I have no idea what any of this green stuff is called. Help on that front would be great, too.
I tried to do a panoramic, but it didn't work.
So, from left to right, there are two deciduous shrubs, (I believe one is an offshoot of the other), an evergreen shrub, and a tree on either side of the front door.
Here we have the two deciduous shrubs on the left that Anne thought didn't look well:
And here's a close up of both of them:
(Sorry the pics are so bad!)Then, we have the evergreen shrub and the tree behind it:
Of all the plantings at the front, the shrub is the one I am most attached to, if only because this is the view from the front door.
That of course leaves the tree behind it a bit bare:
On the right side of the front entry, we have yet another evergreen tree. It's been pruned in an unfortunate way, however.
And so, there we have it.
The deciduous shrubs can go...perhaps somewhere else? They are far too delicate to balance out the the rest of the growth. I am often tempted to take down the two trees but I'm genuinely worried about the cold. As this facade faces North, my feeling is they keep the house warm. As well, as the trees cover the front entryway, they do provide some shelter--as the inadequate "porch roof" thingy does not. See it up there above the proch railing "trellis-like" supports? I have no idea who thought that was useful!
This was taken yesterday, when it was sunny. Consider this your "before" picture! I had planned to ignore the whole thing, just because I don't know what to do, and just work on the lawn (such as it is), but perhpas I really should make up my mind about it!
Advice? Thoughts?
My first thought would be to wait until the plants' dormant season and then give 'em all a good pruning, which gives you several months to study a reliable book on pruning.
ReplyDeleteEither you'll end up with properly shaped shrubs, or you'll discover that the interiors are so woody that it's time to rip them out.
Evergreens are fine to hack up in the summer, I just wonder if the sad tree on the right might be better off being replaced with another big happy evergreen shrub to match the other side. I am in a dry area so I am always uncomfortable about that much greenery that close to the roof, but I would say keep the left evergreens and ditch the right one. Evergreen shrubs on the right would still give you a little shelter but not overwhelm your entryway.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think the big deciduous tree on the right balances out your left evergreen just fine in the pictures from here, I didn't even know the right one was there.
Anne, I'm confused by your last paragraph. The big deciduous tree on the right? There is one but it 1) isn't captured in these shots and 2) belongs to my neighbour. So, I'm not sure what you're reffering to.
ReplyDeleteThe big deciduous tree on the right is visible when I go back to look at the whole-house photos to get some context for your shrubbery. Your right evergreen just looks sad to me in these pictures.
ReplyDelete