Hi all,
So, just dreaming (as our barn building is going on,…), but I plan to landscape the front of our barn, as I did with our old one before we moved…
Curious, do you (or the barn you board at) have any landscaping around your barns? If so, what? Post pics please!
What about around your arenas, fencing, or entry gates?
I would love some real life inspiration…
Great idea, mountainhorse. I can’t wait to see some photos.
Well, I will certainly post pictures once we landscape ours, but that will probably be next spring at this rate! 
Come on, anyone with any landscaping or ‘green’ decor 's all! 
Even hanging baskets count.
I did find some things online, (thanks Google), to oogle over,…
(sources are with links)
Feel free to add in others you have saved for ideas, or just plain like.
I worked for a landscape company on the side for years and fell in love with horticulture and landscape design, so it’s fun to see what everyone has.
From a farm in KY.
Entry gate design…
Really, a few tall evergreens, then boxwoods, then you could plant the front with annuals that are super bright and easy to maintain,…
We plan to do some landscaping in front of our new barn/arena. So far, all we’ve decided is a couple of October Glory maples for shade. They grow fairly fast.
Maybe some foundation plants. Nothing too fancy, we don’t want to attract attention.
The picture you posted is gorgeous but would stand out too much in our neighborhood.
My little backyard barn has some landscaping
I abhor gardening. So i picked the most low maintenance plants I could find. Big holly bushes, and fatsia (those big leafy bushes). I don’t care for flowering plants, and this year I didn’t bother with the impatients. Actually, that’s not true. I planted them, but then didn’t bother with the watering…
My fatsia fared surprisingly well during our rough winter. The top of one plant froze off, but it’s rebounded this year… it’s just shorter than it’s friends. I think I’ve watered them 2x this summer, and they look great.
fatappy, that is just beautiful.
I visited a small breeder barn this past weekend (2 foals a year, 20 horses tops)
that took my breath away in pristine, and maintained and planted and yada and yada…made me so jealous! (but, not of the upkeep!) I want to plan some planters at the gate, some on the outside wall of the ‘outdoor washrack’ and some large pots on the little deck , etc…but that’s about it. I found out just taking care of our tomato plants this summer was endless!! (but…have enjoyed fresh tomato / basil sauce, fresh bruschetta (!) yum…fresh BLTs and a great chicken parm with fresh homemade sauce…)
I have a single metal container planted with petunias at the front of my barn. That’s it. Not very imaginative but easy to maintain. Everything else is gravel, and keeping control of the weeds is a big job. Does that count?
I trail ride with a friend who lives in Wellington and I am constantly amazed at the barns and how lush the landscaping is. The barns have to match the houses and there are many barns that cost millions and I’m not exagerating…
Mountainhorse, what part of the country are you in? I think the gate and landscaping you posted is gorgeous. I love the symmetry of that landscaping, the use of evergreens which reduces maintenance, and the privacy of a solid gate but I’ve decided I would prefer one for myself which is a little bit see-through so that I can be aware if there is a car exiting when I am entering, a loose horse on the inside waiting to dash out, or even my dog out by the main gate.
Here are some gates I found, mostly for warmer climates:
Massive gate:
http://www.carriagedoor.com/images/Drive-Gates.jpg
Formal gate:
http://www.aftertheantique.com/images/bespoke_commissions/large/1370251860-bespoke-gates.jpg
Artistic metal gates:
http://images.landscapingnetwork.com/pictures/images/500x500Max/site_8/landscaping-network_1424.jpg This is so gorgeous but looks like a horse dismemberment waiting to happen.
http://gardengates.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/GateArt.jpg
http://www.agdsystems.co.uk/UserFiles/Image/Steel%20swing%20gates/George%20James%20-%20350w.jpg
http://www.artfactory.com/images/Gate-Entrance-2349GG5.jpg (I’m not sure what that is but it is interesting)
Metal scrolly gate:
http://www.gatesnfences.com/sitebuilder/images/Centurian_Custom_Driveway_Gate_Swing_Slide-450x315.jpg
Minimal look:
http://www.eurekaironworks.com/Ranch-Gate-1.jpg
Planters on plinths:
http://www.grove-design.com/img/slides/bressi-ranch/03-entry-gate.jpg
Yes, we landscaped. Extensively. Beautiful. Pain in the A** to maintain. We are currently mowing over and ripping stuff out as it’s just to hard to keep up with the weeding. Looks great but add no value of any kind. DH thought it would be pretty, and it is, but he isn’t the one that has to take care of it, and I have far better things to do than weed. Planted copious amounts of wildflower mix in the flower beds by the house, the butterflies and hummingbirds love it and if I don’t weed, you can’t tell. My kind of landscaping!
[QUOTE=mountainhorse;7741808]
Hi all,
So, just dreaming (as our barn building is going on,…), but I plan to landscape the front of our barn, as I did with our old one before we moved…
Curious, do you (or the barn you board at) have any landscaping around your barns? If so, what? Post pics please!
