What Do I do With This? HELP! Suggestions Please!

[maciec]

I really need some suggestions. We live in Zone 7. This is the south side of our house and it gets full sun. We transplanted these box woods to the side of the house, but they just don't seem to be growing very well. Either that or they are just taking their own sweet time.

2nd question is after the picture

The 2nd question is, how do I elevate this bed? Do I have to take the boxwoods out, elevate the bed, and then replant everything?

Also, I want to do a flagstone wall, but my problem is, is that weeds pop up on the grass side of the wall....how do I prevent that?

I think that I am done. Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[rockyroad]

Boxwoods grow really slowly.

I went to an estate sale at a old house and it had this wonderful, but overgrown garden. There was stuff in there that I had never seen before and would have loved to have had starts of.

Anyway, the house sold and the new owners wiped out the gardens...just cleared the whole thing out..including some ancient boxwoods. I still wince when I drive past.

And the thing is that they must have been so ignorant that they thought they were doing a good job.

If you are talking about putting a raised bed against the foundation of your house, I might talk to someone about that first. Water against the foundation may not be exactly what you want to do.

Will crepe myrtles grow in your area?
They thrive here in our zone 7.
And different varieties grow to different heights.
I can see some tallish sculptural crepe myrtles softening the corners of that wall.

http://www.usna.usda.gov/PhotoGallery/CrapemyrtleGallery/BiloxiGallery.html

Something like that...not the bush form or the butchered form

And is that an access panel in the photo...right behind the bush?

Good luck!

 

[maciec]

Crepe Myrltes will grow here and I was thinking of the same thing for the corner. I'm not sure of what to do about the boxwoods. I may just rip them out again and plant them somewhere else and start all over again. I just think that this side of the house is so UGLY!

oh and yes, it's an access panel behind the bush.

 

[rockyroad]

Have you decided what to plant yet?

 

[maciec]

I think that I am going to plant 2 flowering cherry trees on that side of the house. They had some really pretty and large ones at Home Depot the other day. I actually had the guy come and load them up on my cart, paid for them, and took them to the truck. Before loading the trees up, I look at my receipt and wouldn't ya know it, I wasn't paying attention and the guy loaded up flowering plum trees! It was ok because it ended up that we didn't have enough room in the truck for them anyway. So I am going back today to get the right trees.

I also planted a lilac bush on the corner that I have high hopes for. I haven't decided yet, but I think that I am going to rip out those box woods and plant some more lilac bushes and flowers.

I really need to make that bed bigger also and get some more mulch.

Wish me luck! I have high aspirations at this point!

 

[MazdaUK]

Lilac bushes grow very quickly. One temporary option would be Russian vine (a.k.a. mile-a-minute!) - you could grow it over some trellis then pull it up once the trees are bigger.

 

[amid chaos]

It looks like you need some height on that side of the house..boxwoods just disappear. I suggest lilacs, azaleas, rhodies...all bloming and beautiful.

 

[maciec]

It looks like you need some height on that side of the house..boxwoods just disappear. I suggest lilacs, azaleas, rhodies...all bloming and beautiful.

I am thinking the same thing! I really don't like boxwoods. I just don't want to throw them away.....I need to figure out what to do with them and I haven't just yet. When I do, away they go!

 

[UrsulasShadow]

Boxwoods are great as edgings for formal walkways.

For elevating the bed...it looks like the ground slopes away from the house some, and that's good. It also looks like you have a little leeway with foundation. You could raise the bed slightly, extend it out a few feet from the house, maintaining a slight slope away from the foundation, and support the far edge of the raised area with a low fieldstone or flagstone wall. Plant some interesting tall conifers closer to the house (but far enough away so you can walk behind them and maintain them), and some lovely perennials and low shrubs further out...and a few low groundcovers to spill over the low wall, like soapwort or creeping phlox, or low sedum, or thyme (many varieties). It's a big house, it can handle a larger border garden there, with lots of height.