# Landscaping and Drainage Ideas



## lsk5013 (Aug 14, 2020)

Another day...another conundrum to solve for!

The backyard has been a work in progress and as the summer thundershowers bring the rain here in GA, it's also bringing in more standing water and flooding. The pics below tell the story, but as you can see, there becomes lots of standing water, wash-out, and worse between the end of the Bermuda and the shrubs/plants. The house was built last year (not by us) with no drainage in mind and no plants or anything done. Just Bermuda in the main areas, and some dirt covered by some pine straw where the plants are now. We've been on an adventure to make it more appealing....so here I sit, looking for some advice and open to any and all solutions around landscaping and drainage for the back area of our backyard.

We start the journey in the back-right corner, Picture 1, at the foot of the newly planted Endless Summer Hydrangeas. I'm tempted to simply cover the area in mulch, and hope that it does enough to soak up the thunderstorms and water from the sprinkler system. Although I don't think that's going to be enough. There is a slight slope from the end of the grass to the Hydrangea bed. Given the future growth of the hydrangeas, I'm also tempted to plan smaller part-sun shrubs which might soak it up to? Will it be enough?

We move around the bend and on to Picture 2 and 3 and 4, which is completely flat and straight across the back of backyard which gets the worst flooding and standing water between the grass and the Boxwoods. Couple of potential options I'm flirting with that I'm hoping for some advice...

Option 1: Plant full sun shrubs interchangeably between the boxwoods hoping that with the the removal of the clay and new plants, plus dirt/topsoil, the area will absorb and take all the surface water away and down to the roots. This with a mulch covering to help protect and absorb more water and protect the plants.

Option 2: The ever-popular and go-to french drain. I've thought about this given it can be fairly simple and done by myself, especially if purchasing the NDS ones that are all-in-one systems from SiteOne/Ewing, and running it directly in front of the Boxwoods and around the corner by the Hydrangeas. The problem I face is "where" to empty it out and run it to as I can't put it into the neighbors on the side, and the brick wall in the back doesn't have any holes to empty it into/through? and out the back? Related to this, I've though about running the french drain to a Flo-Well but there isn't a great place or area large enough to dig and bury it with enough room . #ugh

Option 3: Dig a trench and place some landscaping rocks to act as a bit of a dry bed between the grass and the boxwoods. This would remove the clay and create a more aesthetically looking area. However, if it does fill with water, the dry-bed has no where to take the water once it fills it up?

Appreciate your help as I try to figure out what to do. Open to any and all suggestions!

Picture 1


Picture 2


Picture 3


Picture 4


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## Lawndress (Jul 9, 2020)

Are.....are those hydrangeas planted like 18" apart?????


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## lsk5013 (Aug 14, 2020)

Lawndress said:


> Are.....are those hydrangeas planted like 18" apart?????


Yes, it wasn't our first option and they are about 24-30" apart now. :| They were originally planted along a 35' long fence line further apart to eventually act as a hedge. When they started to burn in too much sun, I had to find them a home. Hence where they are now, which is a little too bunched up for my liking. But is what it is as I had to save them somehow.


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## Lawndress (Jul 9, 2020)

lsk5013 said:


> Lawndress said:
> 
> 
> > Are.....are those hydrangeas planted like 18" apart?????
> ...


You're in GA, so that is probably why it is so tough on them, but the first year, they beg for daily bits of small water. They get droopy fast otherwise. In a bit, I'll show you my Endless Summer hydrangeas. You may want to rethink that planting, even if you have to give a lot of them away...

Hydrangeas of that sort look like garbage in the winter. That's also something to think about. They are very slow to leaf out in spring.


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## Lawndress (Jul 9, 2020)

Here is a picture of just three Endless Summer hydrangeas with a 12 year old.for scale. I haven't cut off last year's blossoms and I need to....


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## Lawndress (Jul 9, 2020)

As far as the drainage goes, a gravel trench might be enough to make the room for the water to filter down.

What you'd want with the french drain is to bring it underground to a location where you can have a pop-up outflow. That's usually at the side of the house where it's graded to flow to the street. I'll see if I can find a photo.

https://youtu.be/eKPO0JaFzs4


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## lsk5013 (Aug 14, 2020)

@Lawndress yea I've settled on the first year being around survival, and not being about the looks while the roots take their place. So more about watering as often as possible and watching the leaves as I've read they are the indicator for overall health and ensuring they stay green, healthy, and not browning and drooping. Thanks for sending the great picture! QQ - how old are your ES Hydrangeas? Just curious to manage expectations around growth. (i.e. explain to my better half how long these things take to get up to size lol)

On the drainage, appreciate the video w/ pop-up emitter. That's the problem is that there isn't an "ideal" spot for the water to drain out or go to. Going from backyard to front yard/street, would need about 150-200ft of pipe, and at a rate of 1" of depth per 8ft, I don't have the 18" or so of depth (or the time and effort to dig everything up). I could take it through the brick wall in the back of the property, but can you drill a hole in brick of decent size without compromising the structure? That's probably the best and most likely case for a french drain, but a little out of my depth on that as I don't think an impact driver would be strong enough to get the job done? Not to mention it would need to be probably 4-6" in diameter?


