A cement base sidewalk is one of the most
common materials used today. This is a simple design
giving you some ideas and suggestions on a sidewalk
that is on the left or right side of your driveway, or entrance
to your home. This particular design can be tailored
with a variety of different evergreen and deciduous
shrubs. This landscape project can be accomplished with
a good plan in place. Think of your own home now and
if your sidewalk is situated on the left or ride side of
your house. Many homes today will have it on one
side or the other.
The illustration below is a cement sidewalk facing
the left side going towards the driveway. If you noticed,
I extended the right hand side of the bed to come completely
around the sidewalk. This is a wonderful defined garden look,
and an excellent curb side appeal. This style of design also
allows you the option of choosing a variety of plants and
the possibility of a
theme color garden.
- Fern Spray
- Blue Owl Juniper
- Loropetalum, Chinese Pizazz
- Hinoki Cypress - on either side and a Mop Cypress in the middle
- Blue Star Juniper
- Loropetalum
- Blue Owl Juniper
- Mop Cypress- variegated
- Annual or perennial flowers
The first step like any other landscape project,
is develop an overall plan. I recommend to my
clients if they are doing their own project, is
to create a defined area around the cement sidewalk
by taking a hose or landscape chalk. One suggestion
is to follow the natural contour of you property. You
can snake the bed or create a defined shape. You can
also create a formal look with a straight border following
the sidewalk. In some situations like the sample above,
the left side of the house already has a defined bed from
the foundation out to the sidewalk. You can balance out
the entire area by planting the same plants on both sides
along the foundation.
Think about the color tones in your
brick, stone, vinyl siding, or paint. Can you take some of
these tones and enhance these colors through different
plants?
You don't have to be an expert with colors or different shades.
Do you have any existing trees that provide color? Use some of the tones of your
leaves or flowers from your trees and plant shrubs in this bed along the cement
sidewalk with the same or complimentary colors. Lets say the outside of your house
has some purple, gray and maybe ruby tones.
Create a look that will highlight
these tones such as some evergreen shrubs along the foundation. Of course your
choice of shrubs will be determine in what climate zone you live in. Here are a couple
of examples of evergreen shrubs you could
use throughout this design.
These two shrubs will give you the blue and gray tones. In the
Juniper page of the gallery of plants section,
there are brief descriptions of these two plants and
other Junipers. Add a little purple, green and pink
colors by planting a few
Loropetalums around the cement sidewalk.
There are many other plants you could think about
doing in this area. Consider a variety of different
variegated or ornamental shrubs. There are both
evergreen and deciduous ornamental plants.
Remember if you decide on a deciduous plant,
create some evergreens around the deciduous
specimen so you don't have a dead space during
the colder months.
A nice plant for a taller area,
possibly along the foundation is the
Golden Glove Or Degroots Arborvitae.
This would be a good shrub on either side of
the end of the beds along the foundation. I wanted
to give you another suggestion.
The Degroots can be topped to keep under control.
There are a few tips you should remember
when planning this style of garden around
your sidewalk. Don't plant too close to the
foundation, at least two to three feet apart.
Make sure you know the maturity of each
plant when placing them.
Your larger plants
always go in the back. You progress your way
forward with medium to the smallest shrubs
near the front. A great evergreen dwarf shrub
to consider planting near the front of the bed
is a Hinoki Cypress.
Another option is to consider adding some
annual
or
perennial
flowers throughout the bed, or
in a mass planting such as numbers
five or nine in the drawing above.
This is a great simple design to show
off your own personality as well as creating
an area in your front yard that you can enjoy
and be proud of. If you are thinking about
doing a project around your cement walkway
and need some further suggestions, feel
free to contact me and I would be happy to
help you.