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?

Unfortunately, you are about to miss the window of planting those types of items now. The odds will be against them with our hot summers. Mulch well and water just right. May get away with some stuff in some partial shade locations. It all depends on the light, are these full sun, partial shade, full shade location? If you want something quick to grow for privacy, look at crepe myrtles, maples, river birch.

I'll try to play catch up. (Have been travelling for a little more than a month in the past 40 days. Much of that was without Internet so more absent than I thought might happen.) The drawing is pretty basic but hopefully it will convey some ideas. First, I would get rid of the odd angles on the beds. They would look much better to tie in to walks at 90* angles instead of weird wedge shapes. In the lower, right corner I'm illustrating two ways you could make a circular bed around the lamp post. (The lamp post is a primary purpose of the bed so the bed ought to use the post, at least roughly, as the radius point. And a generally circular shape would make more sense than a sprawling asymmetrical wedge shape.) Also, I would re-shape the large front bed. It should swell out to accommodate the tree you intend to plant but does not need to extend outward, around the walk in a grabbing fashion. To explain the planting in the illustration, it is a shrub below each window of the garage, and a small hedge below the pair of windows (right half). None of those should get taller than bottom of the window. There is seasonal color flanking the entrance to the porch and at the left of the porch. A perennial mass wraps the garage corners and right house corner. A low groundcover, solid, links the other plantings together. Can't tell how your existing tree would possibly conflict with the proposed tree. (The third picture you posted was taken from a different position so the existing tree location shown could be seriously misleading.) You might want to consider moving the proposed tree farther back in the scene rather than placing it at a pure diagonal to the house corner. (I wouldn't know because we don't have the information.) A large shade tree is probably not in order. A flowering tree (such as redbud) might be a better size to use so close to the house. As far as what plants to use, gauge the heights and research what plants grow locally that could perform well.

Congratulations on building your new home. Based on our experience here are a few things you should look into: 1) Whether your shed (accessory building) is allowed in your zoning code. 2) The maximum sq ft of the accessory building that is allowed. 3) How far does it need to be setback from your property line. This varies between municipalities. 4) Make sure your Crabapple tree (Malus spp). is going to do well in your plant hardiness zone. http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/ 5) Regarding the shrubs, in our planting designs we try to only specify plants that are native to the state and region, because of reduced irrigation and maintenance needs. In looking at your pictures, we think that the swale should be usable space for recreation and repose. The trees can be located near the deck for privacy purposes; we recommend planting mature trees (large gallon size) because of higher survivability rates. If you are using the Crabapple tree for privacy, take into account that their canopy range is between 10'-25' diameter depending on the species. Also keep in mind that Crabapple is deciduous, which means you may want to consider a mix of deciduous and coniferous (evergreen). Lastly, we think you should cluster your plantings along the edges of the sides of the property (not in front of the swale); this would make your back yard look bigger. Good luck with the improvements and please post pictures when your done! -DR, Landscape Designer