Landscaping: Before and After Pictures

I talked to the homeowner and began to understand his frustration. I suggested that he needed height to bring the eye up to see the architecture. And since we were dealing with dense shade, existing tree roots and insufficient room to grow anything tall, I suggested trellises. I constructed two 24” trellises and one 48” trellis out of pressure treated 2 X 4 lumber. I stained them black and embellished them with copper tubing. This way , if we were unable to successfully grow an appealing climber in these conditions, the architecture and beauty of the arbors would provide year round interest. Also, due to his property line, we were limited with 30” deep beds against the house. I chose variegated shade plants like hosta, akuba and ivy to fill in the difficult areas. Where the tree roots were large and obtrusive, I added annual impatiens to spread some color.

Take a look at the house above. The top row shows the side yard before. Notice the beautiful windows, trim and architecture. The problem was from the street level, about three feet lower, you couldn’t see the details. The facade was lost. Most of this space was shaded due to a large old maple tree. The view focused on areas against the house where nothing would grow.