DIY Network

The Murphy Family: Their Plan, Cost and Products From "Garden Sense" episode DGAR-103

Meet the Murphy family. Kevin is a psychologist and Jane, who is also a massage therapist, works with him. They live in an historic home and are active in their community...

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Their house is situated on a double-corner lot, located on a busy intersection, where their garden is exposed to traffic and pedestrians.

Before

After

Project Overview

Here is the challenge our Garden Sense expert Walter Reeves faced with this project:

• Their garden suffers from too much exposure to the street.
  
• They would like privacy, but not so much that people couldn't enjoy a portion of the garden.
  
• The solution is to break the elongated area into two rooms; one that the public can see into and the other that can be viewed from the Murphy's porch.

Required Project Time
The Privacy project took one day to complete.

Project Costs And Advice

• Plants were chosen to give the Murphys interest, privacy and color.
  
• For example, the original junipers, which were planted years ago by another homeowner, are located street side and look as if they were dug out from a highway. They're fairly attractive on the side facing the street because they receive a lot of sun.
  
• On the other side, which faces into the Murphy's garden, they're ugly and messy. However, by layering — planting a variety of shrubs in front of the junipers — it will draw attention to the new shrubs instead of the unattractive junipers.
  
• Among the shrubs chosen are those with interesting and/or colorful foliage that will help provide more privacy, add more appeal and enclose the "rooms."
  
• In fact, there's more foliage in this garden than actual flowers. Shrubs and perennials with three or four-season foliage have more staying power than those perennials that bloom once a year. Jane loves beautiful foliage and it's common among people who truly love to garden. It's not all about the flower
  
• Several of the shrubs are duplicated on opposite sides of the yard to provide cohesiveness to the garden.
  
• An arbor will be placed at the entrance of the room and a climbing rose will be trained on the structure.

Dollars and Sense
We used 12 plants in Hardiness Zone 6 and spent more than $1,000 dollars on them.
Plant prices may vary by zone.

Most expensive selection: Kousa Dogwood $200
Least expensive selection: Coleus Mix and New Guinea Impatiens – Just a few dollars per pot.

Gardening by Zip Code If you're looking to start a gardening projectbut don't know your gardening zone—visit the National Gardening Associations's USDA Hardiness Zone Finder. Enter your Zip Code to identify the proper zone.

RESOURCES :

A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants
American Horticultural Society
Dorling Kindersley Publishing Inc.
ISBN 0-7566-0616-0
Website: www.dk.com