I forgot to mention that the yard's exposure is west and gets a lot of sun and wind. Our soil has lots of clay in it. We are in Alberta, Canada.

Your place is some cold in winter,I add some maple...maybe you select some.
{{gwi:45588}}

Here is a link that might be useful: if need more pic designing

Pam,

Just a quick thought and your winter may affect this, think about Grass Crete blocks to replace your concrete on the right of the photo. Then you can use it to park vehicles on but looks like a lawn. Aloha

Thank you, Lehua! They use grass crete blocks at the college where I work. What a brilliant idea!

Ideasshare, the scale of your drawing seems inaccurate. I don't have room for all of those trees.

...Pam

they only are juniper bush in the space left of the stair,need only 1 feet mud.

Here is a link that might be useful: if need more pic designing

Space, scale, suitability... has never been an impediment.

Add risers to the stairs, for sure, but I might also scale back the gingerbreading and architectural detailing - especially the flying buttress on the right. (I realize it's just a plan in the idea stage.)

Does the dry creek actually channel water? Purely decorative because previous owners didn't want much to mow? If it's purely for some kind of look, I'd take them up and use elsewhere - in the backyard, maybe. It's a nice color blend of rock.

Container gardening in cold climates is iffy. I've had spruce sprout up in pots and left exposed - they seem to survive quite well. I don't know if I'd want to try it with something I paid money for.

You said you don't use the walkway but what about guests or the mailman? How do they get to your front door? You may want to change your concrete front walk but it seems like there should be some way of reaching your front door that doesn't involve walking on yard. Although concrete is probably easiest to shovel.

Keep the walkway. Houses without them are hostile. (I've lived in one.) If anything, widen the area in front of the stairs.

Replace the stairs. They are the least attractive thing right now. A nice house should have enclosed stairs.

You're in 3b. Keep evergreens in front, or more than half the year, the front will look naked. They don't have to be the same evergreens--in that little space, I'd go for bigger ones instead of the double layer there now.

I'd replace the whole gravel bed with a planting space. I'd make a minimum of 1/3 of the planting material evergreen. In 3b, I'd go more toward 1/2.

A small, pretty tree (not sure what does well in your climate) will add some weight to the left side of the house. Don't crowd it against the foundation, though.

ideasshare - Junipers will do well on my property. Thank you.

deuluthinbloomz - I'm not sure what was intended with the rock. It didn't really look like jor function as a dry creek, but that's what I'm turning it into because we do have a water problem. Our neighbourhood was built on a series of underground springs and bogs that were filled in -- how sad -- and our sump pump runs constantly, draining to the front of the house. The upside is that we NEVER have to water that teeny patch of lawn, but sometimes it does get too wet. I have researched what a dry creek SHOULD look like and have already started on it. The sump pipe will spill into the dry creek and flow to the street.

tanowicki - We do not have a separate walkway, just the driveway. I think I'll remove the extension on the driveway (on the right) to soften the look, but that will not impact on anyone getting to our front door.

reyesuela - The stairs will get risers. There's lots of valuable space under them that I'd like to use for storage once its made invisible. I agree with your tip to go with 1/2 evergreens. The yard does look dead and naked most of the year. I guess that's why many folks use fake plants on their porches.

...Pam

I'm looking for a simple and inexpensive ideas for incorporating sump and rainwater drainage into a TEENY front landscape. I've learned our neighbourhood was built on top of a spring -- groan -- which is why our sump runs very frequently, even though our region is is semi desert (3b in Alberta, Canada). Our little patch of lawn -- which may be removed because its not enough to warrant a lawn mower -- is LUSH. I'm wondering about making something decorative out of the water source. The previous owner put a lot of rock in the landscape, so there is a dry creek in the making now. What about adding a pond or some sort of collection basin? I know my choice of plantings in that area may depend on what I do with all the water produced by the sump. Thanks in advance for your ideas.

...Pam

Here is a link that might be useful: My front yard now