The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California
Small Home Landscaping
THIS T-shaped house on a lot 80x100 feet was placed, not with the idea of making the most of the area for landscaping, but to get the maximum all-year light. The front faces northwest. Although the living room gets little winter light, it is cool in summer.
On the southeast side, a small flowering tree gives some summer shade in the early forenoon to the. terrace and bedroom. The terrace itself is partly shaded in the afternoon by the house. Shade trees on the southwest side shade both the roof and windows all afternoon, but don't interfere with the light in winter. The shrub mass at the corner of the study protects the entrance from the full force of the winter wind and the small flowering tree on the northeast offers protection from that side. The path from the sidewalk starts at a point where the grade is nearly even so that steps are avoided. This is the main reason for the curve. But it also fits the plant mass at the corner.
A trellis encloses the area behind the garage from the street. This area can be used for a drying yard or other purpose.
A flower garden fits into the angle made by the corner of the property close to the terrace. Two flowering trees, in addition to the one already mentioned, give height and structure to the garden. The rose garden along the fence is separated from the flower garden by a low mass of shrubs under the tree. Azaleas or similar ever greens carry out the flower colors. The roses merge again at the southeast corner in another mass of shrubs. These can be rhododendron, mountain laurel, andromeda where these are grown. Nandina, mahonia, pyracantha, viburnum robustum or camellia are useful in the south. For the more northerly parts, use lilac, viburnum tomentosum, with supporting low shrubs of bumaldas spirea, slender deutzia or the extremely hardy altai rose.
Similar plantings are used at the front of the house and near the terrace. Flowering trees can be white or pink dogwood, Japanese cherries, crabapples, redbud, or one of the Rawthorns. In the south and on the Pacific Coast, feltleaf coanothus, escallionia, bottle brush or crepe myrtle.
