Living in S.C. but want landscaping that looks like a wonderland, but affordable, where do I start?

Question

Looking to create a beautiful natural boundary around my property. Lots of fun with colours and shapes. I am a homeowner and want this to be an ongoing project. Would like to incorporate a water feature. Do have a small creek in backyard with trees. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

The most important thing is to make a plan. Too many people just keep going back and forth from the big box home improvement stores buying whatever looks pretty at the time, then coming home and sticking it somewhere. You will not have a good result with that method, I can guarantee that.
Measure your back yard and put the boundaries and the house footprint in scale on graph paper. Make sure to map out the trees you plan to keep, and show the creek.
Next come in from the boundaries with a curved line representing the bedline, where your outer beds will end and your inner lawn will begin. If it is really shady, make your "lawn" out of a low groundcover, like Mondo Grass or Asiatic Jasmine instead of grass. It will cost more but you will be glad you did.
Now get a good color tree and shrub book and pick out what you like best, that grows in your area of SC. Investigate how big around the ones you like will get, and how tall too. Light needs are really important. If you have shade, you need shade plants; sun, sun plants, etc. Draw out color circles with color construction paper. Use the color of the flowers, or the foliage if it is unique, like purple or chartreuse. Use 1/2 the mature width of the plants as the size for your tree and shrub circles, in scale with how many graph blocks equal a square foot, etc. Now move the circles around to get make a pretty design you are happy with. Leave "pockets" between groups of shrubs for flowers - perennial, annual, or bulb beds. Use shrubs in multiples of threes, fives, and sevens instead of onesie-twosies. Make sure you put the tallest shrubs farthest away from the lawn, and work your way down shorter and shorter. Use only one type of small tree, like Dogwoods for example, as your focal points. Once all your tree and shrub circles are glued in place, just make a list of all the plants in your plan. Whenever you are at a nursery or big box store and have some money for plants, buy those on your list only. To save money use 1 gal size or 3 gal size. Fight the temptation for impulse buying. The more unusual plants you may have to order on the web. But make sure they are hardy, and will thrive in SC. Once all the trees, shrubs and "lawn" are in place and happy, then and only then begin building your flower beds. Before long you will have the wonderland you planned. I wish you success.

Answer 2

Hmmm... A favorite literary character's bedroom is kind of hard. I could tell you that in John Le Carre's novels George Smiley is described as being dressed 'like a bookie', but that's not really what you asked. That should give an idea of the problem, though; in my favorites, the characters and stories aren't concerned with that sort of aesthetic. They're more about meaning, mystery, function and purpose than surroundings. To give another example, in The Man In The Box by Mary Lois Dunn, the box is a bamboo cage. A Vietnamese boy helps a US prisoner escape the box and reach his own people, which isn't really about the box. And William Sleator's House Of Stairs isn't really about the 'house' the characters are trapped in, it's about their behavior as they remain trapped. My all-time favorite book is I Am The Cheese by Robert Cormier (Yes, Spell Checker, I misspelled his name again. Here, have some F.R.E.S.C.A...). That's one's not about a bedroom, but about a search which ends where it all begins. If I described his bedroom, I would just be telling you what he'd be losing, or describing where no one wants to be. (Not a happy story or happy ending.) If I tried the bedroom of one of the ones in the Gossip Girl I haven't read, I bet I'd need an extended residency at Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus and Tiffany's (and the Louvre) to research and I probably wouldn't be able to please the occupant. ****************************************... However, if I were to park Anais Nin or any other female author in a place to stay and just relax and let go, it would be a pearl gray room with ivory and alabaster trimmings. Lacy trim along the floor and ceiling to the corners which would be hung in real lace, floor to ceiling, gathered in the middle and spread at the bottom. Furnishings to match, but fairly minimal and simple as the library/writing room would be separate, based around a queen-size, four poster bed draped with more lace. The structure would allow two side walls of arched windows and the other a veranda. The side windows would be recessed, with window seats and more lace. (I like lace. Deal with it.) There would be trellises full of honeysuckle under and beside the windows. Beyond the foot of the bed would be arched french doors opening onto a veranda overlooking a field of wild flowers sloping down to a sandy beach and the sea. Preferably this would be somewhere fairly mild most of the year with winds from the sea a lot of the time, bringing the scents through whenever wanted. ****************************************... BQ: My space is nothing like that, really. It's a rented cavity near a grocery store with a dumpster that gets overly ripe in summer. The virgin's bower along one side does help a little, though. The inside is a book repository; that's what I get for collecting. Very basic and functional, within the limits of my budget. If I could, I'd live where I'd put somebody else. The room would be far less decorative, more basic, but the place and surroundings would suit me fine. The fields around me would be mostly broomsedge which turns a lovely orange yellow in the fall.

Answer 3

I began by tilling up the soil, I read hundreds of books but was overwhelmed with all the info. I decided to do a natural type (i live in a log cabin)setting with lots of wild flowers. The seed are cheap any dollar store has them. I also planted some no fail perennials Day lillies grow anywhere, some no fail annuals are cosmos,bachelor buttons, marigolds. The good thing about this type of gardening is that you see what you like and can keep planting it . I just put all the seeds in a watering can added a little bit of sand roughed up the soil with a rake and spread the seeds. I live in North Carolina, so i had to do a lot of work to the soil prior to planting ( tilling,adding compost etc)

Answer 4

I buy at the big chains home depot etc...for basic stuff..look for bargains...I buy alot in the late fall..when everything is 50-75% off..also do this at smaller nurseries..where they have more unusual stuff.....to get even more nice unusual stuff at good prices..go online to Weird Dude Plant Nursery or Forest Farm Nursery..Ive ordered from both and they have great unusual stuff(plus the usual)at the best prices on the internet...and everything I have ordered has lived and thrived.... Another, a little pricier in Plant Delights Nursery..they have nice stuff(I have ordered from them)..so much beautiful unusual stuff from all around the world..and what I have ordered has also thrived...

the creek is great..if it is a little boggy.swampy..Id look for plants that would thrive there.....water features are better is you order the rubber liner..so you can make your own pool shape...these are really affordable at big chain stores that have nurseries...or price online...good luck...gardening is always an ongoing process..no matter how many years your working on it...you might move things..add things etc......it is alot of fun and addictive...have fun

oh yeah....for a nice boundry in SC try bamboos and tall grasses for your area...also look for tall perrenials that you like...and add smaller stuff on your side if youd like......

Answer 5

Learn first, plant later. The more you learn, the better chance you have to get it right the first time and do it as inexpensively as possible. See if there is a gardening club in your area and start asking how other people started. Go to internet sites like gardenweb.com and davesgarden.com -- there is a wealth of information at those sites. Developing friendships with other gardeners in your local area is not only a lot of fun, but a great way to get free plants -- most avid gardeners are happy to give away extras.

For design ideas, look at books by authors such as John Brooke and P Allen Smith. They have a lot of good ideas.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

You are not far away from that which you seek.
The answer is....... Asheville NC.

Answer 8

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