Something my folks had along the front of our big victorian style porch that I always liked was a mix of lily of the valley and ostrich ferns which filled in when the lily of the valley pooped out. I always liked that look and in the spring it was great to sit out there and smell the lily of the valley. Also a mock orange which smelled heavanly when it was in bloom. Since I would want to put up a porch swing and spend as much time as possible in it, I'd also plant a lilac bush, the big old persian variety, on one side, and on the other, a big, smelly climbing rose against a trellis. And for later, on another trellis, a plant called "virgin's bower" or wild clematis.

If you have the umbrella pine 10 ft from the house it is going to receive comparatively minimal benefit from its presence. And walls make wind worse, by compressing it - when the wind gets into where the walls are. Except where there are enough wall angles to have some effect on wind movement the main benefit of walls to plants is by providing added warmth from reflected heat, or cooling shadows. And to get in on this plants need to be against walls or similarly close. Later when it is sizing up the umbrella pine may seem too big to be even 10 ft. from the house. And to have gotten to that point it will have to have survived the wind and ice anyway - the house would only help with ice if it provided a long extended roof that the conifer was growing beneath.

I'm not sure I've explained myself properly as to the requirement for professional help. The reason why professional licensure is required for civil engineers, surveyors, and landscape architects is that certain matters, like grading and drainage, are highly technical and have the potential to impact the health and safety of the public if not executed correctly. Stormwater runoff can be a major source of property damage and water pollution when not handled properly. I'm concerned about several things the original poster has mentioned, including drainage swales that were originally designed to drain stormwater off the property that for some reason are no longer functioning. If it's true that significant soil deposition has occurred (as opposed to just some buildup of vegetation, lawn thatch etc. which needs to be cleared off) then you have a VERY serious drainage problem that needs to be professionally addressed ASAP. However, you would not expect to see stormwater handled on a site like this without some drainage structures that connect to the municipal sewers or stormwater drains. This is why you see drains in lawns and planted areas - for any given quantity of rain falling you can only expect a certain percentage of it to soak into the ground (there are standard reference values for this) and the rest has got to go somewhere and not be allowed to go sheeting off into the street, into your parking areas, onto the downslope neighbor's property, etc. It seems maybe more likely to me that standing water, mushy ground etc. as described are occurring because landscape drainage structures are not functioning than because such significant changes to the surface grade have occurred that entire swales aren't working any more. But this is a guess on my part. You may just need some drains cleaned or you may need a major overhaul of the landscape drainage. There could, of course, have been a design or installation problem from the outset but a later failure of maintenance, again, seems more likely. I would look at all these factors before you undertake any surface grading, which may be unnecessary or counterproductive. If regrading the site does need to happen, you must be aware of your municipality's requirements for a grading permit. These requirements vary a lot from city to city, but they are usually triggered by grading projects that will disturb more than a certain number of square feet of surface and/or displace more than a certain number of cubic feet of fill. Lots of other specialized requirements in various places, depending on floodplains, slopes, proximity to foundations, permeable surface requirements, tree protection (where there are tree ordinances), stormwater discharge, etc. etc. Look on your city's Web site to start with: they may have all the requirements posted or just a general guideline. Grading permits may require a variety of plan drawings to be prepared and stamped by a licensed civil engineer, surveyor, or landscape architect. If you do wind up needing a lot of work on the drainage infrastructure then you'll need an engineer as landscape architects' scope does not normally include that.

The neighbor's goats at the only domestic rose bushes I've ever planted so I'm left with wild climbing pink roses. My sister has red knockout rose bushes, keeps adding to them and they're thriving. She adds b one meal and a tiny bit of Epsom salts each spring and, afterward, a small amount of Miracle Grow monthly during the growing season. If you are considering shrubs other than roses, you might check to see if Aucuba bushes will grow well in your planting zone. They keep their leaves and look good year round. When you are ready to replant, certainly do toss the entirely dead barberry bushes but try cutting the others down to within about six or eight inches of the ground before you dig them up and then replant them somewhere in the back yard out of the way, watering and feeding them as recommended by the pros. With all the dead cut off and a new location -- newly loosened dirt -- they might surprise you and grow again.