Okay, lets try this again and see if the link works.

Here is a link that might be useful: Webshots of front yard

G Belle, your pictures are still very slow to load at your link and I have highspeed DSL. They must still be too large. That is going to make it harder for people to help.

In your photo program on your computer click Edit for each picture, then click File. In the drop down box see if there is a Save As or Save a Copy For option. Click that and it will give you choices to save the pictures and shrink them automatically. You can then use these smaller copies for posting.

Before you remove the ligustrum look at them with an eye to shaping them into small trees. They can be quite nice like that but yours may be to close to the house for that to be an option.

Azaleas are a common shrub that can be lower maintenance to plant to the right of your front entry, Nandina and creeping Junipers are also low mintenance options.

It would be best though for you do some research on shrubs and trees for your area that will best suit your needs.

ilima

I didn't have any trouble accessing the photos first or second time but I think there are more than necessary in any case. Photo 9 gives the best overview and if you copy the tag line from your photo album and paste it into the body of the message, you should see the photo in the text here when you preview your message.

It's quite a cute little house and because it is a nice brick the expanse of wall of the box or the sides don't really bother me visually. If low maintenance is a priority - and what a rough row to hoe for a gardener! - then you might really be able to get away with very little planting. Ilima's suggestions might just about do the trick, along with the trees you're planning, which I agree do a lot to blend the house into its setting.

ilima, thanks for the post. I will keep trying with the pics. I even went to the test sight and practiced a while. I've never done this before so I hope everybody will be patient with me while I learn how. Please, ya'll don't let my stupidity get in the way of help! I am knowledgeable about the plants in my area but I need some ideas about how to best set up a disguise for the awkwardness of the no windowed lump that the sunken living area creates in front. You are right about the ligustrum being too close to the house to save. I've thought about weeping yaupon but when I really look at the house the lump is so wide that I wonder if a grouping of some sort would be better instead of a tree. With only the high windows it is just a big old ugly brick wall with a chimney in the middle. A vine doesn't seem appropriate. I thought about getting a chimney initial and putting on the chimney as a focal point and then planting something column-like on each side but I'm not sure. Should I plant something tall in the middle and shorter on the sides? All tall? A small tree with underplantings? I'm just not sure. That's what I'm hoping you guys can help me decide.

If the ligustrum is definitely going to go, maybe you should go ahead and get it out of there and then post a new picture. It's hard for me to see what the house will look like without it.

Ok lets try to disguise the awkward lump. The view from the street is your main concern when looking at this? I think that will best be done with small trees.

You want to try and skew the depth perception between the wall of the chimney and the front door wall.

Start with a small tree that will hold lower branches properly distanced in front of the chimney. Do not place columnar plants on the corners! You said you are going to redo your drive but keep a circle. Place another small tree, two if there is room, inside this driveway circle at the point where it will be even or just slightly forward of the chimney tree. Now plant trees on the right and left sides of the house and drive that are forward of the chimney tree and circle drive tree.

What you are trying to create is a very gentle half circle line of trees with the closest point of the circle being the chimney tree. This should help fool the eyes perception of the depth and size of the awkward living room lump.

ilima

Thanks ilima! I like that idea. I thought about a Vitex because the brick and mortar has shades of a bluish purple in it. Maybe i need to contrast. I don't know. Several of them would probably be too many. And Littlebug I am itching to get that ligustrum out. My husband is on fall break this week and he was going to do it today....except the tree guys showed up and dropped trees all over the front yard! Best laid plans... I should probably take a pic and redo this in a few days. It looks so NAKED now!(And messy!)I am still having trouble getting the pics on here in a small size even following all the directions. What am I doing wrong?

I love vitex, but I don't think it would thrive facing north, would it? In my experience it needs sun in fall.

I'm not sure if I didn't explain it well enough before. If you go into your photo album account, you should find a tag line for each photo - at least in Photobucket it's called a tag line (each photo also has an URL and something else, but that isn't what you need). Maybe you should consider opening a Photobucket account instead. Copy and paste that line into the text of a message here. Hit preview, and your photo should show up before you hit submit. As I said before I would only post one or two, as we do have some people here on dial-up.

I have dial up and I didn't have any trouble with the pics. I loved the woodland setting of your house. If it were me, I'd fill up the area in front of the chimney with a woodland type island. A small group of trees as ilima said. I don't know all the southern ornamentals, but dogwood, serviceberry, redbud, fringetree, silverbell, are all small trees that are easy care. Even some magnolias I guess. A friend of mine recommended sweet bay magnolia as an easy care small tree. Some shrubs to consider are witch hazel and spicebush, winterberry holly, perhaps elderberry. These are all natives, and personally I think a native grouping is your best bet for low maintenance. I've grown all of these plants and you can basically forget them once planted if you place them properly to start. Of course all the rhododendrons and azaleas are gorgeous options too. I'd throw in a dwarf hemlock because I just personally love them. But anyway, I'd opt for a natural arrangement with my selection of trees and then some shrubs and then groundcover under that, with bark mulch around it all. Then basically that whole area would become "maintenance free" as far as mowing. You will have to watch the weeds and do some pruning now and again. As far as how to arrange it all, I would have a hard time describing it. If it were me I'd get the combination of textures and foliages I liked and then move them around a bit until I came up with something that looked nice. So then instead of having this big blank space at the corner of your house you'd have a lovely woodland garden that blended your home with the surroundings and took care of itself. Plus would attract lovely songbirds to serenade you! I am not couching this in "design" terms such as line of sight, etc., more in terms of the "look" or style I would go for. Of course you may not like this and your style might be more formal. But to me, a native small tree/shrub/groundcover option looks great and is low maintenance.
Oh yeah, and I'd try and find a small maple, I don't know the japanese maples that survive in your climate. If the area is still shady (don't know how it looks without the trees you dropped) then I'd try and find a mountain/striped/goosefoot maple 'cause I just love the bark. Acer pensylvanicum or something like that I think. I've seen them in the mountains of NC, but again, I'm not familiar with the flora in GA.

KarenL - Webshots does not allow direct linking. Direct links from Webshots show up as the dreaded red X's. Webshots is notorious for its slow loading ads. Photoshop.com is a far superior photo storage site.

Thanks lpink! I too love the hemlocks but they won't grow here. Brought one home one time and tried it but it was a drought year and between that and the humidity it didn't last. I'm willing to try anything once and sometimes it works! My landscape designer almost died when she saw my hellebores and lilac. She was just designing my backyard though because the drainage had to be made just right. I plan on planting a deodar cedar which is as close as I can come to hemlock. Unfortunately they get to big to use up close. I think down here that Vitex would do fine on the north side. I had a couple in serious shade at my other house. A lot of stuff that says full sun has to be planted in part shade in south Gawga! I liked the other ideas too.I think I will try to check on photobucket. The webshots is my husband's and when he used up all his albums he opened one for me!

Well, I was trying to come up with an evergreen needle foliage plant that could survive in a part shade setting and hemlock was as good as I could come up with. The other one I know is yew and I don't know if there are southern varieties of those either. Anyway, I'm sure you know more than I or this could be put to other forums. I just saw the picture and the space you were talking about and was envisioning one of those beautiful mixed woodland plantings there that you seen in some of the more well established subidvisions. My colleague at work has such a thing in front of his house oriented around a pin oak. Big beautiful ferns too. I think he has some of the hollies and boxwood in the mix.

I'm sure by now you have planted your front yard garden, but here is good magazine to check out for long ranch style homes. Garden Gate Fall issue Number 71. Great ideas.