Hello GardenStew members. I have a small garden near the front door of the house. I would really appreciate your advice or suggestions on landscaping ideas. Please find below photos of the garden as it looks now and the two landscaping ideas I am considering. Thank you very much. Garden now Landscaping Design #1 Landscaping Design # 2
I prefer the first one too Noon. Maybe some alpine plants dotted around the white stone area would break it up and give it a little more colour and character to your garden.
How about ground cover instead of rocks? Let me suggest some advantages. First, you can easily change your mind if you don't like them, whereas with rocks changing them would be hard work. Secondly, it's a garden, so plants belong there. Thirdly, it will encourage you to prepare and manage the whole garden for planting which is needed. See, the plants you are going to plant there don't send their roots straight down, they will spread them out through the garden, and maybe beyond. Some people even put plastic under rocks so weeds can't grow up, but that doesn't allow plants' roots to function.
Like number one best, but I'd always think carefully about rock, just like BT said. Sooner than you realize nature will leave dust and debris and then seeds and weeds will appear. Always a pain to remove from stone. Having made this mistake when we first moved in and then having to remove the rock I always feel cautious. I love the very large rocks. I think they always add a nice bit of natural element to any garden. Maybe refreshing the mulch, adding the focal point large rocks would give a fresh look you want for a start. Lovely garden as it is though.
I agree with what most say about rocks and weeds. I also agree that a few nice larger rocks and groundcover would probably be the easiest in the long run. I would also add a few spring bulbs for some early color and they will do fine with groundcovers.
Thank you all for your comments. I really appreciate it. I will go for the ground cover rather than the small rocks, place a few larger rocks and a few bulbs of different colors. I will post a photo of the finished work once it's done. Thanks once again
