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The PS Garden

I need to come up with ideas for the back of my yard. Our association owns the land behind our property line and want to let it go natural which really doesn't go with how I want my yard to look. There is a small lake at the back our property. Now I need to figure out what to plant so I see little of what they do. Thank goodness my husband is in board as I'm sure this project will be expensive. Does anyone have any ideas? I'm looking for a more formal look. I have many roses planted on the sides of our yard so I'm hoping to do something that looks pretty and more formal.
 
Calliecake said:
I need to come up with ideas for the back of my yard. Our association owns the land behind our property line and want to let it go natural which really doesn't go with how I want my yard to look. There is a small lake at the back our property. Now I need to figure out what to plant so I see little of what they do. Thank goodness my husband is in board as I'm sure this project will be expensive. Does anyone have any ideas? I'm looking for a more formal look. I have many roses planted on the sides of our yard so I'm hoping to do something that looks pretty and more formal.
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That means that you'll get a lot of weed seeds blowing into your yard. I had that situation with a house I once owned. Since I don't know what your assoc's rules are, I'll just throw some ideas out there.

If you don't want to see the natural area, you'll can plant something such as viburnum, privet or thuja to block the view. It's a bit more work to keep viburnum or privet trimmed but they're commonly used in formal gardens. Or you can do a mix of trees, shrubs/hedges, trellises w/evergreen vines.
 
Thank you so much Matata. My husband wants to see what they are really going to do before we do anything. It's going to be a pain as we want to see the water just not all the weeds. They did the same thing about 15 years ago and it looked awful. viburnum is a great idea! I was thinking Hydrangea, and puttung small boxwoods in front of the Hydrangea. I think it may be too wet an area for them to grow there. I think shrubs will probably work out better. If I had it do over again I would never build on a lot that had common area behind it.
 
IMG_0105.JPG This is a picture of the side of our yard and you can see a small portion of the back of the yard in pic. The back 8 ft is common area.
 
Callie, I'm pretty sure what you need is a labyrinth. Please? If anything maybe it will bring David Bowie back.

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IMG_0107.JPG Another file

Another picture
 
Oh Monnie!!!
 
I am resisting seeds this year. Last year, I planted trays of all sorts of tomatoes, cucumbers, you name it.... Got great plants started then just had no time to plant.

Done this several years running...

So I am focusing on cleaning up what we have, shifting some plants the dogs are killing, and starting some veggies from already growing plants.

We also have blocks to do some garden boxes in the back to try to slow the dogs down. Not sure yet what I will put in them.

Also need to dig the sprinklers out and see why they aren't working. Plus add soil to the yard (level drops as it rains a lot), dig out moss, re-seed.

Oh... And some retaining wall repair/rebuild.

Guess we have a busy summer after all!


ETA: We also have to do some combination of DIY or hire help to paint the house (really needs it, hasn't been painted outside in 10 years and is really wearing), remove the lower deck (either replace or design new yard area/storage), and repair the upper deck.
 
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CC, what do your neighbors plan to do?
 
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I planted my signature "bug be gone" today - lavender and lemon grass!
 
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I spread some worm castings and a compost mix and planted a viola plant. I see yellow flowers in the back and a couple pale blue grape hyacinth up today!
 
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Some sunny side up eggs appeared around my tree!
 
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Middle of the backyard is getting lush!
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These (above) are of the right side of the yard
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The left side is slowly catching up. The right side got more sun first!
 
My backyard is on a slant so the crazy squalls we had earlier this year swept away all the mulch and soil! Next week I hope to put down a thin layer of worm castings followed by the compost mix. I'm waiting for Whole Foods to get cedar mulch!
 
Pinto, looks like yellow iris about to bloom in the back!

My tiny gardener and I planted pansies in the planters on our front porch today. It has been VERY windy all day so we had a tough time keeping things from blowing away. A certain tiny had to stow her flip flops in the mailbox, even. :lol: Anyway, we got our flat of pansies planted and really that was enough for today. I've had some spots in the lawn re-seeded and 2/3 of the garden plot in back seeded as well, and to keep the mowing guy from disturbing anything there are stakes marked off with orange tape and it looks awful right now. All morning I just watched old white dudes tooling around on the golf course and tried to ignore the eyesores in my near vision. LOL. :whistle: Why the hell can't Sergio golf at this l'il ol' country club so I can get an up close and personal view of dat ass?
 
