Midwest Home Landscaping, 3rd edition

Roger Holmes, Rita Buchanan

• Publisher: Creative Homeowner
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781607659044
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Horticulture
• Index: Biological Sciences

Collection of 46 designs by area landscape professionals, with over 200 plants that are proven performers and more than 430 color photos and drawings. United States: IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WICanada: Ontario (southern)

Portfolio of Designs

This section presents ideas for nearly two dozen situations common in home landscapes. You’ll find designs to enhance entrances, decks, and patios. There are gardens of colorful perennials and shrubs, as well as structures and plantings that create shady hideaways, dress up nondescript walls, and even make a centerpiece of a lowly mailbox. Large color illustrations show what the designs will look like, and site plans delineate the layout and planting scheme. Accompanying text explains the designs and describes the plants and projects appearing in them. Installed as shown or adapted to meet your site and personal preferences, these designs can make your property more attractive, more useful, and—most important—more enjoyable for you, your family, and your friends.

An Elegant Entry

GARDEN GEOMETRY TRANSFORMS A SMALL FRONT YARD

Formal gardens have a special appeal. Their simple geometry is soothing in an uncertain world, and their look is timeless, never going out of style. Traditional two-story homes with symmetrical facades are especially suited to the clean lines and balanced features shown here.

The design creates a small courtyard at the center of four rectangular beds defined by evergreen hedges and flagstone walkways. Inside the hedges, carefree perennial catmint makes a colorful floral carpet during the summer. The flagstone paving reinforces the design’s geometry, while providing access to the front door from the sidewalk. (If a driveway runs along one side of the property, the crosswalk could extend to it through an opening in the hedge.) At the center of the compositon, the paving widens to accommodate a planter filled with annuals, a pleasant setting for greetings or goodbyes. A bench at one end of the crosswalk provides a spot for longer chats or restful moments enjoying the plantings or, perhaps, contemplating a garden ornament at the other end.

Loose, informal hedges soften the rigid geometry. Deciduous shrubs change with the seasons, offering flowers in the spring and brilliant fall foliage, while the evergreens are a dependably colorful presence year round.

Plants & Projects

Precise layout is important in a simple design. Start with the flagstone walks; they’re not difficult to build but require some time and muscle. The hedges are chosen for their compact forms. You’ll need to clip the lilacs annually to maintain their shape, but the junipers will require little pruning over time.

A ‘Nigra’ arborvitae (use 2 plants)
These upright, pyramidal evergreen trees stand like sentinels at the front door, where their scented foliage greets visitors. Prune to keep their height in scale with the house. See Thuja occidentalis, page.

B ‘Techny’ arborvitae (use 4)
Marking the corners of the design, this evergreen tree forms a shorter, broader cone than its cousin by the door. See Thuja occidentalis, page.

C Compact burning bush (use 2)
A deciduous shrub forming a neat globe of green foliage, it turns an attention-grabbing crimson in fall. An excellent choice to mark the property’s entrance. See Euonymus alatus ‘Compactus’, page.

D Dwarf lilac (use 12)
This compact deciduous shrub makes an attractive loose hedge offering fragrant springtime flowers and glossy green foliage that has a purplish cast in fall. See Syringa meyeri ‘Palibin’, page.

E ‘Arcadia’ juniper (use 36)
The arching branches of this spreading evergreen shrub line the walks with bright green color through four seasons. See Juniperus sabina, page.

F ‘Blue Wonder’ catmint (use 40)
Loose spikes of misty blue flowers rise above the silvery, aromatic foliage of this perennial in June, filling the beds with color. Blooms continue or repeat through the summer. See Nepeta x faassenii, page.

G Paving
Rectangular flagstones in random sizes suit the style of this house; brick or precast pavers work with other house styles. See page.

H Planter
Nurseries and garden centers offer a range of planters that are suitable for formal settings. Choose one that complements the style of your house and fill it with colorful annuals such as the geraniums in the round stone planter shown here. If you’re ambitious, change the plantings with the seasons.

I Garden ornament
Place a sundial (shown here), reflecting ball, statue, or other ornament as a focal point at the end of the crosswalk.

J Bench
A stone bench is a nice comp...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• About This Book
• Seasons in Your Landscape
• As Your Landscape Grows
• Portfolio of Designs
• Plant Profiles
• Guide to Installation
• Glossary
• Credits