well I am doing one section of the yard at a time and I can hardly believe that my budget is sooooo low...
I thought that was putting plenty into it for it to be just for the yard. LOL
What I am trying to achieve is something country looking. I guess that is not saying much to you guys. I was looking for ideas on how to jump start the look. I thought by starting the work ideas would come to me. I do have a program to help me but unfortunately it will not run on my laptop because of VISTA. I have landscaping books and none had a country look I am looking for I don't want it to look like the Biltmore Estates. Country to me is when someone does their own gardening, not a landscaper, there are personal touches around, things are recycled (like wheelbarrels into planters), flowers are bright and showy, things are handmade (like the hypertufa). I thought by posting on the forums people would give me some "practical ideas" that don't cost a fortune. The books don't give you that.
Anyway the house and the barn is historic believe it or not bothe being built in the 20's. the left side of the house where the small windows are is actually a 2 room log cabin. The front room on the right and the rear room are add-ons added in the 40's. The logs are covered with abestos shingles. This leaves me limited to no structural changes.
As far as adding a porch on the front I keep looking at different styles and I don't see anything that will work with my style house short of opening the enclosed porch which I use for an office.
My idea on posting here was to get some ideas. Like my idea of running a small pickett fence across the front right. No one commented on that. I am from the NYC moving down south and your responses were not expected. Give me a break! Coming from the city I feel like I have achieved a lot and well... never mind... I thought I would get ideas on some plants that would look great by my chimney or walkway ideas on how to make the yard have some charm without structural changes, something that I can put to use. Lectures on planning is not helping. My plan was to clear out the yard, plant pansies by the door and Mums in the well and now I am stuck. The Pansies are too small to mean anything and the Moms need something in the middle to Wow me. I can't interact with a book thats why I came on the forum.
If you can help...Thanks
PS the house faces North. The grass planted is Tall Fescue, the light is partial sun.

Live in it for a year before you do anything drastic. You need to see all 4 seasons. You got lots of good advice here, but I know you want to see something NOW. With a limited budget, play around with annuals from seed: 4 o'olocks area easy to grow from seed, lots of colors, and will self seed like crazy. Not sure how much sun you have, amount of sun is very critical as to what flowers you can plant. Got a deer problem? That determines what you can plant. Start walking around and talking to people you see working in their yards. I started out with easy freebies from the neighbors: hostas and daylillies. They both can do well in partial shade and spread. Flowering shrubs on the borders of your woods that are understory plants. Sorry but I am zone 5 and don't know what is good in your area.

Cool property, makes my fingers itch to get out ahd start planting. Lots of stuff to build from. The house I grew up in had those asbestes shingles, in a dirty cream ccolor. Dad would never paint it because he said that was the whole point of the asbestes shingels, no painting, no maintenance, why create work for your self? First thing the people who bought their house did was paint it.

A few other things to do are to now inventory your trees. What types, and classify them as ornamental or trash trees. A tree like the under-brush you cut out shouldn't automatically be excluded from removal.

It looks like your drive way is to the left of your house with parking in the rear, and a deck is in the rear with a need for privacy. To the right of your front door also looks like a backyard area that needs privacy/security screening from the road.

The large tree diagnol to the right of your house (2nd photo original post) provides a great framing element for your front door and a counterbalance to the mass of your chimmney. I would use that line from the house to that tree to the road as the line for a privacy fence, shrub border to exnted to the road. Continue that line to the property boundary to capture as much of this side-yard/backyard as a private outdoor room.

I can't provide plant ideas for zone 7 SC, but in all the gold shows Rhodies and azaleas abound!

Good luck with your "Green Acres" project!

Well, golly gee. Either I am a complete idiot in reading your post or you are in a HUGE hurry to make things cutesy and reluctant to approach this in a logical, thought-out and considered manner. You very clearly stated in your initial post that "I am just at a loss as to what I should do next and since the yard is virtually a blank canvas now I figured this is the best time to plan it out". Oddly enough, I derived the idea from this statement that you were willing to do the work that is involved in creating a landscape and some curb appeal. And that involves planning, and a lot of it, before you do anything else, certainly LONG before you get down to the details of planting what where. The WOW factor is not what flowers to plant and where to plant them, but in how the entire picture is conceived, developed and then executed.

FWIW, books are not going to give you a specific plan for what to do with your garden regardless of the style you hope to promote, so interacting with them is not even a concern. What they can do for you, if you choose them carefully, is to help educate you through the initial hurdle of how to get started. You have to learn to walk before you run and right now you are trying to do the 100 yard dash. You can't expect to have a successful outcome or generate helpful input if you don't recognize this extremely basic fact first.

