But when her neighbours recently added a side deck to their house just a stone's throw away from her bay window and front porch, Diebel felt like she'd lost the privacy of her little outdoor oasis.
"They're nice people. I've never said anything to them, but I think they don't really realize the impact," she explained. "I like to sit on the front porch and sketch the neighbourhood. It's cooler, too. But I feel like I'm invading their space... I just don't know what to do about the privacy issue there."
Luckily, the landscape designer we called for help had plenty of great ideas.
Adele Goodwin of Earthworm Landscape Design said Diebel's front yard, which hadn't been touched since the house was built, needed "a total facelift."
The junipers filling her front bed were "ancient" and had to go. Goodwin also suggested deepening the bed, filling it with colourful plants and cutting the border into a nice "S" shape to add interest. Bright stella d'oro daylilies, cool hostas, some ornamental grasses and perennials of different heights and colours will be mixed in the beds with some new and existing shrubs, as well as some stepping stones to help navigate the larger bed.
To add some much-needed privacy, Goodwin advised planting a group of five Swedish aspens -- fast growing, tall trees that will provide a lush, leafy screen between Diebel's front yard and the neighbour's deck.
Goodwin also suggested replacing an old, wooden planter on the porch with a large, terra cotta planter filled with flowers to add colour and draw the eye back to the front door, where it belongs.
Diebel was thrilled with Goodwin's ideas and agreed her front-yard makeover was long overdue.
"I think as homeowners, we have simple ideas, and we only think one way. It's great to have somebody come in with a fresh perspective," she said. "It's been a very exciting, very interesting and very enlightening experience. You need someone to come through with a boom and say, 'That's out.'"
-- Canwest News Service
