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spade_it

Landscape Design- need some ideas

Spade-it
13 years ago

This is looking straight out the back door:

http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z398/ACER211/IMG_0135-1.jpg

This is looking left:

http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z398/ACER211/IMG_0135.jpg

This is looking right:

http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z398/ACER211/IMG_0136.jpg

Our house was built too close to the back property line and the original excavator sloped the back yard down to the fence (about a 45 degree pitch right into the fence) making the back yard virtually unusable, not to mention overlooking our neighbors.

The backyard faces due East, giving it a lot of South exposure to the sun. Any Ideas for landscaping? There is a Weeping Plum and Japanese Maple next to the deck, and that is a Pendula Cherry in the corner, and we planted the emerald green Thuja�s on the other side of the fence.

It is about 25' to the fence, and 100' wide. I was thinking about planting some Sweet Autumn Clem. along the fenceline. Other than that I don't have a lot of ideas.

*Really need some help clarifying a vision for this space. I like the idea of perennials and foundation plants; I don't mind pruning. Looking for a nice place to spend quiet-time, aesthetically pleasing, and privacy if possible (loud neighbors)

Thanks for any thoughts you might have.

Comments (4)

  • ideasshare
    13 years ago

    Redo the walkway. add evergreen rock,conifer,hosta...
    {{gwi:16665}}

  • missingtheobvious
    13 years ago

    Links to the OP's photos:

    Looking straight out the back door:
    {{gwi:16659}}

    Looking left:
    {{gwi:16661}}

    Looking right:
    {{gwi:16663}}

    Spade-it, how far above ground level is the deck? How far is it from the deck to the back fence?

    What parts of the perimeter fence (if any) are on your property? Are you allowed to make the fence taller? For instance, if you could add a couple of feet of lattice to the top of the lower sections of fence, the future clematis could grow higher, and that would give you more privacy.

    Are your privacy concerns on all sides of the yard, or only the south?

    What exactly is behind you? Part of the neighbor's backyard? Golf course? Park? With the current economy, I'm assuming no one would be building more houses there in the near future.

    Do you know how much vertical drop there is from the back of the house to the bottom of the back fence?

    I think it would help us get a better idea of the slope to see a photo taken right at the southern fence and looking north, showing the ground from the house to the fence. It looks -- from what I can see -- as if most of the slope is in the last few feet by the fence.

    If you'd like your photos to show up in your post, I understand you can insert Photobucket's html code in your post. If you see the photo in the Preview, it will show up in your actual post. Another Photobucket code should give you a working link or a thumbnail photo (again, if the link works in the Preview, it will work in the actual post). [I use a free Firefox add-on, BBCodeXtra, which adds the correct code to make an address a working link, post photos (as ideasshare did), change text to italics and other stuff, plus a few things I have no idea what they do. I have no idea if MS has an equivalent function for IE.]

    Please ignore ideasshare: obviously his/her plans are not to scale, nor are they relevant to your problem slope.

  • karinl
    13 years ago

    Yes, ignore Ideasshare, our crazy Chinese friend.

    I don't know if the details requested by MTO are going to make much difference here; what's clear is that the place you need screening is at a height that only trees can provide. So I'm thinking "grove of trees" is the approach you need.

    On the ground, you can consider doing some terracing. The only other option is to replace the fence with a stone wall and fill to the brim :-)

    KarinL

  • karinl
    13 years ago

    Never mind, this has been reposted with pictures embedded and without Ideasshare excess, so ignore this thread, go to link below.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Better version of question