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## Lawndress (Jul 9, 2020)

lsk5013 said:


> @Lawndress yea I've settled on the first year being around survival, and not being about the looks while the roots take their place. So more about watering as often as possible and watching the leaves as I've read they are the indicator for overall health and ensuring they stay green, healthy, and not browning and drooping. Thanks for sending the great picture! QQ - how old are your ES Hydrangeas? Just curious to manage expectations around growth. (i.e. explain to my better half how long these things take to get up to size lol)
> 
> On the drainage, appreciate the video w/ pop-up emitter. That's the problem is that there isn't an "ideal" spot for the water to drain out or go to. Going from backyard to front yard/street, would need about 150-200ft of pipe, and at a rate of 1" of depth per 8ft, I don't have the 18" or so of depth (or the time and effort to dig everything up). I could take it through the brick wall in the back of the property, but can you drill a hole in brick of decent size without compromising the structure? That's probably the best and most likely case for a french drain, but a little out of my depth on that as I don't think an impact driver would be strong enough to get the job done? Not to mention it would need to be probably 4-6" in diameter?


Those hydrangeas are....10 or so now? They stopped getting taller a few years ago. Mine started out a little bigger. I'd say your will be quite large in 5 years. They won't grow hardly at all this year at all. Old adage is REALLY true about hydrangeas: first they sleep, then they creep, then they leap.

Your hydrangeas will droop every time you turn around the first year, but they should stay green. Just a droopy green lol. Just keep perking them up. You aren't neglecting them. My first hydrangeas, I bought off the "sad rack" at Lowes' for $1-3. It just looked like a mess! But they perked up and did great once it got enough regular water.

And yes, you can drill holes in brick without compromising the structure. You have to have the chisely-thingy: 



 I have no idea what it is called! 4-6" is fine. Remember that people drill holes for dryer vents every day.

I paid for my drainage. I did all the research and went, eh, that's too much for me!!!!


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## lsk5013 (Aug 14, 2020)

Looks like a hammer drill with masonry bit to get through the brick wall. Good to know and see.

And appreciate the info on the Hydrangeas. Yea, I don't mind them small right now and good to know to expect most their growth next year and in the next 2-5yrs to come.


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## DSchlauch (Jun 25, 2018)

How big is this back yard? How far is the bed/wall you showed from the house? What is on the other side of the wall?

I can tell you before you start doing anything, you want to have a plan that will remediate the problem completely, 100%. Even if you have to wait to save money or compile everything you need or whatever, its not worth it to "try" this or "try" that. Ask me how I know.

Do you have rain gutters emptying into the area contributing to the water accumulation? If so, incorporating the downspouts into a drainage system is a huge part of solving the problem. 1" of rain on a 2,000 sq/ft roof collects over 1,000 gallons of water. It can be labor intensive but its really quite simple. You have water here, you need it to be there. Find the best place to move the water to in an ideal scenario and the plan will develop with that end goal in mind.


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## lsk5013 (Aug 14, 2020)

@DSchlauch hey-backyard is approximately 2,500 sq. ft and I agree, let's do something once the first time as oppose to guessing. Which is I came here to get help and advice.

House is too far away and approximately 75-100ft away. I'll post a picture but where the POV is, I'm standing at the end of the patio. So no rain gutters or downspouts emptying into the area. On the other side of the wall is kind of a small "no mans land" between my property snd the house behind. There is a row of trees and covered forest like nothing for about 10-15' with the end of the property line behind that to the house behind us.

I agree in your simple thinking. We have water here. Where can we move it to! Haha appreciate the advice and help!


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## Lawndress (Jul 9, 2020)

If that's the no man's land, then that's the sensible place for the water to go!


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## DSchlauch (Jun 25, 2018)

It looks like maybe this area is just low and happens to be where the natural run-off is, correct? And the neighbor on the right of the last picture has at least one downspout I can see emptying directly towards your problem area. With no downspouts of your own coming into play, it looks like a french drain could be your best choice. Next time it rains try to see if your getting much water from your neighbors and where its coming onto your property. This would be a good place to incorporate a catch basin.

The million dollar question is where to send the water. Depending on the grade of the property, and where your property line ends (at the wall?), under/through the wall to a pop-up emitter could be an option, but if that is just going to flow back to your property or flood out your neighbor that may not be the best option. I would say worst case scenario is to have a sump basin and sump pump moving the water to the street.

Nice place....


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## lsk5013 (Aug 14, 2020)

Thanks! Yea-that's the million dollar question. Just took a look and behind the brick wall, the natural grade is actually down and away from my backyard. Yay. However, it runs straight down to the backyard of the neighbor after about 10-15'. Not yay.

So I could run the French drain through the brick wall (...not sure I have figure out what kind of masonry bit I need, but that's another day/post to solve for, lol) and then just hope the neighbors don't realize why I'm doing since it's from no man's land.

Appreciate the kind words on the place. It's been a work in progress over the last year. Here's what it looked like 12mo ago when we moved in. Nightmare, uneven, and bare spots galore LOL


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