yard. My local nursery has daylillies marked down - I'll have to go to buy some today.
I was also looking at the Bleeding heart bush. Are these the bushes that attract hummingbirds?
I love your ideas!! When are you planning to post pictrues of your flower gardens? We all would love to see pictures!!!
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Bleeding hearts usually do well in the shade. Technically, blackeyed susans and daisies like a lot of sun but I have some in front of my house which only gets about 2 hours of late afternoon sun and they do ok. Shade plants are a little harder. Astible comes in different colors and like the shade and, of course, hostas. Another tall flower for the sun is Delphenium, its one of my absolute favorites! I have dark blue ones and they grow up higher than my 6 foot fence this year!
--------------------
Taking it one day at a time.....
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
where did you learn all this about gardening?
Is it just a hobby or did you take a class?
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
I went to JoAnn's - I got 2 stands for some pots, and 3 hanging baskets - I wanted 4 but they only had 3. They were only $5 apiece after the 70% off! They are just like the description you said - the wrought iron on the outside and the brown mesh stuff. I put some annuals in 2 pots (my first time doing that! LOL) and put them on the stands. They are pretty! They won't last long but they were cheap and I just wanted to try it.
Thanks for your suggestions and getting me started. You are awesome!!!!!
--------------------
~Cara~
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Just a hobby. We bought our house about 5 years ago and the yard was literally a dump! There was a broken down fence, dead trees, and old shed and a bunch of crap! I had never even planted a flower until we bought the house! We moved in, in the fall and the whole winter I looked through flower catalogs. Before it snowed, I tried to figure out where I wanted flower beds and just looked through all these catalogs to learn. In the spring, I spent weeks planting everything. Over the years, I have ended up with more square feet of garden than of house! I have killed many a things over the years and learned as I went! I have actually done some work at other people's houses helping them plan their gardens! Now, if I could only afford to hire someone to help me maintain all the beautiful stuff I have planted!
--------------------
Taking it one day at a time.....
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Glad you found something you liked!! Just an FYI-whenever you plant anything in pots be sure there is a place for the water to drain. If the pot doesn't have drainage holes than fill the bottom of the pot with rocks before you put your dirt in so the roots don't root!
--------------------
Taking it one day at a time.....
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
Posts
