Landscaping ideas for destroyed yard

[crazyfingers]

So ya it sucks. At my parents house. The new septic leaching field is a large hill about 2 and a 3/4 feet above the previous grade. Gone are the grape vines. Gone is the raspberry patch. Gone are the 6 blueberry bushes. And gone is one peach tree.

Newly arrived is a hill that takes up most of the back of the field.

I'm trying to brainstorm what to do. I will really miss the old plants and I will hate the hill, even when it's seeded, but there must be something that I can do. Have some trees planted? A rock garden?

The hill won't be seeded until Mid-September and probably no grass until October but I an thinking about how to make this feel good.

Here are some before and now photos.

Looking towards the back



Looking at the house



From in back of the shed


The plans


I won't be deciding anything for a year. Grass needs to grow.

I don't need to go cheap. But I want very low maintenance. My initial thinking is to get four or five 6 foot white pines to line the south and west side along the slope. I love white pine. And they will live for centuries. But I'm open to lots of ideas. Rhododendrons along the whole slope? I mainly would like to reduce the obviousness of the freaking hill. The pipes of the leeching field are less that a foot below the new grade on top of the hill so I can't really plant anything big on top. No white pines on top. But Rhododendrons would be OK on top. And I want to keep mowing easy. Or is there some kind of garden I could put on the top?

Love to hear any ideas.

 

[spikepipsqueak]

Our tastes differ, I would go a loong way to avoid rhododendrons but they would provide the cover you're looking for.

When I built my house I couldn't get the grass seed I wanted. By the time it became available the grasses that had previously been there had re-established. This is a bit of a regret to me. Suggest you get your preferred grass in ASAP. (If you can get Wallaby grass over there, which I doubt, it is a fine and pretty grass that stays short. Never needs mowing.)

I'd be replanting the berries and fruit trees you know you like. A ground cover on the embankment?

 

[crazyfingers]

The septic construction company will do the seeding after putting loam down. They use a drought resistant strain. I'm not terribly particular about the grass so long as it's drought resistant. Most of the remaining lawn is moss and who knows what...

The reason I'm thinking white pine and rhododendron is that we already have lots of them around. I want what I do to fit in almost as if it was always there. Not something added later. They are both also evergreen.

I could go with a kind of spruce or hemlock tree I suppose. Or cedar. But I don't know how they would fit in. I'd like them to get pretty tall in my lifetime. And I think that they are more likely do die from drought. I don't want to have to water anything once they are established.

Yew instead of rhododendron would work I guess. But I think that they would require more pruning. Don't know for sure.

 

[ZiprHead]

A huge bag of mixed wildflower seeds would do it for me. Hopefully native to the climate.

 

[crazyfingers]

A huge bag of mixed wildflower seeds would do it for me. Hopefully native to the climate.

Interesting. I wonder maybe a few white pine around it and make the hill a wildflower meadow. That's an idea.

 

[ZiprHead]

A huge bag of mixed wildflower seeds would do it for me. Hopefully native to the climate.

Interesting. I wonder maybe a few white pine around it and make the hill a wildflower meadow. That's an idea.

I love that kind of thing when I see it.

It would also be very low maintenance. Probably just water when it gets too dry.

And it would be a boon to the local bee population.

 

[crazyfingers]

A huge bag of mixed wildflower seeds would do it for me. Hopefully native to the climate.

Interesting. I wonder maybe a few white pine around it and make the hill a wildflower meadow. That's an idea.

I love that kind of thing when I see it.

It would also be very low maintenance. Probably just water when it gets too dry.

And it would be a boon to the local bee population.

And the birds.

I'd want to put down some rectangular bricks to make a path through. Maybe V shaped. Maybe line the perimeter too.

I'd water the trees until they are established but I doubt I'd water the wildflowers. All I'd need to do is pull out the invasive plants - Bittersweet. Maybe I'd get some fern in there too.

This might have move to the top plan.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I didn't know a leech field could be that shallow.

 

[crazyfingers]

Shallow? Not depending on the water from the septic. It will be more than 18 inches below. I just don't water and native wildflowers should be fine.

 

[ZiprHead]

A huge bag of mixed wildflower seeds would do it for me. Hopefully native to the climate.

Interesting. I wonder maybe a few white pine around it and make the hill a wildflower meadow. That's an idea.

I love that kind of thing when I see it.

It would also be very low maintenance. Probably just water when it gets too dry.

And it would be a boon to the local bee population.

And the birds.

I'd want to put down some rectangular bricks to make a path through. Maybe V shaped. Maybe line the perimeter too.

I'd water the trees until they are established but I doubt I'd water the wildflowers. All I'd need to do is pull out the invasive plants - Bittersweet. Maybe I'd get some fern in there too.

This might have move to the top plan.

Sounds lovely.

 

[robnisch]

The less lawn the better!
If I had this, I would do mostly native plants and gravel walks.

 

[Tigers!]

Putting green on a hill?

It is a nice large block. My wife would love it.