Garden entrances

From Gardening Wiki

Make sure your home has homelike privacy.

On every property there will probably be several good views. The best ones should be picked out and should be considered in laying out the planting. By properly framing in these good views with trees and shrubbery, you will get the effect of lending distance to the views and also increasing the apparent size of the property. Thus by framing in the views, each one becomes a picture.

Garden Entrances

If the entrance gate is used, it should be of the same material and character as the house. If the house is of red brick, the entrance should be treated with the same material. If the house is of stone, or wood, the same principle will hold true. A training of clinging vines over the entrance gate will be found to be very effective.

The entrance should be located at the most convenient point. If most of the travel is in one direction, the entrance should be located at the point closest to the main direction of travel. Very often this results in the entrance being at one corner of the property. This gives an opportunity for a long, curved driveway leading up to the house. We have already explained why the entrance should be more or less hidden from the house. Clumps of shrubbery can be planted on either side of the entrance, largest shrubbery towards the center of the clump and the lower, spreading shrubs in front. As the visitor enters the masked entrance and drives towards the house, he continually gets a new view of the property. This is much more effective than if the whole grounds were spread out like a map so that everything was visible at one glance.

However, the view from the home should overlook the street or road and likewise the passer-by should get a good view of the house and its surrounding planting.

Garden Entrance Shrubs

Shrubs are used to form a transition or connection between the house and the surrounding landscape. This shrub and tree planting helps to blend the various parts of the picture and to make it appear in keeping with the naturalistic surroundings.

When planting the shrub groups about the house, be sure that the groups are planted in irregular clumps. Do not plant them in a straight hedge effect around the foundation of the house. It should also be remembered that shrubs with foliage of fine texture are better suited for close planting around the house than the rougher and more irregular growing shrubs.

For instance, shrubs with foliage of fine texture like Spirea Van Houttei, Japanese Barberry (Berberis Thunbergii), Spirea Billardi, Snowberry (Symphoricarpus Racemosus) and shrubs of this type are well adapted for planting near the house. Some of the best trees for planting near the house to form a frame and to protect the house in Summer and Winter are the following kinds: American White Elm, Tulip Tree, European Linden, Silver Maple, European Sycamore Norway Maple.