Love to help..

1. Trim the trees UP...it opens up more sun for plants and allows you to see the house, my trees are trimmed up almost as high as my roof, but get a good tree guy to do this.

2. remove the grasses in the front and near the walk...too much.

3. Sod against the concrete so you won't have a mud issue when it rains...create a sweeping bed to cover the denser shade areas of your trees on the left...

4. Where the variegated grasses are you can create a very welcoming annual bed wrapping up to the sidewalk..plant a Japanese laceleaf maple at the left corner (looking at the house just in front of the lady standing with her hands on her hips)...some plants for that annual bed would be a small semicircle cut out for annuals, surrounded by mondo grass/stella d'oro daylily...

5. You could plant pachysandra around the base of your dogwood to keep you from having to mulch that much.

once you lift those trees up you could prepare some areas for hydrangeas..oakleaf hydrangeas or nikko do well in that area...

You've got a great space!!

Enjoy!!
Tara

Tara

Great ideas. Thanks. I just trimmed the tree up this evening. One question: Is there a way can I avoid planting grass? Like Xeriscaping that will be low in maintenance, but as attractive as grass?

Thanks Again

Also

As you see, the Dogwood looks not very attractive and the limbs are very low to the ground. It is a very old tree with a ugly bark. Is it a good idea to cut it?

It's very hard to tell from the picture, but the dogwood kinda looks half dead. It may have something wrong with it. I'd try and find out. It may be hopeless anyway, and could be taken out. However, if I lived in GA, I would not take out an old shade tree unless I had to. Those trees are savng you money on air conditioning!

You have a beautiful house and yard. I would contract a truck full of mulch unless you know someone with a truck or have a truck and can go get it. Around here you can pull up to the city composting facility and get free mulch. Some people don't like it because it is a pot pourri mix though.

I would do some research on using native plants. There are a gazillin options you have, but natives often can be low maintenance and low water requirements, if you choose well. A nice mix would be low growing shrubs and groundcovers.

I strongly agree with the recommendation to trim the trees, which "opens up more sun for plants and allows you to see the house".

I also tend to think that your front door needs to appear more accessible. A path or walkway needs to be clearly visible, whether straight from the road or curved from a driveway.

I think I'm seeing a significant difference in the house entry level compared with the yard level and a continuing down slope to the street.

I suggest you first assess the the long range suitability for the steps and entry walks. Do the steps match good height/riser design. Are they in good repair. Are the walks wide enough and in a good location? Are additional steps needed? If changes are needed will new grading be necessary? If so, maybe you should delay planting in the change area.

You could plant pachysandra around the base of your dogwood to keep you from having to mulch that much.

The non-native pachysandra is a rather aggressive groundcover that would, in my opinion, compete for moisture with the dogwood (perhaps already showing signs of stress). The area is already in a severe drought with watering restrictions. I think a decent layer of mulch around the trees is the better option. Really, having to keep up mulch in this area is just a necessity; the area is warm and gets ample rain (when we're not in a drought) - causing most mulches to break down (enriching the soil in the process) on an annual basis. Don't think you can "save yourself" from occasionally refreshing the mulch.

Is there a way can I avoid planting grass? Like Xeriscaping that will be low in maintenance, but as attractive as grass?

Grass, when properly planted (the right time of year) and adequately watered the first year can be rather low maintenance. Zoysia is a very durable and drought tolerant warm season grass (so it turns brown in the winter - meaning no mowing in the winter!) and could be considered. That said, I don't recommend that you cover the area with grass - perhaps just a large oval of grass in the most open area, surrounded by mulched trees and generous beds of hardy shrubs and annual color.

Nice space to work with, but I do think any hardscape and permanent features and the existing trees need your first attention. Some of the scattered plantings look salvageable and could be better positioned once plans fall into place. Whatever they are - daylilies? grasses? - they seem to be doing fine but need to be displayed more attractively.

A good website is the Georgia Native Plant Society (www.gnps.org) with lots of plant lists, charts, etc. Native plants are wonderful additions, but I wouldn't concentrate on going all native.