Few changes needed to make house look great
Low-maintenance landscaping adds pop of colour
A young couple from New Brunswick packed up their possessions and cat to settle in their new home in British Columbia. After working a year in forestry, he became tenure officer for the provincial government. As for her, she works with autistic children and loves her job.
They wished to have a frost-hardy, drought-tolerant and low-maintenance landscaping.
The main concerns of the owners were the long and steep stairs and ugly porch area, which didn’t co-operate with an appealing curb appeal. I suggested a more interesting L-shape configuration, which would open up the doorway. The front of the treads and sides of the staircase should be closed off with horizontal wooden planks and painted or opaque-stained in charcoal. The new simple rectangular handrails will also be adorned in the same tint. To minimize the bulk of the porch space, which is inevitable because of the numerous steps, sleek metal spindles will provide a lighter feel than wood posts. The two floors and footsteps ought to be painted in a warm medium grey.
A new pathway, consisting of either paving stones or concrete slabs will lead the way to the driveway on the side of the building. The vinyl siding is sage green. The windows are thin, thus frail looking. Their inky black contour-forming, distracting rectangles look harsh. Painting these white would soften the façade while producing a richer feel. Six charcoal shutters and a new contemporary style door, painted in an earthy oxblood shade will bring forth colour as well as moderate contrast.
The botanical composition consists of white, yellow and orange blooming vegetation. Snowy flowers spring out of several Potentilla Abbotswoods and delicate clusters of the Vaccinium vitis-idaea. After blossoming, this persistent ground cover, as well as the Ribes alpinum, situated between the two basement windows, will bear scarlet fruit. Although this last shrub loves a well-drained environment, the existing sandy soil should be enriched yearly with compost. Yellow hints will sprout out of the small ornamental tree near the porch as well as the ethereal Coreopsis Moonbeam planted in the outer border of the path. In this angled bed, on all exposed earth, a thick layer of black mulch would be applied to prevent weed invasion. A divider of some sort is imperative between the lawn and flower beds. Influenced by hues from the bricks of the chimney, some orange perennials in the larger bed along with tanger- ine annuals inside the wallhanging container would insure a nice pop of colour and harmony with the door tone. On each front corner of the house, a few pyramidal small evergreens, like Thuja occidentalis Degroot’s Spire, a compact Pinus mugo pu- milio, near the stairs and sev
■ eral low growing Microbiota decussata will anchor the facade in all seasons.
For a younger statement, the address plaque could be removed. One of the uncovered holes on the left will be hidden by the new louvre, and the right indentation will be concealed by the first number of the new larger digits.
Overall, without skimping on style, the house will look great with relatively few changes. The low maintenance assignment request will be fulfilled. After all, the owner has forests to attend to. Vegetation (from left to right):
Thuja occidentalis De- root’s Spireg(two pyramidal evergreens, front corners)
Vaccinium vitis-idaea (persistent perennial ground cover, white, red fruits, beds near foundation)
Coreopsis moonbeam (perennials, soft yellow, outer edge of path)
Potentilla fruticosaAbbots-wood (four or more shrubs, white)
Asclepias tuberosa (bunch of perennials, orange, larger bed, butterflies)
Microbiota decussata (low evergreen, copper in fall, front of stairs and path border)
Caragana arborescens pendula (grafted shrub on trunk, yellow, birds) Pinus mugo var. pumilio (dwarf evergreen, near railing)
Ribes alpinum (shrub, scarlet berries, tolerates pruning, between two basement windows)