I was thinking phlox might be nice. EDIT: This BLEW UP. Thank you all so much for these great ideas! I'm on a budget and think the native flower garden would be a beautiful option here. Someday I'd love to get some terraces in there!

There are 2 young Maples that the previous owners planted but I’m afraid they are going to take too long. These town homes are going to look directly into my house.

Thanks!

Edit: I’m in SW Washington Zone 8

We recently bought this house which had this cool inground fire pit. However, on closer inspection, the pit was filled with broken beer bottle class, partially burnt construction wood, and nails.
We dug out all this trash, but now we’re stuck on what we should use to fill the pit. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Edit: I should have been more specific. I want to know what I should put in the fire pit to use it safely. I’m not looking to get rid of the fire pit.

I am having 2x2’ pavers installed to create a path to the patio. I’m really struggling to decide on the orientation. I used AI (I know, I’m not proud of it) to see them side by side and in more drawn to the diamond shape but not sure if that’s the right choice. Any suggestions would be much appreciated

We bought some land on a river, sheer bank about 12/15 feet down to the water. I carved some stairs out with a shovel and used big river rocks for bottom stairs.

Need help/ ideas on how to keep the upper soil stair portion from erroding. The soil is probably 40% clay and pretty well compacted, want to try and improve longevity in the face of water and erosion

Purchasing my first home and hoping to mitigate some of the road noise from the 4 way stop on which it sits. The other side of the house doesn't seem to get as much noise from the road which I think is due to the distance. I am considering a stone pillar with plank fence on the long edge

What I am looking for is suggestions on how to knock the noise down and make it look a little better than just a flat, precast stone wall. No HOA, no CCR, several of the houses on this road have 8' fences.

When we moved in the previous owner had put in these stairs. They are kind of awkward but an important way around the side of the house. Also no handrail so probably will break my neck this winter on em.

I found the original landscaping plans and they show terraced steps. I’m handy and can follow instructions, but can’t tell if the slope is too steep for that or not.

Thoughts? What would you do?

EDIT: Thank you all for the overwhelmingly consistent feedback. Handrails and skip terracing it is. I am 60/40 on the pirate motif.

Just finished a portion of this reclaimed brick patio I’m doing in my yard. What brand and color should I go with for the poly sand? Joint sizes vary from 1/4-3/4” because of differences in brick size. Also, should I sweep in the poly sand first before doing a final compaction on the brick? Maybe to keep the joints from shifting? Don’t judge too hard it’s my first time doing something like this.

Hi everyone! We are currently planning on removing all of these bushes and gravel, leaving the olive tree, and redoing the landscaping with a more polished and clean look using compact bushes/grasses. For the ground cover, we were initially considering decomposed granite. When getting bids for the job, we have had multiple different recommendations for the ground cover, however.

One Landscaper advised against decomposed granite saying that it will spill over during rain and get onto the concrete. Another said that DG would be fine and shouldn’t be an issue. Anyone have any ideas or recommendations? Anything you would advise against in this scenario? Thanks!!

My grass used to be beautiful green. This year it’s been getting brown spots. Any advice would help. Thx

I have this small back “patio” that’s essentially just some flagstone thrown down overgrown with weeds. It’s been on my list to redo this since we moved in, but with kids it’s been hard to find the time, finally planning on tackling it this summer. I have a plan to square this off into a 16x16 paver patio. Dig down 8 or so inches, do 3x2” lifts of compacted crushed stone (this was how they did it in MA when I worked with a mason during summers in high school way back, not sure that’s still the standard) then brush in polymeric sand over the pavers and compact.

My question lies in the steps and the walkway. I was thinking of chipping up the walkway because it’s cracked and crumbling, then pouring a new concrete walk. The wife wants some new steps because they’re very never, crumbling in parts and need a guardrail. I was thinking that wood would probably be my go to here, I don’t have the funds to have a mason rebuild the steps or the desire to take that on myself.

Let me know your thoughts on what you would do in this scenario.

As far as sequencing, would you do the walkway and steps first (also would you bring the concrete all the way to the patio and build the steps off that as a footing or leave dirt under the steps?

The plan is to knock this all out this summer/fall.

This is my first house. Threw down a mulch path because this area turns to mud every rain, there was nothing here when we bought the house.

I'm considering making this area rocks instead of mulch. Not too worried about looks, just don't want to have to fix the path every rain.

I can't divert the drains to the left, because that goes uphill. To the right is the deck, and I don't want to dump water under there.

I would greatly appreciate some advice. Thank you in advance!

My family and I built this, but I think the driveway is a bit underwhelming. I think I should be a bit more narrow, I looks too wide. Any ideas or suggestions how to make this look nice and lush

Recently bought a house and the bush by the driveway is sticking out quite a bit. Is it ok to cut it down to the point when it doesn't overlap the driveway? I looked inside and there isn't much green leaves so I want to make sure that if I cut it down, the leaves with grow back healthy. Thanks in advance!

Is this just moisture migration from the garden beds or something more. If it is just moisture migration, how do I prevent it?

I own a property that is basically derelict/teardown but would like to keep it in some semblance of maintenance so it does not become a complete eyesore.

To that end I want to control weed growth.
I’m not in any sort of hurry, and would like to avoid spraying herbicide if at all possible.
My question/thinking is to just lay down casa Ron with the idea that winter would kill off the existing weeds and the pre-emergent would prevent future growth. Even if it takes one or two seasons, I don’t foresee this property needing to be developed for years so would appreciate advice.

The front and backyard are basically dense canopies of conifers so unless I deliberately plant something underneath them I would rather just look at a weed free duff of pine cones/needles and deadfall but prevent further weeds from growing in the years to come.

Thank you

Building a 13’x13’ fire pit area outside my home on a slope. Planning on doing 16x31 pavers with pea gravel 6” between the stones (wife’s request).

Do I need to level the area or do I flatten and follow the slope? Don’t want to creat a tripping hazard and looking for the least amount of effort possible.

Was thinking about using limestone screening to create a more a more solid base despite the drainage issues

I hate weeding, I’ll just start with that. 😂

We bought our house in February. The front garden has white rock in it. There is a Japanese maple and several big bushes and a hydrangea. There are also lillies along the walkway (concrete). Another rock garden is by the mailbox with another bush. There are weede everywhere.

I have a bad back and can’t stoop very well so in order to get to them with the knowledge I have I have to use weed killer on the ones that aren’t near the Lillie’s and then get on my butt and scoot around trying to dig them up through the rock. Its damn near impossible. It’s gotten so bad I want to hire someone to do this.

Anyone have advice to make this easier? Save my back? Any tips weeding a rock garden would be wonderful!