One thing I find with both giving and getting advice is that sometimes there is a central need that may seem illogical and wrongly timed to others but it is really important to the person in question and unless that need is filled, no other advice hits the spot (that's why I rarely ask for advice :-)). It sounds like that picket fence might be such a need for you. I wonder if maybe you are feeling a need for a sense of enclosure on your large property or whether a picket fence represents something to you that you feel makes a home look "homelike". That is really hard for outsiders to appreciate, but in fact we all have things like that that we've done in our own yards, I'm sure.

If you want to do a fence, I see nothing wrong with the idea, and even if I did, that shouldn't matter. The most important thing about homeowner landscape design is that it is YOUR home! It doesn't really have to meet anyone else's objective standard of "good" design nor their priorities. But for what it's worth, I think it would be pretty cute and would maybe frame or define the property nicely. At the very least it would give you something to tether the rest of your landscaping decisions to. And as a matter of fact, it serves the purpose of some of the suggestions above very well: defining your entrance, making your entry a welcoming one, and so on.

What happens here on the forum is that when you ask for help with design, especially curb appeal, you imply that you want things to look "nice" by external standards, not just by your own standards. You may have mostly wanted feedback on the picket fence idea, but you inadvertently gave the impression you wanted much more help by asking others to photoshop ideas for you and by saying that you didn't know where to start.

Your home may be different from what you see in magazines and books, but the process used for designing any landscape is the same - defining your needs comes first, as has been said above. If one of your needs is having a sense of enclosure, which is not at all unusual, then I think a picket fence would serve admirably.

KarinL

I do like Karin's concept about identifying your real underlying questions or "needs", since I may not be able to see them.

The clearing of the area is a big job and good start. It puts more focus on your house itself. If it were my home in that setting, I would put a bit more time and $$ on the exterior of home itself, because that will have the greatest impact--no amount of pansies or shrubs will substitute. I don't see the current house color in any of my vague visions of that home and site. So, figuring out a new paint color scheme, shingles, maybe some window trim updates, and working on a mroe welcoming front door/stoop/entry/path as suggested by gardengal, to me will give you the most return on your desire for a country look. Then you kind of work outward from there to tame, or not, the rest of the property. But the nice thing about the investments in the house is that it will look good even in the current bare environment.

The fence idea is not so much wrong as, I can't tell myself how it fits in yet, though you might. One reason I can't give you much go-go on that is that I start to think, well, what kind of fence? White picket only if that is what you are aiming for with the overall house scheme; otherwise, another color or finish might be better. And will you have grass growing all in it that you need to weed-whack?

I still recommend looking at photos--if you don't relate to books, you still have the entire Internet at your disposal for all of the above.

I'd suggest that you scout your local surroundings to get ideas of what is the vernacular landscape design for country settings. Take pictures of the ones you like, and try to be analytical about what makes the ones you like attractive to you. As it is obvious that the woodlands can quickly overtake your property if it is not regularly maintained, I would suggest that any design incorporate plantings that will allow you to minimize the long term maintenance. I'd also suggest you consider native plants that do well with your exposure. Visit local parks and botanic gardens and historic gardens to get ideas as well. The advice to live with it for a whole year first before taking on major projects is also a good one, because your ideas will change with the seasons, and you may find more surviving plants that may yet come up from the cleared ground, that you could incorporate.

Since you are in the Carolinas, I would also suggest a trip up to Plant Delights near Raleigh, NC on one of their open nursery days could be educational. It would open your eyes to the possibilities of landscaping in the southeast USA. There are also some really good botanic gardens in North Carolina, all well worth visiting for ideas. I am sure there are great gardens and nurseries in South Carolina as well, but I don't know the state.

My initial idea would be to give some sense of enclosure along the road frontage with smaller sized flowering trees and a shrub border, to set the house off and give you something to look at besides traffic. I'd probably also be looking into shrubby or vining groundcovers for large areas that could survive without irrigation, and would be dense enough to keep down weeds. I also suspect that weeding out seedling trees and vines will be a regular maintenance task in your location. I was somewhat surprised to see the Opuntia cactus growing by your barn, but it does illustrate that the flora there in the Carolinas is pretty diverse, and can include more than just Azaleas and Rhododendrons.

I generally do not answer curb appeal type questions. But, your question brings so many thoughts to mind that tempt me to add some thoughts.

