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Creating a Low-Maintenance Front Yard

In the last couple of weeks, the landscape on the front of the yard has been replaced. It used to be somewhat scruffy and sloped right to the sidewalk. A beautiful recycled stone curb has been installed along the front of the house and acts as a retaining wall. Bob talks with Ruth Foster, a landscape designer, and Nick Christy of Atlantic View Landscape Construction. A low-maintenance garden was put in place because this a busy household with two young children. The lawn was taken out because mowing lawns requires a lot of time. Pachysandra is being installed as ground cover because it does not require a lot of care. Pachysandra takes a year or two to develop but once it does, the ground will be completely covered. The pachysandra grows by sending out roots and sending up little plantlets. The plant requires no fertilization or watering. The front yard was filled in with eighteen inches of loam to reduce the slope to the curb and enrich the plant bed. A red Japanese maple that can grow to around 30 feet in height is at the center of the new yard. This tree will also need limbing in the future. Holly and rhododendron were also added to the front yard for low-maintenance bloom ing bushes. Daffodils and blue muscari were also put in, providing a blue and yellow accent in the spring.

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Chapters from this episode

Creating a Lattice-Top Gate Now Playing

Creating a Lattice-Top Gate

Creating Stone Steps with Recycled Granite Now Playing

Creating Stone Steps with Recycled Granite

Limbing a Potentially Dangerous Tree Now Playing

Limbing a Potentially Dangerous Tree

Replacing the Gutters Now Playing

Replacing the Gutters

Converting a Mudroom to a Pantry Now Playing

Converting a Mudroom to a Pantry

Preventing Weed Growth Along the Fence Now Playing

Preventing Weed Growth Along the Fence

Selecting Flowering Plants for the Backyard Now Playing

Selecting Flowering Plants for the Backyard

Now Playing

Hardscaping the Backyard

Creating a Low-Maintenance Front Yard Now Playing

Creating a Low-Maintenance Front Yard

Installing Artificial Grass in the Backyard Now Playing

Installing Artificial Grass in the Backyard

Clip Transcript For:

Creating a Low-Maintenance Front Yard

computer-generated transcript - may not be 100% accurate

" Now in the last couple weeks part of the landscape on the front of the house has been replaced what we had here was just a very scruffy front yard in the sloped right to the sidewalk. And the improve the main improvement has been to put in this beautiful recycled granite stone curb along the front of the house. And it. It acts as a retainer wall but it's also beautiful accent -- it also gives us two steps here back down the sidewalk but I'd like to say hi to our friends Ruth Foster and nick who has been during the installation from Atlantic hi guys. I thought what you love the weather. Now let's talk for a second about what the the garden scheme is here Ruth what -- what was your idea in terms of the whole design."

" idea was that they should be a low maintenance garden and we took the lawns out all over. This is a busy household with children and mowing grass is the highest maintenance thing you can do. Putting in ground cover. So what's the ground cover that the men are putting in right now this is Pakistan through which is very easy to take care of it takes a year tunic echoing what it'll be all filled --"

" Now how does it grow does it just send out roots and rise zone yes send up new little planet let's exactly. OK. And you have to worry about fertilize thing and I think. Just on water like that nothing that's why we put did it so nick is the job is is the the soil condition that we have here is that something that you had to amend."

" There we feel that we filled in what was previously here -- slope and then we retained it with me. Antique granite and then we filled in about eighteen inches here of new screen -- OK and what's the tree that you've put in right behind us there it's a red Japanese maple that'll be beautiful how big will that get. I could probably get to about thirty feet. Wow so that's something that you would have to think about limbing also down the line exactly -- and then Ruth you you chose some evergreen shrubs right yes what are they."

" Well we chose lovely holly and lovely rhododendron because they bloom and there's a succession of bloom here so that even though we. -- we've tried to make it very low maintenance we have bulbs in the spring we have rhododendron we have the berries on the holly you can see them now me. And the whole thing kind of moves along without a lot of work from the homeowner. What kind of -- thirty putting in we put in two kinds of daffodils early daffodils in late daffodils and we've put in beautiful. -- must carry. Lovely little. Blue flowers along the wall of blue and yellow accent in the spring yes there well that sounds wonderful well I think we should go around the back of the house and see the plan there."

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