Gardens on a rocky mountain side

11 år sedan

senast redigerad:11 år sedan

We just renovated the carriage house suite for our bed and breakfast. Part of the renovation was a new cedar deck. The view from the sides and front of the carriage house are spectacular. The view from the deck side..not so much. We want to put a garden along the bottom of the deck but we'd also like to improve the view as it leads up the mountain. Any suggestions?

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Carol Shepherd
Författare

11 år sedan

The two pictures attached in the main post pretty much cover the area to be worked on. The primarily ugly view is the one shown in the picture with the steps. We're located mid-island on Vancouver Island in BC. We're surrounded by woods and need things that are deer friendly. We wanted to put a garden at the base of the deck and probably divide some of the more mature plants on the property..grasses, daisies, california lilac, heather and lavender to fill it in. We've been fascinated with the fact that kiwis love our climate..not sure how deer friendly they'd be. Look out from the deck to the trees and the slope up. The soil is shallow and is derived from underlying sandstone bedrock. This area is covered in small rocks which make it hard to walk on and almost impossible to grow. Dumping piles of good soil on it without a plan doesn't make sense..but is that what we should do? Would it be better for us to cut stairs and platforms in the rock and put places to sit with plants in pots?

I've attached a picture of the front of the carriage house and the main house. I'd like to keep whatever we do in the back in the "family..

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Kommentarer (12)

apple_pie_order
11 år sedan
If you show the view that you would like to improve, and tell us what the climate is, houzzers may be able to help with specific recommendations.
apple_pie_order
11 år sedan
Deer will eat almost anything. Your idea of dividing plants that are already on the property is an excellent one.

A brightly painted bench and table would be attractive.
PRO
Ali Atri Photography
11 år sedan
Ändrades senast: 11 år sedan
Plant native species protected by a defense line of motion activated impact sprinklers (AKA Scarecrow) adjusted to point away from the paths to protect against the deer while the plants are young and nursery fresh.
houssaon
11 år sedan
Ändrades senast: 11 år sedan
I think you can get a list of plants that deer do not like from the web.

Have you thought of terracing the area adding large bolders for a water feature or just a rock garden? Not your climate but interesting:
French Country Estate New Construction · Mer info
and
Amazing Landscaping · Mer info

Water garden, backyard waterfall and bridge by Matthew Giampietro · Mer info

walk across water feature · Mer info

Sculpture can be interesting in the yard.
Between Naps on the Porch · Mer info
and
Contemporary Garden Art · Mer info
Make a feature of the stone:
Sun Valley · Mer info
Carol Shepherd
Författare
11 år sedan
Thanks for the great ideas!!
trebinje
11 år sedan
Ändrades senast: 11 år sedan
Beautiful property! We love to visit Vancouver Island, espcially Buchart Gardens.

Nothing, NOTHING will stop a hungry deer from eating everything in your garden. No such thing as deer-proof, short of a 10' tall fence enclosure. We've wasted considerable resources before we gave in to the deer (northern California), so here are some ideas for plants that they will ignore, again, until they get mighty hungry, especially in the Fall and Winter: Pride of Madeira, Mexican sage, rosemary, lavender, New Zealand flax and ornamental grasses. That's about it. I think they would all thrive in the Vancouver climate, but check with your local nursery for specific varieties.

Another expensive mistake we made was planting young trees without protecting the trunk - the bucks will rub their antlers against the trunk, in some cases, they rubbed clear through and broke the tree in two.

Finally, in the Spring, until the mother deer teaches their babies how to forage, the fawns will eat EVERYTHING, at least once.

Please don't be discouraged, you can enjoy an amazing landscape with an edited list of plant material. Just hoping to help you avoid making the costly mistakes we made.
Carol Shepherd
Författare
11 år sedan
Thank you, Trebinje. We have a wonderful collection of plants that are deer proof or at least they have ignored them for the two years we have been here. They include a number of the items you've mentioned. I will certainly look into the rest of them. I'm not discouraged at all as we seem to have found a good formula. We were looking for suggestions for a landscaping treatment for behind our carriage house which is bare sandstone (see pictures in first photo). For the garden around the deck, I'll divide the mature plants in the front gardens ; but after that, the rocky surface could use some creative help. There's been lots of good ideas for it.

We are a B&B and hope if you get up our way, Trebinje, you stop by for a visit.

Blanket and Spoon
trebinje
11 år sedan
Ändrades senast: 11 år sedan
Our home is on a similar slope, solid rock in some places, with heavy clay soil. We'd never heard of Pride of Medeira until our landscape architect specified it to fill in a large expanse behind a short retaining wall above the pool. We were amazed at how quickly these large leafy plants covered all the empty ground (and more!). They have a really interesting architectural structure with large, brilliant blue-purple flower spikes. A large cluster of these would make a wonderful backdrop on a hillside terrace for additional, smaller plants in the foreground. In our landscape, these are adjacent to some very tall ornamental grasses, and low-lying plants in the foreground.

PoM will overtake an area rather quickly, so they do need some attention to maintain shape and prevent ranginess. They are extremely hardy, thrive in rocky soil and add a lot of color and interest to any hillside landscape.
nevadan
11 år sedan
Without knowing what climate you are in, how could anyone advise? But the best and cheapest solution in most climates is architectural rose bushes available very cheaply and they spread like crazy.
Carol Shepherd
Författare
11 år sedan
Thanks for your input, Nevadan. I had assumed people would read the whole thread and understand the climate from the indication that we were mid island on Vancouver Island. Our climae is Seattle-ish. Rainy fairly mild winters and warm but not hot dry summers. Rose bushes are a favorite of deer so unless we were going to fence it in that won't work; but thanks for taking the time to input.
Another Thyme
9 år sedan
Carol, in our experience Irises are pretty much deer proof and they do well in your area. Also, you can grow several types of annual flowers that re-seed themselves in a dirt/gravel mix so they are pretty much there all the time after the first year. Among those my favourites are: calendula, marigolds (the tagetes species) and cosmos. All can be "planted" this month by throwing seeds out on the ground. I used to teach a class called "Seed Catalogues are Seductive" and they are, but when you need lots of seed packets my go to are the Dollar stores you find here in BC. They are what I call good value because not only are they cheap, they grow. Have fun, I will check to see if your B & B has a website - I would love to see how this all turns out.