First, hooray for the State Historical Society which suggests not painting the barn. It is country treasure which can be reclaimed with some wood and elbow grease. As I studied the barn and cosidered its age it occured to me that some of the wood may be cypress. If this is so, cypress will not hold paint well and when applied will begin peeling off in a year.

You do realize that to achieve true country the asbestos shingles should be removed from the house and the siding replaced. Very expensive. I know.

My suggestion for a shrub to be used along the roadside for privacy is Abelia chinensis; 6'+ height, evergreen, dense, blooms throughout the growing season and fits in nicely with your rural site. I have seen it for sale at box stores in both North and South Carolina. Nurseries Caroliniana outside of North Augusta, SC is another nursery comparable to Plant Delights which you should visit. It also carries Abelia chinensis as does Woodlanders in Aiken, SC. Look at their on-line catalog.

I would not be in a hurry to plant in those areas where wisteria has been removed. Wait a few years to make certain that its strong underground root system does not begin popping up all over searching for a climbing support. A common occurence. Concentrate first on improving the barn and swinging a garden out and around the house incorporating the old well head and on across the front. Plant this with a mixture of low evergreen shrubs, perennials and annuals. Redo the brick sidewalk further from the house so it curves through your new garden. I find your old chimney to be interesting and would not want to cover it. Perhaps a grouping of the medium high growing grasses in front of it to soften the line a bit could work.

Rather than a picket type fence....have you thought of doing one of the zig-zag wood fences of rough wood that are laid one on top of the other 3 or 4 sections high(sorry, can't remember what they are called)? This is a very up-country Carolina look. Fits your site.

Moving from the North to the South presents a whole new world of landscaping and gardening to explore. A good local nursery will be able to steer you in the direction of suitable material - and your choices will be pretty wide ranging when the time comes to do some planting. Although there's nothing prettier than a wooded area filled with azealeas, dogwood, and rhododendrons, it's a really common fall back planting scheme from the Mid Atlantic (maybe even above) region on down.

Don't be discouraged with responses being plan, plan, and then make more plans on the Landscape Design Forum. It's basic and good advice and may well save you from taxing a limited budget and making the kinds of mistakes we can make by installing plant material then trying to tie it all together and make some cohesive sense out of it later. And I agree you should live with your surroundings through at least one complete seasonal cycle; things change, become more prominent, receed into the background. You should get an idea of the set of your house on the property, hardscape, soil, sun and shade conditions as mentioned above, the amount of maintenance you're willing and able to do. For the DIYer, having a plan for the whole space then implementing the plan bit by bit as time and money allows can be very satisfying. Working something out doesn't have to be pages and pages of artistic renderings with tissue paper overlays for alternate possibilities. It can be as simple as sitting at your kitchen table plotting out shapes against elementary squares representing your property, house, pathyways, and barn.

Another thing to keep in mind - you don't need validation from strangers on the internet. Ideas and nudges in one direction or another are one thing, but only you really understand your need for a riot of color or enclosure - fences or hedges, etc. Not just in NYC, but in almost any area, it's somehow meaningful to have property defined, to have your space "mixed shub walled" off from a neighbor. This feeling obviously resonates with you. It's a feeling that resonates with a lot of us for many different reasons.

Assuming you're new to the GardenWeb, you may not have explored the large number of other forums. If it's homey and colorful that makes you happy, introduce yourself to the Cottage Garden Forum; they'd have a field day if you posted your pictures there. Also look at the Garden Junk forum for ideas on turning wheelbarrows and everyday items into planters. Those forums are friendly and welcoming and, to be honest, they seem to much prefer planting to planning... and though not my style, I will concede the results can be pretty good.

I think you did a yeoman's job of clearing out. And restoring the barn with new board material is a good thing - maybe a preservative stain might be a good idea but I definitely would not paint it a color even if it were allowable. Have you considered window boxes for under the two windows on either side of the front door?

Hi everyone, I just got back from a free Vet's dinner at Golden Corral and it was awesome and I am stuffed like a pig! Then I came home and I found my box full of responses! While on my lunch break today I went to Bennett Memorial Park and I actually saw those zig zag fences that Nandina talked about and I thought they were pretty neat. I had never seen them before. The park was closed for Vets day so I just saw them over the retainer wall and I wonder if they are just stacked together or held by something.
Duluthinbloomz I have to think about why I feel a need to be enclosed. Maybe it makes me feel safer?

