Should the hedges go?

Check out Dwarf Yaupon Holly to go in place of the overgrown stuff. You can even get "poodled" Yaupons that are very interesting.

The grassy things are day lilies. They'll look GREAT for a few weeks in June.

I'm in Texas, so I'm aware of your landscaping "needs." I have both of those species in my own yard.

Cally

Well since I like to do landscape renovations.............

I would remove all the shrubs from the front of the house. And the perennials too.

Yes its a very dated look and also I'm betting the planting space you have is about 3 ft or less for a planting space. This was typical for the era of your home as well as the plants currently used.

You will surprised how much more light will come through the windows!! I see just a hint of tree planted in the foreground?? I would use this tree to consider a new planting scheme.

I'm also thinking you have red clay type soil?? This will is hard to remove the shrubs.
YOu can tackle a couple of ways. Start cutting down until you get a base of larger branches. You can then continue to dig or hire a firm to pull out. This may cause damage to your front lawn though. A pickup truck won't work the best as you can't generate enough torque to pull without the wheels digging in the lawn.

I'm in zone 4b/5a so many of my plants would shrivel in your zone! A tip for recommendations would be to google "oklahoma cooperative extension". This site should have some sort of publication that have listings of plants that will tolerate your growing conditions. You may also want to consider planting on both sides of the pathway as well. Check out native plants for your area.

You will need to look for size of plant at maturity so you can can lower your maintenance time from pruning a plant that was too big for the place it was planted.

I'm a fan of ornamental grasses and there are smaller cultivars that would work.
I would suggest "softer" less formal plantings to make your house look less rigid-if you get my though process?? The current planting are too linear. Also more color!

A southern exposure is always a challenge for plants esp with your temps.

As for the other UFO plant-it looks like some type of daylily to me.

If you want more assistance from me let me know.

I'm one of those people that hates killing a perfectly healthy plant, so I would vote to leave the bushes alone. Maybe use some shepherd's hooks of varying heights stuck in among the shrubs bring in some colorful hanging baskets?
You didn't mention how close to the house the shrubs are; I would be afraid that pulling them out (which I believe would be the best way to do it) might compromise the house's foundation (depending on what the foundation is made of, naturally).
I dug up a couple of barberry bushes several years ago and believe me---it is a huge backbreaking task. There was no way to get close enough to them to pull them out so it was all hand labor. I recycled them to a sister-in-law and they are once again thriving.
I guess it all depends on how much work you want to do and how much money you want to spend. I'm all for leaving them and dressing them up a little----why are there no plastic Easter eggs hanging on them?!

Originally Posted by strange_wings

I haven't dug any up yet - but I'm fairly certain I'll find a bulb. The way they're planted near the house suggest very intentional spacing. It's hard to tell from the picture (I was leaving and just snapped a quick pic) but the leaves are about an inch wide. They almost look like they should belong to some lily.

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Not nut grass, then. The leaves are too wide. I couldn't tell the size from the picture.

Originally Posted by CatMom2Wires

The grassy things are day lilies. They'll look GREAT for a few weeks in June.

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This makes sense. If they really are day lilies they should be okay for the turtles. I found a list of safe plants for reptiles and day lilies are included.

Thank you Gail. You've obviously seen this sort of planting before because you are absolutely correct about that front bed. It's 3'-4' foot out. The hedges are planted towards the front of it leaving about a foot and a half to almost two feet behind them at ground level (less near the tops of the hedges).

That tree you see is a maple. I've always loved how pretty they look (though bad storms can sometimes snap pretty significant branches off) so that will be staying. I can't say the same for a lot of the trees in back (rough looking cedars and some sort of tree that we call paradise trees here).
I'll probably put a bed around the maple as soon as I figure out what I'd want to plant over there.

I hadn't really thought about extending that bed out and using that pathway as a pathway through the middle of it. That's a very neat idea!
I wonder if I should start hunting around for a couple of nice big rocks..

And thanks to everyone else that's weighed in. I was obviously leaning more towards taking them out but DH wasn't (more work ) so getting some other opinions on it has helped a bit.


