drive up road view

Also need help with area near matching window beside front porch?

2 garage windows

different view

Large house = large beds. Seems logical. If your landscaper is not connecting with you, tell the landscaper the connection isn't happening, and that the Korean pine sets you off. Communication is good, even if it has to be slightly confrontational. A little bit of a challenge is good for both sides.

When you say the "beds seem large" it could be relative to what most people think a bed size should be (which is too small) ... or they really could be too large (what many designers/plant sellers think they should be. Any chance you could post a scan of the foundation planting area so we could see what is being prescribed? I have never had a client tell me they don't want something and I tell them back that they have to get it shoved down their throat anyway. A pine tree "between two windows" sounds like it might be an overpowering plant for that space.

I will edit drawing without name when i get home later

This post was edited by lily5 on Tue, May 21, 13 at 11:48

I suggest that you edit the post to delete the designer's name from the picture. He/she may not want it published without their consent ...given that posting here subjects it to potential lambasting. It looks like the intention with the pines is for you to keep them clipped, as otherwise, they be all out of bounds for the space allotted. Overall, it looks like there's a fair bit of trimming one must do on a regular basis in order to keep things in place. For me, this would be too high of maintenance. I would also criticize the bed line in a couple of places, especially where the driveway enters the "court" between the house and garage. To me, the pointed beds flanking the drive there are a mistake of the first order (though beds like this are as common as salt in the ocean.) I also don't care for the bushiness that engulfs the actual entrance to the house (where there is also another pointed bed at left of walk.) I think it would be better to reconfigure the bed line and bring some lawn into the right side of the entrance walk. (I can show later, but no time now.) There are a couple of places, the "dips" could be eliminated from the bed line.

This post was edited by Yardvaark on Tue, May 21, 13 at 9:59

Here is the edited plan.
Thanks for responding to the post so quickly Yardvaark. I agree about the beds.Can't wait to see what you show me!(if you have time).
Thanks sooooo much!

I haven't looked at the plants too closely since I'm not familiar with what will grow in your area. If you don't like the Korean pine, just ask for a different plant. I'm not sure I'd want any tree in that location. I'm not a big fan of junipers and might question their use in the corner but that's just me.

I will say that the beds don't seem particularly large. They seem quite in scale with the property. You've got a lot of building.

The lines on the north and south (per map layout) of the buildings seem a bit too squiggly but smoothing them would make the bed even larger. That's also something you can adjust later if the bends turn out to be too tight a radius for the lawnmower.

I am wondering best way to lay out the bed minus a tree or shrub centered on the window at all. If say all boxwood under window what else to fill bed? or on the sides. The plan is definetly supposed to make mowing easier so good point on curvy beds. The ice blue junipers I see all around town are these cute little mounding things but I can do without them-- they will grow big eventually. Yikes!

In this picture I'm tidying up the bed lines ... getting rid of pointed beds and extra loops. But I'm not paying attention to what is planted. From what I saw earlier, there are some plants that get very large for some fairly small spaces. In my scheme, there is no net reduction of bed size. (But if one were to scrutinize the plan and the plants, it might be possible. It's hard to tell what's happening in the back yard.) Overall, I think the plant arranging in this plan could be improved quite a bit.