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You know, I always enjoy getting photographs of your homes and understanding what your
challenges are and what you would like to do to transform your garden into something
more beautiful. Today, we have a garden from Erika in Mena. Now, I don't have a lot of
information from Erika, but I do know that she really would like to cover up this foundation
along the front of the house. And I think there's some things we can do to really warm
up this house, Erika. One of the things that I'd like for you to think about: It's very
horizontal–and these long boards that are all white–and hence, the horizontal nature
of what we're seeing here. And so, what I'd like for you to do is think about painting
the house, whenever it comes time for that, maybe sort of a taupe grey or a light grey
color. Right now, let's talk about some of your other challenges: You said that there's
a neighbor that you'd like to block. Since you like Arborvitae, what I would do is consider–and
I'm not sure which side it is. Let's assume it's over here–what I would do is on other
side of the carport is plant some of those green giant Arborvitaes. They make an excellent,
excellent hedge. The other thing I'd like for you to consider is maybe removing this
tree. So if this one's away, we have an open palette to work with. And we took the mailbox
and moved it over here, closer to your walkway and drive. And then, the other thing is to
think about pulling your stepping stone path out from the house a bit, where it would sweep
around and then come back in here to step up. And then, maybe adding a rail here–it'd
be really nice. Some sort of rail across here would be–would add a lot to the house. I
noticed down here you have a trellis that is hiding the gutter that comes down and possibly
some utilities. I like the fact that you have it painted white, so it blends in. And it
looks like you may be trying to grow something on that? I think keeping it the same color
of the house is a good idea, because you just want it to blend in–it's just serving as
a support. Now, let's talk about some of the plants we might use to enhance this. So, the
idea would be to start over here and punctuate this side with a Boxwood–that's one of the
plants you mentioned you like. And then, I would do this curved line of Boxwood that
would come around in front like this and then come around in front like this, and back over
to this corner. And then, this space–so you have these Boxwoods that would create
the outside edge of your border, like this. In the front of the house, roughly centered,
we'd do a red maple tree for fall color, coming up like this. I would fill this whole front
bed here with Knockout roses, which would be spectacular right here in the front. Behind
the hedge, you're going to have your stepping stones that are gonna bring you up, and curve
around, and then back up to this step. And then, behind it, what you can do is then plant
ferns. It's a little hard to know exactly which direction this house faces, but if it
gets morning sun and no afternoon sun, the ferns would be beautiful as a foundation plant
here. So, I would also like to have a larger plant here, like a Camellia Sasanqua, and
a Camellia Sasanqua here, and one also down here. Those are beautiful fall blooming Camellias–you're
in Zone 7, and they'll perform beautifully for you. I mentioned moving the mailbox down,
so let's just pretend that this has been shifted down toward the drive, up to the carport.
What you might do their is just take the Boxwood and come in around behind it with five plants.
One, two, three, four, five. And then, do a low ground cover under it like this. And
then, let a vine grow over the top of it in the form of a Scarlet Honeysuckle–they have
a beautiful trumpet shape bloom. It has a reddish color, and Hummingbirds love it. Erika,
I hope this is helpful to you. Good luck with your project. Hey, if you out there have questions
or challenges with your landscape, send them in to me. And make sure you subscribe to eHow
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