Front Yard, Retained!

Here is what we started with.  This is a very steep hill.  The slope next to the driveway is too steep to hold mulch, and the slope towards the sidewalk is very difficult to mow.  We knew something had to be done here. I think the neighbors were starting to wonder if we'd ever tackle the front yard, although they'd been patient and not made any snide remarks.

Here is our starting point: a huge hill and a whole lot of nothing. Plus, a classy railing.

This was my original plan.  My goal was to minimize the area of the front yard that required mowing, since it's really tough to mow the slope.  I also, selfishly, wanted to maximize the area of planting space because the back yard doesn't have much sun, and I want to plant lots of flowers.

Such lofty ambitions. Look at all those curvy lines.

After a lot of considering, this is what we decided on!  Finally! Please note that we cut down the bossy yew covering up the dining room window on the far left of the house, and we cut the holly bush back hard. We did this several months ago, and the holly has bounced back pretty well.  The yew also tried to bounce back, so we killed it twice. Zombie yew.

I'm all swelled with pride. Collected so many compliments on it already!

It's obviously not finished.  I still have a lot of grass to dig out where the beds will be.  But the hard part is finished!  I used DIY-friendly blocks from Home Depot, the same ones I used in the back yard for the greenhouse wall last fall.  I was really happy with how easy they were to use and how well they've held up over the last year, so I felt confident choosing to use them again.  Especially since these walls are shorter than the one in the back.

This is how it looks from above.  I took this picture so I could start planning the landscaping (the best part!!).   I really like the curves in the walls, they look gorgeous from the street, and I'm so happy with the color of the blocks. It compliments the colors in the brick on the house without matching exactly.

From the guest bedroom

Here is my plan.  It's in progress, but I've purchased some of these plants already.  I just can't be stopped. Landscaping is a challenge here because the deer (short for Deer, the Horrible) run rampant in this area. I don't want to spend all year feeling hate for the deer and wishing I could teach my dog how to use a pellet gun.  So, I'm trying to choose plants that are less palatable to deer. Plus, I'm throwing in a few poisonous ones for good measure. Take that!

The red starburst is a fancy pieris.  It blooms white, but the new growth on the plant is bright red!  The larger white starburst is a semi-dwarf viburnum.  The pink is a double-flowering quince (I'm not sure if it will fruit).  The orange dots are astilbe (that area gets a bit of shade from a mature tree near the sidewalk).  The yellow dots are daffodils, but there will be way more bulbs than that. I bought so, so many bulbs.  The green circles next to the driveway are hen and chicks and elfin thyme.  The purple is hopefully going to be a mix of daphne and something evergreen (boxwood? holly?), but I need to buy that.

Again with the lofts goals. 

I absolutely can not wait to plant!  Look at this! Look how good this looks!!  I'm going to start some candytuft (sempervirens) and lobelia from seed in the greenhouse this winter to grow along the top of the wall.  They're not exactly cascading, but they'll soften the top edge of the wall.  I'll start some datura, too, because it is poisonous. Muahaha.

SO GOOD!

Next step will be replacing the bowed timber wall next to the garage with more of the same stone.  I'll admit: it's a big next step.  Luckily, that wall looks like it already has a gravel foundation, so at least I won't have to dig that out.  I'll have another post soon with all the retaining wall steps from start to finish!


 For anyone trying to choose deer-resistant plants, this list was helpful:
http://njaes.rutgers.edu/deerresistance/

I will keep you posted on which plants are actually resistant to deer around here.  Seems like sometimes they'll eat just about anything.