I hate taking out healthy plants, too, but they don't fit and can even affect the value of the home (or at least make people driving by go "ick, that looks awful"). I really do hope those are day lilies, it would make transplanting some of them worth it and give me some flowers to look forward to.

Do you like lilacs? They do very well in full sun, can tolerate some drought and with the hybrids there are many different flower colours available. (I got a burgundy one 2yrs ago....love it against my grey house) I was thinking that it might llok good in between the windows.... You can grow them as big or small as you want....just trim regularly.

lilac care info: http://www.gardenersnet.com/lilac/lilac06.htm

Mulch is a great idea, especially would help retain some of the moisture with the heat you get.

Grasses: lots of ornamental grasses out there....but be wary, some spread very quickly. Like ribbon grass, i like it (green and white) but I plant it in a container, then in the ground because of how invasive it is.

I'll take a peek in my gardening books later, they list plants by zones

I'm guessing you want to stay away from the more toxic plants with the cats/turtles, or does it matter for this garden? If it doesn't, I'd also recommend some tall lilies.....bright yellow ones would be stunning. Great for full sun, but definately need water....again tho, mulch would help. (I'm partial to lilies, and have some nice yellow ones that I think would look great. I have tall yellow ones, and yellow daylilies...(also have white/burgundy/mixed red orange ans some others.)

lily link: http://www.bachmans.com/tipsheets/pe...rdenlilies.cfm
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/23/27...d8c28c9c6d.jpg

I'm not worried about toxicity up front. Only the neighbors cats will wander over and they're not as likely to be over purposely munching on stuff. I already have a couple pots of ranunculus up there. It's not really the best time for me to put lilies out now, but there is some at a local store that would have gorgeous flowers - a deep rich red.

I'd really like something that stays smaller and doesn't need pruning. I'm also not that big a fan of lilacs... not really sure why other than the smell of them can be over whelming to me.


I forgot - soil near the house is brought in. It's more of a brown mix without a lot of the red loam. We have that more towards the very back of the yard which is going to make digging post holes fun.
There's also already weed barrier down, it's old but has done it's job. I'll be putting more down (or some other landscaping membrane) or even lining holes with some polythene if something really needs to retain more moisture.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

I'm not worried about toxicity up front. Only the neighbors cats will wander over and they're not as likely to be over purposely munching on stuff. I already have a couple pots of ranunculus up there. It's not really the best time for me to put lilies out now, but there is some at a local store that would have gorgeous flowers - a deep rich red.

I'd really like something that stays smaller and doesn't need pruning.

I'm also not that big a fan of lilacs... not really sure why other than the smell of them can be over whelming to me.


I forgot - soil near the house is brought in. It's more of a brown mix without a lot of the red loam. We have that more towards the very back of the yard which is going to make digging post holes fun.
There's also already weed barrier down, it's old but has done it's job. I'll be putting more down (or some other landscaping membrane) or even lining holes with some polythene if something really needs to retain more moisture.

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yah, some find lilacs overwhelming....me, they remind me of mom.

I'm not familiar with what the weather/season is there, so i'll check my books for your area.

You can buy already potted lilies, or the bulbs. My lilies haven't started to come up yet, but the iris's and tulips have.

hmmmm, what bout iris? Although I am not certain if any of them can handle full sun.

hmmm, I'll check the books tho, and post what they suggest.

Originally Posted by Snake_Lady

yah, some find lilacs overwhelming....me, they remind me of mom.

I'm not familiar with what the weather/season is there, so i'll check my books for your area.

You can buy already potted lilies, or the bulbs. My lilies haven't started to come up yet, but the iris's and tulips have.

hmmmm, what bout iris? Although I am not certain if any of them can handle full sun.

hmmm, I'll check the books tho, and post what they suggest.

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I'm zone 7.
In winter it can get down to freezing and below, but average is just a few degrees above. Little to no precipitation all winter. Summers can have heavy rainy seasons or we can go three to four months with little rain. Temps in my specific area can get up to 47C. There's no true spring or fall, it flip flops back and forth between cold and warm then suddenly it's hot or freezing. And we have lots of wind... always lots of wind. It can be a problem with some plants, snapping their stems.

