That is a big blank slate! The deck is really nice! Some of the designers here will come up with some cool plans for you. A big shade tree to shade the house is important. Whatever shade tree you pick, do your research. Be sure it doesn't drop flowers and pods all year in addition to the autumn leaves. One of the previous owners of our home, in his wisdom, planted 3 pines and 2 palms near our pool. They are evergreen, but they still have little gifts to drop into our pool constantly! Currently all the pollen from the cones is going in the pool. Needles shed constantly. Then the palms start dropping seeds and pollen and random fronds. I don't think you can escape a mess in your pool. It's the nature of trees to reproduce, but some are much kinder to you than others. I think raised beds would be nice and also some walking paths to small areas of interest here and there would break up the expanse. Maybe some curves and circles? Have fun! Suzi

what about a trellis on each side of the windows with some climbing roses. A nice tall bird bath in the middle and maybe a mailbox in the corner next to the door...i have one of these for all my small garden tools. Having something that climbs up the mailbox but not another rose but definately something flowery and showy. Then fill in with a few greeneries (hosta, and things things like that) and annuals and perennials with lots of color. I think color is the big thing. If the shrubs could go you could extend the flower bed on around and just make the color flow nicely, at which point i would move the mailbox from the corner to the other corner where the brick and siding meet. You could also place a nice shepherds hook with a cute birdhouse in the front bed or anywhere for that matter. Very cute house if i may add...and you can grow a ton of houseplants with all those windows there...is that a heated area?

FinJ, personally I prefer two things with a blank slate. 1st is the view from the street, namely the main direction you drive in and see every day. 2nd is the view from the windows of the house, or areas outdoors you would use the most. If you use your garage a lot, I would add windbreaking things like arborviate or any plant choice shrub with mid level evergreen trees behind on the driveway length, rather than have a single row, you could have yews, dwarf pines, juniper, spruce, arborviatae etc. I have never done a house that needed a windbreak from north winds "being from the south", but thats the NW facing section and should get the most winds unless you have a lake or something flat on the NN side. A very, very distant 3rd is how the areas in the outside interact with each other and the view from them. Needing shade from Sun exposure is my thing. All zones are a broad thing, is it zn 6 costal, mtn, etc? You want fast growing trees and those with a large canopy. In the south we use magnolias, live oaks, pecans, gums, and maples often. I do think with your zone decidious trees would be better on the far back of the lot allowing more sun in winter, and with the lower sun having 10-15 ft evergreens behind would allow for year round green while blocking the glaring view of the sun from parts of your home. Your house design on the back to me looks like it could easily entertain a pergola with climing rose, wisteria, grapes, etc. that would make an enteresting area to entertain, you could then make plans for a jacuzzi just off of it with a fire pit. It is an enterly blank slate, what do you like? I think you need to look at homes in the area plant wise, look at some things you like online, get an idea of a budget on what you want to spend, get it on paper, then do it again on paper after waiting a couple of weeks, then piece it together if your going the DIY route. If thats your house in the picture, I would echo the white in the landscape some. I would use real apples and white blooming cherries, honey crisp and rainier. I would also look at yoshinio cherries and white dogwood/white redbud for the front yard. That would pull the focus off your white siding and draw the inside out and the outside in.

A truly north-facing wall gives the equivalent of medium shade to the area at its base as long as there is nothing else overhanging the area. If you add potted plants to your porch they should be along the outer edges to get the most light. In general, one starts by deciding where shrubs should go, and the shape/size of shrubs wanted. Your house is nicely framed by trees now. The width of a planting bed depends on the need to access plants in the back. If you plant low, spreading shrubs you generally don't need to reach the back of the bed. The depth of the bed will be based on the expected, mature size of the shrubs. If a shrub has an expected mature width of 5 ft you should plant it 2 & 1/2 ft from a structure. I recommend two shrubs against the house on either side of the porch. Put perennials between and in front of the shrubs. Carry these beds around the corners to the side of the house. The area in front of the porch could have perennials or shrubs that don't get over 3 ft tall and wide. You should be able to lay your sidewalk in front of this bed.While standard Nandina domestica (heavenly bamboo) is a 6-8 ft plant there are many shorter CULTIVARS to 4 ft tall. Nandina grows in zones 6 to 9 and in full shade to full sun. It is semi-evergreen and its leaves turn reddish with fall and winter cold. Your local nursery personnel are full of information on other shrubs that will take shade; be sure to specify how high you want shrubs to grow. Temporarily fill in between young shrubs with easy care perennials such as day lilies which will take medium shade quite well. Dicentra ssp. (bleeding heart) is hardy in zones 4 to 9 but they don't like wet ground. Brunnera macrophylla (Siberian bugloss) has sky blue flowers hardy in zones 3 to 8. Of course, hostas are always good for shady spots. Once again, your local nursery is the best source of information for your area. Set perennials in groups of 3, mixing perennials for color and bloom times so something is always of interest. Finally, fill in between the perennials with annuals, especially toward the front of the bed. Does your driveway go around your house? Looking at your first photo, the drive on the right seems to curve into your back yard, but you say you will be adding a walkway that curves to the drive on the left. Perhaps the drive on the right was temporary, but don't be too quick to plant it over with lawn. If you have gatherings, whether family or friends, extra off-street parking can be safer for them. Set up a few spaces off the driveway. If parking is rarely needed it is usually safe to park directly on a lawn, but if extra parking is needed more than twice a year, hollow paver blocks can prevent soil compaction. Hedging can define the limit of temporary parking. Below is a photo that I think illustrates this perfectly.