I thought about the rail fence in the front. One thing though the front of the yard slopes down and that poses a problem in my mind of where to place it. When I moved here there were butterfly bushes all across the front and it was very hard to see to exit to the road, which is the main reason I took them down. Now I feel exposed with no barrier up there. One one hand I don't want to be so secluded that someone could kill me in my own front yard and no one be able to see it.... LOL just kidding.
Something has to go by the chimey because it looks so stark. I can not take down the shingles because Abestos abatement is way too expensive (for me). I would love some plain single siding but I have to get the $%^$ abestos down 1st. I would also love my house to be red. LOL wild I know. I saw it on the James Hardie website and fell in love but I am not THAT daring!
I love Azaleas and even though they are in lots of other yards and nothing really unique about them, they are soooo beautiful but there are goo gobs of deer here and they will feast their hearts out. I am not quite sure how to prevent that. The back yard has lots of fuit trees and the previous owners had some kind of pen around them (like standing box pallets) so maybe if I decide to go with the Azaleas that is what I am going to have to do with them as well??
I can't find the post right now but someone said to stain the barn so it matches the weathered boards. How in the world do I do that??? take a piece of the weathered board and ask them to mix up a stain the same color in Lowes? LOL. someone alse said that my barn is a drive shed. I agree but it does have a back to it. here is the other side which I am planning on enclosing with a fence and putting 2 little pygmy goats if I can get it finished by the spring.
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The Wisteria roots are still all over the right side of the yard. So pretty but yet they turn my stomach now. they have been chopped up and pulled out of the trees. I am waiting for them to dry up and then they will get sent through the chipper. I think I will cry if they come back. I did think as someone said I should wait a season before planting on that side of the yard because at my AG office said they are worse than Charles Dickens to get rid of completly. the lot next to my house is vacant and the vines have grown over all the trees and it looks like the blob took over that lot. Now it was trying to take over my lot as well. This house was vacant for a while before I purchased it.

If I can get the front yard straight I will be happy. I am going to check out Plants Delight in Raleigh. I am in Durham and so it is not too far. I hardly venture over there because of all the one way streets but I am on a mission.

I am thinking of putting window boxes under the small front windows as duluthinbloomz suggested but I was not sure if that would make it look out of balance or not.

Also last thought. I have been seing Abelia chinensis on the side of the road. I had never seen it until this year and I thought it is very nice. Thanks for sending me that name. I was thinking I would have to stop and cut some down to find out what it is. I like that for one side of my yard (thoe only side with a neighbor and also full sun)

Thanks for the ideas and sorry if I sounded snippy earlier. I was frustrated.
PS Do you think if I stain the barn without waiting for the new boards to weather that it will look out of whack?
Oh and the cactus (Prickly Pear?) is dying. I am not sure if that is natural or not for the winter. I tried looking it up on the Internet but nothing seemd to match the problems (looks like rust is taking over the bottom). I tried pulling up some of the weeds around it with gloves on and got stung like heck with hundreds of fine spines thet went through my suede gloves into my fingers. OUCH!!
I cut it back some, and now it looks much better.

Oh and yes I would like to have the bulk of it looking better very quickly. It stresses me out when I come home. Before I saw a jungle, now starkness.
THANKS FOR YOUR SUGGESTIONS.

You don't wnat to remove the asbestes shingles, just leave them in place and side over them. Encapselation (sp?) is ok for asbestes, better than removing, no dust. At least you are allowed to do that in Ohio.

Well maybe I'm the only one but I love the house and the color as is. I love the stone chimney. I can really see a picket fence and gate and a cottage garden. You can just search on the web for "cottage garden" and you will get ideas. Daffodils and daylillies are easy together and they could be planted along a path to the door. Not sure if you have enough sun though. The large planter which used to be the well, I think you said, seems to be right in the way of the path to the door. Could the well be capped and the big planter be moved elsewhere? I hate to get rid of unique things like that. Perhaps the bricks could be taken up and used on a path from the street to the door or something like that. I also like the barn as is. I just like old weathered stuff that has character. I do agree that you will need time to get ideas and live there a little while to see what sun you have etc. I think the place is so beautiful already! An easy and cheap thing to do is put up some shepherd's hooks with bird feeders and just enjoy that over fall and winter for now while you think about what to do. Laurie

just a couple more ideas, in the internet spirit
sorry to tell ya, but the wisteria WILL be back. good news, they get weaker every year in my experience.i second the suggestion not to plant out the yard until you know they're gone.

i can really see a dogwood somewhere looking great...maybe next to the barn/shed?

