HELP...What can I add here to break up this mass of stones? (Photo)

[GloomyWaters]

Hi...this is the side of my house on the front ..it was just soil. Have stoned it but just looks too plain.

I know what I DON'T want...I don't want plants, I dont want pots of plants, I dont want climbing plants on side of house.

What do.you think?

No photo. I checked the app in case one was showing there, but nothing there either.

Photo

Well um then that leaves garden statues or ornaments.

Yeah that’s pretty plain and empty. If you don’t want plants of any sort I guess you could put some garden ornaments out.

Well that leaves some kind of statuary, I guess.

Hah triple snap!

Surely you would need plants - some greenery/colour to break up that mass of stone? Why don’t you want them?

Is it open to the street? Do people walk across it?

I'm assuming you'd need something not easily nicked- looks pretty open to the road. If imagine that leaves you with not many choices. A cherub having a pee water feature? They're always classy.......

Well you’re pretty limited if you don’t want plants. You could put a statue or bird table
or something on it, but as it’s open to the road it would probably get stolen.

It looks like it's right next to the pavement?? If so could you put some sort of divider/fence so people don't walk over your part
eg trellis type fence that you could add something decorative to.

If you're not going to put plants there though it's difficult to make it look less plain without making it look cluttered (verging on tacky if you scatter it with garden gnomes, plastic , plaques with mottos on, spinning windmills etc !! )

I’d put a climber on the wall, but you’ve said you don’t want that.

Yes on front of house on a corner.

I just want low maintanence. Im not a gardener just want it to look decent as on front

I was thinking 3-4 large red boulder/stones with maybe some alpine plants as ypu wouldnt need to do anything with these is that right??

OR some discs/stepping stones in a curve to break it up

Gnomes? Artificial plants in pots? It’s always going to look dull without plants because it’s basically a short fat path.

Stones would work. I mean they are just stones, but they’d defintely break it up, stepping stones I think would look silly. Alpine plants are still plants..

It is going to get reclaimed by passersby pretty quickly if you don't out something on it! You could fence it off with a chain link thing, or do a pattern of large round pebbly stones or you could embrace the public nature of it and put a bench there??

@GloomyWaters

Yes on front of house on a corner.

I just want low maintanence. Im not a gardener just want it to look decent as on front

I was thinking 3-4 large red boulder/stones with maybe some alpine plants as ypu wouldnt need to do anything with these is that right??

OR some discs/stepping stones in a curve to break it up

But is there actually a route across it? I think stepping stones would look odd unless they’re marking the actual route someone would walk to the door/garage/whatever.

I wouldn’t do red. You need something that would properly stand out against the background. Grey/charcoal/black/white would be my suggestion. A lot of plants are very low maintenance but I’d have to leave it to others to make practical suggestions as I’m very much a novice.

So do you not want plants because of maintenance or because you don't like plants?

I would make a small rickety there if alternatively maybe a water pump feature or birdbath etc?

No it wont get walked on it's part of the house and clear it is.

Im thinking a few large red quarry stones with some of those tiny alpines

Right next to the pavement, people are going to walk on it and dogs are going to use it as a loo. You either have to accept that or put a fence up before doing anything else.

Large craggy stones would look good.

Unless you fence it off people will walk over it to cut off corner. A small fence and a bench. Trellis on wall.

I think you’ll be spending plenty of your time maintaining it if you don’t fence it off. Not plant maintenance though, the ‘picking up other peoples dogs shit’ type of maintenance.