What about around your arenas, fencing, or entry gates?
I would love some real life inspiration…:)[/QUOTE]
I promise to go and take a picture if you promise to disregard any weeds sprouting between the flowers… they are usually not there… i swear…
I was a working student in South Carolina, just outside of Tryon, and the barn was absolutely beautiful! The entrance has a large stone sign. Evergreens had been planted around the entrances to both arenas. Lots of fresh, rich mulch around shaped hedges. Also perennial flowers around the hedges.
ETA: There were also ferns in hanging planters around the actual barn which were easy to maintain and added greenery
One thing I can add is: plan any landscaping near your water source! Yes, I want some at the end of the lane at the ‘gate’ but…ugh…I’ll be toting water if I do! (unless you are the uber fancy rich barns and have irrigation/sprinklers) Its one reason I have designed the ‘outdoor washrack’ half wood exterior wall for the large mounted planters…(on the outside of it, not in the washrack!) easy peasy. each hose off gains flower waterings. 
also, that is connected to the little deck that has a window which I’ll put a window box planter under…and pots on the deck (this actually ‘is’ the front of my barn) so hose is right there and water being used often.
I’m curious if any of the lovely landscaping is accessible to horses.
The front of my barn (facing the street) is also my sacrifice paddock & horses have access to it 24/7/365.
What could I put there that is not tempting for them to eat?
I’d love to have planters flanking the big center sliding door along with a bench for me & barncat
2ndyrgal:
I have discovered the Secret of Lazy Landscaping:
Weed fabric with river rock over it :yes:
Had this done last Summer for flowerbeds both in front & back of the house.
It has saved my life, made the place look fabulous (& like I care) and maintenance is Zero.
If any weed dares try to poke its way through the rock it is easily plucked.
Takes me all of 10min in the mornings, and not every morning.
When we were drought-ish last year I did have to setup sprinklers & move them to get everything established, but this year I’ve only had to do that in back once.
Perennials are The Answer!
I have huge hardy hibiscus, ginormous rudbeckia & some shorter physostegia(obedient plant) & mums in back for color along with ashleaf spirea and tigereye sumac for greenery.
In front are hydrangeas (lacecap - I hate mopheads) daylilies & roses along with purple fountain grass, sweetspire & beautyberry.
I told the landscaper I wanted things that live in spite of me, not because I work at it.
Everything listed has filled this bill admirably.
I have a stone planter about 12 feet across. It has a young tulip poplar and a bunch of stuff somebody planted in there. I try to pull the weeds occasionally. That is about it.
Well, actually, when things were being built, I had a planter built near the barn and I do manage to tend to the impatiens there. And one other small planter and a couple of things on the porch (my house is built above the barn.)
Every time I think about planting something–other than a few bulbs I think of all the other things I need to spend money on and I also don’t always want to pay someone to take care of it. No way I have time or energy to tend to lots of plants.
Really, I need a new drag for the riding ring!
I do have great aspirations though!!
I have a huge honeysuckle that screens the overhang from the house (left of main door), and a four foot long planter right next to the main door planted with cosmos this year. We added more honeysuckle to the chicken pasture to the right of the barn, so it will eventually cover that 8 foot high wire fence. That’s it, other than keeping the weeds out of the gravel barn road and pad by the big door. Simple and easy maintenance.
I have flowerbeds at each end of the barn on either side of the barn doors with 3 Knockout Rose bushes in each bed. They are the easiest, lowest-maintenance rose imaginable. I planted them about 8 years ago. I spend the better part of a day to prune and fertilize every year around Valentine’s Day, then stand back and watch them grow 4+ feet and bloom non-stop from about March through October (I’m in the Houston, Texas area). In a drought year I do have to water, so I’ve run soaker hoses in each bed that the hose in the barn easily reaches. If I’m feeling ambitious in a given year, I’ll add some other smaller flowers in front of the roses, but most years I just have the roses on their own and it looks great. I don’t have a great pic of just the roses, but you can see them in the background here.
I planted grass so my horses could mow it. I am with those that go for the low maintenance plan…
In the front we did have nice landscaping that we grew the palms and installed all landscape and hardscape. It was fun. Focused on low maintenance as well.
Entry gate - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=134857563226002&set=a.134856669892758.17784.100001052770584&type=3&theater
Even put in some fake grass - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=728623730516046&set=a.728618480516571.1073741828.100001052770584&type=3&theater
We have now moved and are starting ALL OVER!!! Went from 1 acre to 20. So happy here but a lot of creative ideas that will cost a lot too.
I am planning on planting more fruit trees in a decorative way since it is an orchard I want to water things that will make us money
New place - one of the trails
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=804881326223619&set=a.414322151946207.99691.100001052770584&type=3&theater
This is the front as we were removing over 800 feet of old dead bushy trees - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=813709035340848&set=a.414322151946207.99691.100001052770584&type=3&theater
Doublesstable, that trail makes me jealous!
