Landscape makeovers - landscape gardening ideas - Cover Story

Flower & Garden Magazine, April-May, 1993 by Marty Ross

Our Home Landscapes Evolve As The Years Pass: Trees grow, shrubs outgrow their places in their old age and vigorous groundcovers claim more and more territory. We may welcome the subtle changes of time, but we often hesitate to attempt drastic changes. It's this reluctance to change that causes us to live with trees we don't like and yards that don't quite please us. Sometimes we need a push -- like the sudden realization that our yards no longer fit our needs.

If you have been thinking that your yard and garden could use a few changes, but you're not quite sure what to do, these landscape makeovers may suggest a place to begin. A spruced-up entrance, a new look for an old house and more room to park, play or entertain can all be attained with good ideas, determination and hard work.

A landscaping makeover is a major project. It is a chance, perhaps of a lifetime, to change what you don't like, fix what is broken, and add things to fit your needs. Above all, begin with a good design. Put form and function foremost. Sweep the landscape clean of its problems. As you plan, don't overlook the importance of soil preparation, and pay careful attention to good drainage. It may be a love of plants or gardening that motivates you, but the fact is that the selection of plants comes last in the design process.

If you have been gardening for years, grant yourself the wisdom of your own experience, but don't be too proud to seek help and ideas far and wide. Botanic gardens, extension services, books, magazines and gardening consultants are excellent sources. Incorporate their ideas into your own. Inspect your neighborhood with a critical eye: What would you like to see, and what is already there in boring overabundance?

The landscape makeovers featured here were all undertaken with advice from landscape architects. These experienced professionals are adept at recognizing problems in existing landscapes and designing solutions. But there's no reason homeowners can't design their own landscapes. Start with the questions a landscape professional would ask: What already works in the landscape? What is wrong? How could a redesigned yard better suit your style?

As your plans develop, be realistic about your goals and budget. You may not have the time or money to produce a new look all at once. The main function of a master plan is to show where you are going. With professional help, it may take only weeks to implement; if you do it yourself, allow ample time. Get the elements together in your imagination and then document your work with notes and photographs, so you will be gratified by progress at every step.

Our yards and gardens are always in transition. Plants grow and thrive, bloom and die, trees spread their branches and shade formerly sunny places. This is where we work and relax, and play out part of our lives. We make these landscapes our own when we put our signatures to them.

PERENNIAL CHARM

Fred and Pat Zenone Made their home in a turn-of-the-century Virginia farmhouse almost 20 years ago. While their three children grew up, the suburbs of the nation's capital expanded around them, and when the children left home, the Zenones thought about moving, too. The quiet charm of their house, set on one corner of a three-quarter-acre lot, convinced them to stay put.

The Zenones undertook extensive landscaping changes that give them more privacy from the street and a garden of horticultural interest year-round. A new wrap-around back porch and patio serve as a stage from which they can enjoy their landscaping. The couple used to park their cars in front of the house, but now the driveway winds around back, and they come and go through the garden. The landscaping creates an outdoor living area, an extension of the bluestone patio and broad stairs descending from the white-columned veranda.

The Zenones were enthusiastic but unseasoned gardeners at the start, and this was their first experience working with a professional garden designer. Fred Zenone describes it as a major adventure. Their landscape architect, Sunny Scully, set them at ease with her patience and great love and knowledge of plants.

In the course of the makeover, the couple have become gardeners from the ground up. The drainage on their lot had to be improved in places, and many loads of compost and well-rotted manure were worked into the hard clay Virginia soil.

Scully suggested adding 8-foot sections of fence here and there to help define the property, without enclosing it. Small gardens were created around them. Fred Zenone built several fence prototypes before he hit upon a low, white-painted picket design.

Masses of old-fashioned flowers in the new landscaping complement the Victorian house. Bright daylilies lean into the sun along a section of fence by the street. By summer's end, yellow hollyhocks (Alcea rugosa) tower behind another. Delicate pink |Bonica' roses bloom in clouds on one side of the house, set off by a drift of silvery santolina. It all has a gentle Southern accent, especially the big white |Natchez' crape myrtle in back.