In 2018 we built a ranch home with a very simple, easy to care for landscape around the house. I added some Landscape Lighting to the Landscape so before I did the video about that, I did this video on the landscape design.
I don’t mention it in the video but you can see a bit of it at the beginning of the video. Our landscape is very simple, just the front, with one small island around a lamp post. The other three sides of the house are simple washed river stone.
We’ve got plenty to take care of at The Nursery, so at home we opted for simplicity.
For a lot more on Landscape Design Ideas Visit this Page.
I hope you enjoy and learn.
As always, by any and all means stay inspired!
I like that you talked about having a simple landscape in the front part of your home with one small island around a lamppost. Personally, also want something simple but I would still want the help of a landscape architect to create an idea for me, because my imagination is not that great. So I would need help when it comes to designing my property in a minimalist way that is actually going to work and it will not look dull at the same time.
Hi Jo. Get a fuller growth by cutting the croton a lil bit above half the length. This will redirect growth hormones the nodes and begin the developent of new shoots which will form new branches and with time create a more full croton wonder plant.
Hey Mike,
The Hub and I are going to reconstruct our deck but I have many perennials running along the side of it. We are expanding the deck about 4 feet. I’m getting nervous as to how I’m going to save these plants and possibly be able to reestablish them when its all said and done. I was wondering how you would handle this? I thought maybe to just plant them here and there in other spots on the property and start over, but not sure if I have enough room for them all & money for that matter!
Let me know your thoughts if you can. Thanks Liz from CO
Liz,
Get them out, plant them in the shade or pot them up in the shade, water regularly, several times a day for the first few days. Hope for the best.
Mike when should I try summer Japanese maple grafting , and what should I set my misters at ? 10 every 10 like for cuttings or is there a different setting , I’m in zone 8 . Thanks for everything
Doug,
I’m really not sure on the maples. Summer grafting is really tricky and the success rate is far lower than winter grafting. Those mist settings are fine.
Mike, I thoroughly enjoy the simplicity of your landscaping.
I have an 47+ Croton plant I bought at a church sale. It’s tall and a couple of branches are bare except the upper top. Would like to make it fuller and also get some restarts from it. Afraid to touch it. Any advice is welcomed.
Have a great summer.
Jo
Jo,
See this; https://mikesbackyardnursery.com/2015/01/easy-summertime-plant-propagation-techniques-can-home/
This is the2nd year I tried propagating with the aquarium directions. Last year I had 30% success. I was happy. I put cuttings in June19. All but 2 have brown dead leaves. I made sure it wasn’t too wet. What a disappointment. I will try again. Any tips?
Sarah,
What are you propagating. Some things are easy, others far more challenging.
That is a beautiful landscape design. What is the black on the ground? I’m afraid to put any type of mulch down in front of my house here in Florida due to drawing termites.
Nematodes are attacking my vegetables. What is the best way to rid them? I’ve pulled up about 5 tomato plants so far..
Just mulch in the beds. I don’t know about the tomatoes.
I have Snow Angel Coral Bells and love their look but i’de like to know what u do to care for them bc mine do not get those beautiful choral flowers.
Marge,
I don’t do anything to my coral bells but to cut them back a bit in the fall. I don’t fertilize them, they do fine.
Mike, you are a magician at growing plants. Stick with that. Your landscape ideas are. Butt-ugly
Strong words coming from somebody who is afraid to put their name on their post. But your cowardly input is appreciated.
Oh geez Mike, don’t get sucked into a nasty exchange. If your landscaping is ugly I guess mine is too. I did the same style. It’s a phenomenon how words in print on the internet become exponentially abrasive. I used to email old friends the same ironic way we talked face to face. and learned it is not well received.
I’m just sayin.
I was admiring your landscape design, I am an artist.
Very nice. I wonder how you deal with weeds that inevitably pop up through the woodchips and gravel.. I’ve used the same techniques and after a year, I’m faced with raking away the chips to clean up weed intruders making it all look shabby
George,
A couple times a year I use a pre-emergent herbicide but we also make sure no weeds ever get a foot hold.
Why would you delete an informative comment about good landscape design? Don’t you care about anything but making money from plants?
Gene,
I don’t recall deleting any comment about a good landscape design. I rarely delete any comments here unless they are spam or promotional.
Your poor landscape design is really behind the times. The black woodchip mulch and plant spacing is especially bad, and so is rock mulch. You should read the book ‘Planting in a Post-wild World’ by Thomas Ranier and Claudia West. It is about a sustainable, layered landscaping approach with the inclusion of native plants. You end up with a plant community that functions naturally and requires less maintenance than what you have. Rethink and go with an ecological landscape that supports nature.
Gene,
My wife and I, the two people that see this landscape daily, happen to like the plants in this landscape, which is why there are so many rare Japanese maples and other plants of color. The native plants that you describe would consume this house unless pruned several times a year.
What do I plant on a relatively decent slope?
Junipers work great, especially blue rug.
Dear Mike,
Thank you for the pictures of landscape designs which I am trying to look at at any opportunity as that is a weak point of me abilities with plants and planting. I have Lenten Roses and another large shade plant and am using Maiden hair fern and August fern. I need to get some Japanese Maples too but am trying to use things I have been using for years in a shade to sunny flower bed in one garden. Also have a winter hardy evergreen geranium which I am quite fond of. I need to go to your web sight an review everything you have there when I am needing to rest from other things and work in the garden.
How to split and plant hostas and what time of the year is best to get results?
Michael,
The ideal time to divide hostas is early spring when they are just beginning to break dormancy. But they can also be done in mid to late summer when they go into a resting period.
Nice simple plan. You make a good point about lots of repetition in a good landscape plan. Interesting that at least three quarters is Japanese Maple and heuchera. I like it and may steal it (haha)
Eddie,
Feel free to steal the concept, that’s why I share stuff.
Are your Japanese Maples all in the sun?
Debbie,
They were in the sun in my nursery, at my house the front of the house is a bit shady.
Thank you for sharing all your hard work and information. I learn so much from you!
Love your landscaping…so clean and easy to see your plantings!
How do I renovate my heavily overgrown beds. Black eyed susans and other perennials have taken over 🙁
Irene
Irene,
Dig them out and till the beds, wait a week then till again and just keep repeating this process until all viable pieces of this plants have expired.
I have poison ivy, oak and sumac all around my trees. The one I’m worry about is the pine trees. If I use vinegar with salt and dish soap to kill the poison will that hurt or kill my pine trees.
Deborah,
I wouldn’t spray it directly on the trees, but more than likely it won’t harm them, but no promises.
Also, use 30% vinegar, not table vinegar and make sure to protect your face, eyes and skin. I would not add the salt around anything you want to keep.
Vinegar, salt, and dish soap does not work.. It may kill the leaves, but not the whole plant. The plant will regrow. Glyphosate is very effective sprayed on leaves, and breaks down quickly. If the glyphosate gets on a tree trunk, it will do nothing to the tree. It is absorbed only through leaves.
Gene,
That’s not completely true. Some trees, younger trees, can and will absorb glyphosate (Roundup) through the bark of the tree and do severe damage to the tree. Larger, more mature trees are less likely to be affected by it.
what formula did you use ?
Don