PB, your flowers are lovely! Great work.
If you had any idea how many hours I spent researching how to grow worms for fish bait this week...hit me up and I'll ship you more worm castings in a few months.
 
Sharon, I have no idea. On one side I'm lucky if they cut the grass and on the other side I have new neighbors. They just moved in a week ago.

I''ll figure out something. I'm just disappointed because I finally had the yard looking the way I want. This was the first year in a long time that I didn't think I would have to do anything other then add more rose bushes. The past few years I've had many trees and boxwood's to replace. Now I have a whole new project.

Pinto Bean, They are all starting to bloom now. Great work!
 
Calliecake said:
Sharon, I have no idea. On one side I'm lucky if they cut the grass and on the other side I have new neighbors. They just moved in a week ago.

I''ll figure out something. I'm just disappointed because I finally had the yard looking the way I want. This was the first year in a long time that I didn't think I would have to do anything other then add more rose bushes. The past few years I've had many trees and boxwood's to replace. Now I have a whole new project.


CC; what is your associations plan? Because one persons version of au natural is different than another and there has to be agreement....you know how HOA's work. Could this be a 10 year plan in the making? Frustrating nonetheless.
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Sharon, I have no idea. They sent a letter to everyone around the lake saying we will be fined if we mow the land near the lake and that's all that is been said so far. My husband is going to call on Monday. My guess is they will do what they did 15 years ago and plant 10 plants and let everything else go to weeds, then tell everyone they can't mow or pull the weeds. If that is the case I need to come up with a plan to hide the mess.
 
Calliecake said:
Sharon, I have no idea. They sent a letter to everyone around the lake saying we will be fined if we mow the land near the lake and that's all that is been said so far. My husband is going to call on Monday. My guess is they will do what they did 15 years ago and plant 10 plants and let everything else go to weeds, then tell everyone they can't mow or pull the weeds. If that is the case I need to come up with a plan to hide the mess.
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You'll need some goats! :)
 
Sharon, I know it's dumb to let this upset me but damn I'm out there everyday for literally hours in the summertime trying to make everything look beautiful. The fine for mowing it is $50 everytime you mow. I told my husband I was seriously thinking of just writing them the $200 check every month. I'm sure he would gladly pay it if it kept him from having to hear about it daily!
 
Callie...you can try to think of those weeds as wildflowers (which they are) that will bring in beneficial insects that will help all of the cultivars you plant (which came from "weeds") by eating bad bugs. If that doesn't work, sneak out there in the middle of the night and spray those suckers with weed killer. That doesn't count as mowing :))
 
Love the way you think Matata!!!! I wish I could but when they plant 5 plants it all just ends up being weeds because the reality is it really is 90% weeds. One of my closest friends used to live next door. Her first words were well I would be happy to send you a bottle of Round Up. I'm going to a nursery this week to look at scrubs. Hoping I can find something dense that I can make a 4" hedge with. I can always plant something pretty in front of the hedge. At least I can try to block the weeds from my view. My husband loves Lilac's so that may be a possibility.
 
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Calliecake said:
Love the way you think Matata!!!! I wish I could but when they plant 5 plants it all just ends up being weeds because the reality is it really is 90% weeds. One of my closest friends used to live next door. Her first words were well I would be happy to send you a bottle of Round Up. I'm going to a nursery this week to look at scrubs. Hoping I can find something dense that I can make a 4" hedge with. I can always plant something pretty in front of the hedge. At least I can try to block the weeds from my view. My husband loves Lilac's so that may be a possibility.
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Lilacs might be a great solution! We have light purple, dark purple, and white. All so beautiful. The only problem I have with the white is they can look dingy after a rain.
 
Ooohhh, a lilac hedge would be beautiful. I never thought about trimming them as a hedge.
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Matata, I just looked up viburnum. I have one in the yard but wanted to see if they could also be made into a hedge and I think this would also work. I'm going to a nursery this week to get more ideas. Decisions, decisions!!
 
Viburnam or privet are the best choices if you want a formal look. I love the lilac hedge because they're my fav flower but they are suited more for an English garden look. Take a look at photinia too.
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Photinia and pittosporum.
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These are gorgeous Matata!
 
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