for the sake of preserving the structure, can you paint the shed roof? fixing and painting the roof will prevent a lot of other problems down the line. pick your roof color to complement your planned house color

i painted an asbestos shingle building.had to use a brush though. it looked soooo much nicer, from ick green to gentle gray. i did NOT sand first, just washed it off. asbestos inside the house is much more dangerous IMO. go ahead and paint the cottage red.

picket fence would be nice, but how about something other than white? gray? that sounds country to me..i would worry about vines being more difficult to remove with the colonial zigzag fence..i agree a fence would be very nice...especially with goats in the picture!

staining the boards: true country would be to put them up and wait 10 years for them to match. my neighbor is taking this approach. alternative is to take an old piece of siding to home depot and find a deck stain that is close. do not paint or apply opaque stain that will look bad later.

another note...country style to me means you have room to stretch out and do whatever you like, zoning be d@Mned. so enjoy!! but don't forget to consider your neighbors..

kren

Just the mention of that name WISTERIA makes my skin crawl. I probably won't be able to palnt anything over there even if I wanted to because it will take months to get all the roots out.
Well I just wanted to let you guys know I ordered the Individual Software of 3D Home, Landscape and Deck Design CD. The one I had was not compatible with Windows Vista. Next time I post on here it will either be with after shots or with more specific plans.
Thanks

I'm not a landscape designer so take my advice with a grain of salt.

I think you'll be much happier when your grass starts to fill in. Hopefully it is a shade tolerant variety. If it were my property I'd do a large hedge out near the road. Maybe lilacs. Your space seems a little bit exposed. I'd want some privacy from the road (but that's just me). I wouldn't spend a ton of money right away. I'm not sure how long you've lived there, but give it a year or two or three before you make any big expensive changes.

You are absolutely right about needing some road privacy. I had huge butterfly bushes ( i think) which is what was in that picture you see with all the vegetation in front of the barn. it was all over the place and out of control. I tried at first to trim it down but by the time I trimmed it down it was all wood no greenery so I had this guy come in with a bob cat and knock it all down and chop up the roots (which are still all over the yard). so now I have a clean slate. I want something in the front by the road but I want something that grows kind of neat and will not easily get out of control like what I took out. I have only been in this house 2 months. The grass is starting to come up now really nice. That is all I have now. The problem now is that the front of the property has a slight incline and I don't want to plant anything that is going to block me or my one neighbors view of the road. there is a vacant lot on one side of me and that lot is on a curve. If I plant the wrong thing it might limit my view some. I am just so frustrated with the yard and I have no plans now. I am hoping this program I am waiting to get (in the mail) is going to help resolve this problem. Trust me I do not plan to spend a lot of money. Thanks for the advice.

One thing you can do right away and it's free... start a compost pile in some out of the way spot - sun or shade doesn't matter. You've got lots of leaves, plant and yard debris, chopped or chipped roots; add to that shredded junk mail, used coffee grounds, fruit and vegetable scraps, grass clippings, a little bit of water every now and again and, in time (pretty quick time in warmer climates), you'll have a nice pile of organic material to use with your future plantings or to topdress your lawn. Doesn't immediately impact curb appeal, but you'll appreciate its benefit down the line.

You've done a lot in two months; I'd still be unpacking.

Just a comment on the zigzag rail fence. They are definitely vernacular here, but I can tell you, they are a pain in the butt to mow around. You have to weedwhack all around them, in and out of the zigzag. For that reason alone, I discourage clients from using them unless they are fully awary of the extra work they involve. Of course, mowing wasn't a problem for early settlers.

Did you know that Better Homes and Gardens has a specialty magazine called Country Gardens? Here's a cover photo from 2006 w a red building. Go to your library and grab the old copies. If you are thinking country in SC, I guess I would be assuming hydrangeas, rhodos, kalmia and azaleas. Abd summer time has to have daisies and lilies - right? If I were thinking about your yard, I would first let the grass grow in, paint the house, forget staining the barn boards, they should weather in SC in 6 mos to match, make sure your wisteria is dead and pick just one place to work on. Just one. You will feel much better if you are moving toward completion on something. Your front walkway is usually a good choice, or wherever you enter your home.

I would love to have the design eye, and design talent to plan out my whole yard. I have 2 acres and its never happened. I plant stuff where I want and if it doesn't work I move it. I have shelves full of design materials but I really truly have no talent in that direction no matter how much the nice people on this forum tell me I can do it.

For me a consideration is maintenance and water. Your yard looks dry - is it? If so I would start with a list of plants from your County Extension Service that will survive and look nice in the conditions that you have.

