Landscaping Ideas?

So here is a picture of the front of my house:





The trailer park awning has been removed and the two tall juniper/cedar trees all the way to the left of the house have been taken out. They were touching the siding and I know that is a big no-no due to mold and insect problems. This spring, I want to really clean up the front yard and am thinking about removing all the bushes and starting from scratch.


Is having bushes as tall as they are now an issue? I cut them all back and they are now flat on their backside and about 4-6" away from the siding, but the whole area doesn't get any sunlight and there is some mildew forming. I am afraid that taking out all of the bushes will leave too much of a naked view, but I don't know of any bushes that I could plant in their place that A: wont grow too high, and B: don't require high maintenance.


The existing roots are growing along the foundation wall and other than digging, is there a more simple way of pulling out the stump and root balls? I left one of the tree stumps on the left side of the house because I couldn't get it out. I used a sawzall with a long blade to try and sever all the roots and just pull the stump out, but that was a no go.


Thanks

 

Buy some Roundup, get a paint brush, and apply the Roundup(100% strength) in the spring, to the fresh cut stumps! They'll rot out in a few years!

 

I would cut most all of the old plants down and start over, either dig around them good and pull them up or cut them off and spray the stumps this spring when new growth starts. I think Lowes should have some dwarf type plants that would look good and be low maintenance, maybe put some taller ones near the corners of the house, I put crushed brick type mulch or rock around my house then some plants 3-4 feet out and some landscape blocks around the border of the beds. You could also put some small plants along the sidewalk and blend that into the mulch bed at the house.

 

The general rule is that you don't really want bushes to be tall enough to cover windows. Trim them down level with the bottom of the window. For the stumps, i don't know if you have access to any equipment but a tractor or skid steer is the easiest way to get them out. If you choose to put new shrubs in you could go with the many varieties of holly, or false cypress. You could use nandina or loropetalum (which is an evergreen and some cultivars have red leaves). You could also go with azaleas, gardenias, or hydrangea for some flowering shrubs. For some lower to the ground shrubs that don't get very big you could use drift rose or encore azalea. A sky pencil holly on both sides of the porch where the sidewalk meets would add a nice accent. You could also put in an annual bed around your light poll. It is also helpful to go to a local plant nursery and ask for an experienced person's opinion on some low maintenance shrubs for your area. Some of the things I listed might not do well for where you live. I hope I didn't get too carried away with this .

 

And finish off with some quality fresh mulch about 1-2" thick. Even just that will make a big difference. I like the double ground hardwood mulch. It is a little more expensive but it looks better and lasts longer.

 

Rent a mini excavator for about $250 with a thumb and rip them all out roots and all. Plants should be at least 2 feet away from the house to prevent damage. Give your self a nice clean canvas to work with.

 

And risk damaging the foundation wall?

 

Are you on a slab, crawl space or basement? You need to be careful pulling out stumps not only because of what sebeau said but also messing with compacted dirt around the foundation can disrupt drainage and cause leaks. etc.

 

Man these ideas are great! The addition to the right side of the house is built on sona tubes and the main house has a full foundation. I am going to try and dig as far as possible by hand then see what I can remove of the root ball; I may take my sawzall and run it along the foundation to assist.

I will definitely post some pics when the weather turns as I try to get this beast to look a little more classy.