And all the potted lilies are in more standard colors! I do have some iris on the east side of the house.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

And if anyone has the slightest idea what these are - I would appreciate some guesses at identification. There's no flowers or signs of such, just leaves.
I suspect it's some of the same that's growing in the front? Maybe they'll have small blooms on them later? In any case there's a bunch of them I have to dig up because they're growing where a turtle pen is being put - bulb plants tend to be toxic but I need to know how risky they are in case I miss any.

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Having been around daylilies since my childhood (Mom and Dad grew them and at one time sold them) these don't look like them to me. I'm thinking they are a type of grass. Young seedlings can resemble nutgrass. (Sometimes hard to tell from pics. )

Pull one up and check against this pic.
http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/JPE...otPainting.jpg

^They're identical. Now the only question is what they'll look like later!

Also, what could be making those look bad is that they're in full shade There's some on the east side of the house that are nice and full.

EDIT: I see now that you've progressed beyond this issue, but here was my thought, nonetheless...

_______

I'd just let them grow a little softer and rounder, so you could then trim them to show more definition between individual shrubs... a series of rounded shapes, in other words, instead of a monolithic hedge, if that makes sense.

You could also add some smaller shrubs in different colors in front of these, tucked into the dips that would result frum the rounding, so provide contrast and depth.

I like the idea of expanding the garden and using that walkway thru it instead of in front of it. You could even use flagstone or something decorative to make it a little nicer. I'm assuming that little walkway is cement? If you don't want to replace it you could even use a cement stain on it to give it a richer look.

The plant you posted is not a sedge. Sedges are quite easy to identify as they always have triangular shaped stems. This is a distinct characteristic.

A book for you to possibly consider for ideas is Dryland Gardening by Jennifer Bennet (Firefly publishing). I do have over 100 horticulture books so I can alway give good recommendations!! One Timber Press's website there should be a Michael Dirr book about trees and shrubs for warmer climates as he has one published for zones 3-6.

As I mentioned before consider the publications from the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension as they will have plant lists for the best in your area.

Planting around a maple tree is tough especially if its an older tree. They have a fibrous root system with many roots in the "planting" regions of the soil. Adding more soil is not an option for trees especially any tree in clay soil. Plant depths have changed dramatically in the past 10-15 years with most trees planted during this time frame planted too deep. I have maple trees and I have with success planted some daylilies and yucca plants (even though I would like to redo these plantings) when the trees were very young.

Originally Posted by libby74

I like the idea of expanding the garden and using that walkway thru it instead of in front of it. You could even use flagstone or something decorative to make it a little nicer. I'm assuming that little walkway is cement? If you don't want to replace it you could even use a cement stain on it to give it a richer look.

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I think that would look great! And it would give you a lot more room to play with!

I went out and got a few more pictures.

Behind view:

I suppose the dirt is a bit red, though it looks brown compared to what I'm used to seeing. The plants themselves look to be old - the smallest of them is at least two foot in diameter at the base.


Close up

They have serrated margins if it can't be seen from the pictures. I have no idea what they are, and don't claim to.

I had forgot the plumbing access for the house was in that bed... until I stepped in it. That will have to be worked around. I'm sure having hedges around that wasn't a terribly brilliant idea.

The shrub right behind the plumbing access is something different than the others. It actually looks decent and controllable. It was windy when I was out taking these pics - so excuse some of the blurriness on this one.


I'm not too worried about finding plants for this area. It's rare that we get anything in around here that won't grow. Case in point, I had never even seen a bougainvillea before Saturday! Those in states further south (zones 8+) will probably think that's unbelievable. They're not really suited for anything other than potted plants here.


I figured out what was by the front door. Some sort of shrub with some thorns... with a wild type/climbing rose mixed in and tangled around it. That's definitely going!

I mentioned our weather in an earlier post... it's 79F (roughly 26C) right now and the humidity is at 4%.. I wasn't prepared for it being that warm and crawling around behind those shrubs made me a bit sick. This unfortunately will be a big obstacle for me.