mobilehomerepair.com

Hi, I'm new at this. I was just wandering if anybody could help me with how far out from the trailer do i have to go for my edging to make it look right? We have a 14x70 mobile home with no landscaping at all. It faces the south. No shade at all. I'm trying to find ideas on that too. I'm in zone 5. I'ts a light grey. We work and farm alot too. Not much time but I still want it to look nice. I will post a pic. as soon as I find out how.
Any information would be helpful.
Thanks

You might check with a native plant society or the local nursery for low maintenance landscaping ideas. I have a combination of in-the-ground and container plants. There are strict rules in my MHP, all planting requires approval beforehand.

I have some areas narrow, some wider, some curved, some straight.
Some parts have cypress mulch around the plants, others have egg rock.

I also have large water collection containers at all the drain spouts.

Your possibilities are so many. Landscaping from scratch takes a lot of work, time and money. I think your idea of doing research first is a really good one.

Good luck with it!

bmerri:

I've gardened in zone 5 for 18 years. I don't really know what you want to accomplish with your landscaping, but I suspect you'd like low-maintenance since you sound busy. Can't wait to see your pictures.

I tend to lean toward cottage style gardens, but have a solid knowledge of a diversity of plants that thrive well in zone 5. I'm now discovering the challenges of 105 deg. heat, no rain, and no winter a few zones south of you (moved here 3 1-2 years ago). I've almost got that scenario down, but I truly miss good old Zone 5.

Post your pictures, and I'm sure lots of help will be forthcoming.

Hi,

Welcome to the site!

How far to plant away from your home...

Well no planting should rub against or climb up the home.

I have huge boxwoods on 2 sides of my home, we keep them pruned to at least 18" away from home siding. You want to make sure not to block any of your skirting vents.

When planting the front of the home I like to have sweeping curves that allow dimension in the gardens. Also distracts from the long flat sides of our homes.

Colors, well your home you said is light grey. Anything colorful, you do not mention if you want flowering plants, ornamental shrubs,bushes or trees.

Please give us more of an idea of what you like and certainly one of us or all of us LOL, can come up with something.

If possible post a pic of the front of your home, this will give us an idea what we are working with.

Yanita

[img]userpix/2442_HPIM0821_1.jpg[/img]
I hope I did this right. I really like the evergreens. The porch wil probably just get fixed up a little and painted this year. Were going to build a mud room on the back. (much needed, we have cows). I like the bareberry shrubs alot and daylilies. Something taller on the coners. Do you think I could plant a Ligustrum or some larger bush and trim it into a tree for shade on the porch? I really wanted a fast growing tree in the front yard for shade. I do have two ashes planted to the west (which is the far left) for afternoon sun, but nothing to help now. I also would like one on the east end for the mornig sun. I'd work like a shrub rose and mabey an euonymus golden. Could somebody help me decide?

Thanks alot Yanita for taking the time to mail me back. I really appriciate it.

Nope I didn't . Sorry still trying to get the pic. to show up. I'll keep trying.

Morning,

Go to the Website Questions forum and click on the stickies titled Uploading Pics. If you still have trouble let me know.

Yanita

I did go back through all that step by step and whats on the reply above is all I can get. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. The HTML button on the botton left corner of my page is off. I don't know if that has anything to do with it but I can't find where to turn it on. I've through all of my settings and still can't find it. I'll keep looking.
Thanks for your reply.

OK, we have 2 threads of the same thing happening. Please respond to the pics questions in the website questions so I can follow along and not answer twice LOL.

Meet you there.

Yanita

I copy/pasted the body of that link and hopefully this is the right picture. LOL

Hey, how did you do that? Thanks so much!!! I was just going to try posting it again after I got it into my album.
Thanks again

Ok, That grey trailer is mine. If anybody has any ideas, please feel free. I really need some shade. At least the porch part. I don't know whether to use a big fast growing bush and trim it to a tree or wait until one grows out in front. Drought tolerant, full sun perrinials. I think mabey some potted plants and annuals and a big umbrella on the porch.

Has anybody planted or known anybody who has planted on of those Empress trees. They are suppose to grow twelve ft. a year. or even the hybrid poplar? I was wondering about their root system. I don't want a bunch of roots ontop the ground.

Some of the really fast growers have relatively short lifespans in comparison to other trees. I looked on the web and didn't find lifespan stats for the Empress. However, I found this video site that was very interesting.

http://www.worldtreetech.com/splendor/ordering.cfm

Looks like you have plenty of room to plant lots of trees. I like that they have abundance of leaves (shade) and are hardwoods. They claim a 3 year old tree will be 36 feet tall.

Most trees (and even perennials) follow the rule of thumb: 1st year they sleep, 2nd year they creep, 3rd year they leap.

Thanks for the tip on the empress tree. I bookmarked the site.

Keep in mind that any tree that is that fast growing will also be a weak tree and be prone to drop branches in high winds and storms.

Good things are often worth waiting for