Best time to overhaul the landscaping?

[Anonymous]

Right now, the soil is still warm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what problems are they causing against your foundation? we have some bushes close to the house and wonder to what extent it really is a problem.

Not any huge problems but our inspector said we should not let plants grow against the house.

Every single house in my neighborhood has mature bushes growing right next to the foundation.

It's a bad practice - we also had some huge Japanese viburnum growing into the windows and foundation and took them all down. Foundation shrubs should be placed approx. 3 ft away from the foundation. It's cheaper to buy a $25 shrub than fix the foundation.

[Anonymous]

I'm in Arlington and postponed a big landscape overhaul until next fall so as to avoid cicada brood x next spring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what problems are they causing against your foundation? we have some bushes close to the house and wonder to what extent it really is a problem.

Not any huge problems but our inspector said we should not let plants grow against the house.

Every single house in my neighborhood has mature bushes growing right next to the foundation.

It's a bad practice - we also had some huge Japanese viburnum growing into the windows and foundation and took them all down. Foundation shrubs should be placed approx. 3 ft away from the foundation. It's cheaper to buy a $25 shrub than fix the foundation.

Plants don’t break into your foundation. They only find cracks that were already there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now's a good time for new plantings so that they can generate root growth before the winter. Before you take out those bushes though, you might consult a nursery about what you have. Many shrubs are fairly resilient to cutting back. When we bought our house, the bushes surrounding the house were huge, all growing well above the window sills and against the house. I cut everything WAY back and everything grew back very full and lush. I am able to trim and shape them into a very compact hedge that is nothing like the giants they were before.

Can’t I just pull everything out by the roots?

That’s a lot of unnecessary expense to tear out old bushes and replace with new bushes. Just a thought. Good nursery stock is pricey.

Good point. I don't know anything about plants, is the problem.

Can you tell us what bushes you have, OP? We might be able to help. Cutting a mature shrub way back is going to get you a lovely full shrub the following year. Planting nursery stock will give you a couple years of small, lonely looking blobs and you may lose one or two if it a hot summer. So there are benefits to keeping what you have, and drawbacks to buying new. That said if you don’t like the type of shrubs you have now for one reason or another and there is something you like better, pull ‘em out. It’s your garden and you should like your plants.