help with front yard please!

[Elena Zimmerman]

Thank you, Karen - I am looking forward to seeing what you did, and how successful it was, since I will be trying a few more things on the front lawn. And My neigbour and I have that narrow strip between our houses we keep chatting about developing with something other than grass.

[abolla1]

Because the yard is so small I would ripe up all the grass and either put paver, stone or mulch down. Then I would add my flowers into pots. I also use things like lettuce for stuffers so I can have my own veggies to eat. You can also put the pots on wheels so they can be moved around with the sun if you need to.
This way if you are also shovelling snow there in the winter no concerns about the salt and plants.

[karen03]

Ok, we've decided to put a garden bed (hostas, daylilies, groundcovers)around the tree to about a foot from the driveway & put a hedge between the neighbors(we're still looking around for hedging). We don't put a lot of salt on our driveway during the winter time & I've read that hosta can tolerate some salt. Eventually I will probably rip all the grass out but a small area is a start.

I started pulling the grass out today by the tree. There's a lot of tree roots, biggest is the size of my pinky. The elm tree in front (i think it's elm) is about 3 years old, will this hurt the tree? Should I continue taking the grass out or should i create a raised bed around the area?

Thanks again in advance for any input.

[Elena Zimmerman]

I have never yet managed to hurt a tree by pulling grass around it. Building a raised bed around a tree is a little tricky becuase you will have to slope towards the tree, as you do not want to pile soil too high up the tree trunk, or it may start growing all the unwanted babies at the base. Good luck with the bed!

[Eeyore]

Elena is right, you don't want to raise the bed around the tree too high. It could damage the trunk and lead to decline in the tree.

[karen03]

updated pictures. we planted hostas for now, still has to plant the hedging. The plan is to dig out the rest of the grass (maybe next year) & put a rock bed with water feature. On the side, we covered the grass with rocks.

Can someone identify the clematis in front of our house? I bought it 3 years ago & lost the tag. Thanks in advance!

[maryjanel]

Karen,
I think your Clematis might be Multi Blue. I have one and it sure looks like yours.

Mary-Jane

[B_BQ]

My Multi-Blue looks very similar to yours too!
~BBQ

[karen03]

thanks ladies!

[jmace]

I wouldn't worry so much about salt unless you salt your driveway in the winter (could use sand instead of salt)? The salt will be an issue closer to the side walk and street, unless your city/town doesn't use salt (some don't). I planted a boulevard garden and have had no issues with winter salt and snow but I do end up with gravel on it after the snow melts (I just throw more mulch over it).

You could do a raised bed that runs parallel with the driveway and then use crushed white stone or crushed red clay between the raised bed and the driveway. As for what to plant, depends on the sun, zone, etc. However, I agree with all that I would plant the whole thing and not leave any grass.

My eyes would be glazed over just imagining the possibilities of that strip of lawn!