house by the marsh
front house plantings
goals
Improve environmental value.
Find a place for blue hydrangeas
Select plants that can deal with sun and some for salt tolerance
recommendations
Remove existing shrubs, except hollies and small tree near bedroom
Remove sod to increase area of planting bed in an informal "U" shape
Plant Hydrangeas on either side of front door
Trim large tree for health and neighbors view
Plant area mostly with native coastal shrubs for ease of maintenance
Leave room for an informal planting of native flowering plants
planting plan
This is a planting plan for the front of the house.
plant recommendations
Trees / Large Shrubs
River birch
Betula Nigra 'Dura-heat'
This tree will provide privacy from the neighbors, stay fairly narrow, feed birds and have great winter bark
Shadbush
Amelanchier canadensis
Blooms when the shad run. Very tasty berries
Groundsel Bush
Baccharis halimifolia
Great white flowers in fall, very tolerant of salt
Witch Hazel
Hamamelis virginiana
Blooms in late October or November
Winterberry
lex verticillata
Beautiful against the snow Birds love the berries
Staghorn Sumac
Rhus typhina
Beautiful fall color
Forms colonies
Bayberry
Morella pensylvanica
Good for privacy and to give birds cover
low shrubs
Carolina Rose
Rosa carolina
Hardy beautiful rose with great hips. Who doesn't love great hips
Beach Plum
Prunus maritima
Wonderful spring blooms for bees and fall fruit for birds - and jam
Sweet fern
Comptonia peregrina
Slow growing and spreading shrub with a wonderful scent and interesting flowers
Summersweet
Clethra alnifolia
Oh for the scent of clethra in July. Nice fall color too
Inkberry
Ilex glabra
A workhorse in the garden, easy to care for evergreen
Endless Summer Hydrangea
Hydrangea macrophylla 'endless summer'
Because they are so pretty
Sweetspire
Itea verginica 'Henry's garnet'
Great fall color and interesting blooms, I need a better image
Ninebark
Physocarpus opulifolius
Sweet white flowers, red berries and winter interest. There are cultivars with burgandy or chartruese colored leaves
Sweetgale
Myrica gale
Blue-hued leaves are a great backdrop, stays nice and compact. Prefers it moist
Bear berry
Arctostaphylos-uva-ursi
Salt tolerant, low growing shrub groundcover, evergreen foliage
pollinator - wildflower garden plants
These plants were selected to be sun loving, native to your area that want average to moist soil. For the most part they are "well-behaved" garden plants. I have also mostly included plants that would look good against the blue of the house.
perennials - spring
Penstemon
Penstemon digitalis
Definitely a nice add though a little tall for the front garden perhaps near the birch tree
Golden groundsel
Packera aurea
Blue flag iris
Iris versicolor
If you love iris, but want to get rid of the cultivars that look sloppy in the summer, the native iris is a good choice.
Perennials - Summer
Swamp milkweed
Asclepias incarnata
Obedient plant
Physostegia virginiana
Blue vervain
Verbena hastata
Tall deep blue spikes.
Nodding onion
Allium cernuum
This native onion is a little looser than the ones you have outside the pool fence. You might want to add them as a group as a counterpoint.
Showy tick trefoil
Desmodium canadense
Blue lobelia
Lobelia siphilitica
Cheerful, self seeds. Nice with other blues and yellows
Spotted Joe Pye weed Eutrochium maculatum
Yellow wild indigo
Baptisia tinctoria
Pink tickseed
Coreopsis rosea
Short - good for front garden with your cosmos
Culver's root Veronicastrum virginicum
Tall - dramatic good for traffic circle or against fence near pool
New York ironweed Vernonia noveboracensis
Similar in stature to the Culver's root. Beautiful to see sway in the breeze.
Goldenrod - Little Lemon
This is a short cultivar that is worth considering as it blooms a little earlier than most goldenrods and at 18" is easier to work into a standard bed. This would be good for either the front or near the pool.
perennials - fall
Gray goldenrod
Solidago nemoralis
Downy goldenrod
Solidago puberula
Downy skullcap
Scutellaria incana
White snakeroot
Ageratina altissima
New York aster
Symphyotrichum novi-belgii
New England aster
Symphyotrichum novae-angliae
other proposed planting beds
There are several areas on the property that could be planted to enhance wildlife value without compromising the view. This schematic shows a set of planting beds for shrubs.
Western lawn area
goals
Maintain view
Improve habitat value
Keep it easy to maintain
recommendations
Plant small trees to the west and south of deck
Plant a bed of salt tolerant plants that like it wet occasionally at the street runoff outfall
Break up the harsh look of the modern stone wall with plantings of coastal shrubs
Create a larger bed of coastal shrubs and small trees to the north side to enhance habitat and provide food for wildlife
Keep a mow strip between new beds and areas that have existing issues with invasive plant
references
The Best Trees, Vines, And Shrubs To Plant For Birds: A Starter List - The Cornell Lab
Garden Plant Finder - Native Plant Trust
Women's work gloves - The goat skin gloves are amazing when dealing with thorns