Any ideas on landscaping ten x eighteen courtyard?
my townhouse has a small courtyard between house and gararge that I would like to make more appealing, it’s completly enclosed, gets good light and is in full view of the dining room. I want to make it into a low maintenance garden area with a lot of green and a lot of color. Right now I’m kicking around ideas, anyone know of some nice, colorful, type plants( shade giving plants would be nice) that would do well in a small area? Any other interesting ideas would be good as well.Also, I live in southeast Texas and I’m a very lazy gardener, so these have to be low maintenance plants,
Well, I suggest to check the webpage from my landscaping contractor here in CA and you can see some excellent ideas for your courtyard. http://www.gonzalezland.com/OurWork.aspx
These guys are good and their work is great! Hope this helps!
I know Spiderplants are low maintenance. they need very little water, and do not die as easily as any other plant. You could go with some Annuals, or some Evergreen shrubbs, with maybe a statue or a nice bird bath in the center. the following URL has a list of annual flowers you could use. http://www.tobuildagarden.com/flower-gardening/list-annual-flowers.php
Hydrangea’s and ferns are nice and do well in shade.
Examples of low maintenance plants would be rose moss, petunias, forsythia, lilacs, wegelia, spirea and bulbs like daffodils. It loves the sun and are low maintenance plants. For some ideas on landscaping here is a website with picture galleries you may be interested in.
http://nmlandscaping.com
Good luck.
One thing you need, since this is in view of your dining room; is a focal point. This could be a special specimen plant such as Harry Lauders Walking Stick (Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’) Contorted Hazelnut.
http://au.images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=A0PDodipA69OkigAz.oW5gt.;_ylu=X3oDMTBsNXNqYzdwBHNlYwNmcC10aHVtYnMEc2xrA2ltZw–?back=http%3A%2F%2Fau.images.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3DHarry%2BLauders%2BWalking%2BStick%26ei%3DUTF-8%26fr2%3Dtab-web%26b%3D29%26tab%3Dorganic&w=219&h=216&imgurl=www.jungseed.com%2Fproducts%2F22198.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jungseed.com%2Fdp.asp%3FpID%3D22198%26amp%3Bc%3D412%26amp%3Bp%3DHarry%2BLauders%2BWalking%2BStick&size=27.8+KB&name=Shrubs+%26amp%3B+Trees+%7C+Trees+%7C+Corylus+%7C+Harry+Lauders+Walking+Stick+%7C+Jung+…&p=Harry+Lauders+Walking+Stick&oid=bb02e81ed0ca9e7d0cd9a7992ac77ede&fr2=tab-web&fr=&rw=Harry+Lauder%27s+Walking+Stick&tt=Shrubs+%26amp%3B+Trees+%7C+Trees+%7C+Corylus+%7C+Harry+Lauders+Walking+Stick+%7C+Jung+…&b=29&nav=prev&ni=28&no=30&tab=organic&ts=&sigr=12ko9t8um&sigb=13j68f0nt&sigi=113105ma9&.crumb=fJvaXpfPz5V
Or a special piece of sculpture or maybe a fountain.
Clematis and Hosta both tolerate a good amount of shade and both give some great blossoms and superior leaves.
Learn about hosta plants here. http://www.nhhostas.com/Default.aspx?gclid=CJuAuufPm6wCFQZThwodWiE2Ag
Clematis here.
http://www.homeofclematis.net/ (my fave is the Jackmanii)
Intersperse these with some perennials and early blooming flowers for year long blooms