Regarding the hedge row along the road, you don't need to run the hedge from end to end of your property - you could have it just covering the length of your house or a bit more. You might choose to do a planting of mixed evergreen and flowering shrubs and perennials that need little more than some mulch once a year. I could see hydrangeas and blue spruces. You have choices like camellias and disease resistant roses also - you could mix landscape and rugosa roses with dwarf evergreens. If your fence is on the outside and garden towards the house, you can always use mulch to surround the posts and make a easy mowing line a few inches away from the fence line. I like the zig zag fences also, but with your stone chimney have you thought about native stone posts with split rail in between? They don't have to be tall - could just be 2 rails. I guess you might be able to gather your own stone and build the posts yourself. I could see a white arbor and gate entrance placed somewhere along that shrub border so that you don't have to go all the way around. Or curve the bed inward toward the house and have an arbor and gate set in. Hybrid wisteria or red trumpet vine, or a mix of roses and clematis would all be country solutions to what grows up the arbor. Water would dictate for me what that answer is.

That and soil..... Carolina soils are a mixed bag. You absolutely have to make sure that your soil is amended first before you plant anything. It is so critical you shouldn't even be talking about plants first. You will thank yourself a thousand times over if you have great soil, and curse yourself for not doing it if you skip over it. Chemical fertilizers can't take the place of good, organic, soil.

House color - red would really be bold if there isn't foliage around the house to tone it down a bit. I know there is a "new country" that is more avant garde but I usually think of country houses as white or yellow. But red would really show off the chimney wouldn't it. We have a log cabin with a new home attched also. Ours is circa about 1845. We left the logs exposed on the inside and sided the entire outside of the house to match so you can't tell from the outside that there are actually 2 houses. A yellow house with black, white or grey trim might look nice. Do you get that black mildew on your homes down there? Make sure whatever you paint that you get the fungicide added to the paint - spose you already know that.

All those tall trees - have you thought about thinning out your overhead canopy a bit more? Does it shade your yard heavily and do the roots take up the available water? What are those trees? How your grass grows will tell you a lot about your soil environment.

Just some rambling thoughts. I wish you luck with your design software, I got that too and sent it back. LOL.
I find that for me, a digital camera and taking tons and tons of pictures through 4 seasons is what I need to be a critical viewer of the property or area. I see things in a photo that I totally miss in person.

Since its almost December I would suggest that you be thinking about sowing seeds of what you'd like for perennials and annuals for next year. Your Extension Service will have all kinds of info for your area. That and laying down manures or other organics to enrich the soil in areas you think you will plant.

I have gardened on old old land before and I find that its often depleted and lacking in organics. Tracy di Sabato-Aust wrote 2 books about perennial gardens. Her own home is a large log cabin surrounded by acres of very country like expanses of shrubs and flowers. You can find her books in most libraries. She has some good recipes for soil amendment and calculating what you need. And lots of pictures to look at.

You need to get yourself a list of gardens in your area also and start visiting to see ideas from other established gardens. Biltmore is not your deal - but that 100+ yr old wisteria arbor is just beyond magnificent when its in bloom. You are lucky that there are wonderful gardens within driving distance all over your area. Your growing season is prob 3 months longer than mine - but dryer so you have all kinds of different issues.

Don't get a Pawlonia tree or however you spell it. My friend in Charlotte has one and it reseeds everywhere. Pretty in bloom but I'd prefer to enjoy it in somebody elses yard.

Good luck and let us see your progress.

WOW thanks for all the advice. I am actually in NC where the native soil is very heavy clay however, I am lucky because 2 of the 3 previous owners were gardners and so the soil is very good. Lots of compost mixed in and it has been well fertilized. I was digging in the yard the other day and found lots of bulbs stragetically placed. I am lucky to have contact with the previous owner and she told me which of the trees were fruit trees and she advised I wait till the spring before doing anything. She says that in the spring I will see a lot of stuff pop up. She did not plant any of it so she was not able to help in identifying any of it. we keep in contact via email since she is in Mississippi. I got the conditon of the soil confirmed by the guy who tilled my soil and the AG office (from samples).

The soil is very dry right now as we are going through a drought. Since I have been here it has rained a total of 3 days? something like that. We are not allowed to burn anything and most areas have a restriction on watering. I am not restricted but I certainly do not want to make my well run dry so I have been stingy with the water. I am taking a break from the yard right now since the temp is dropping. I did manage to plant some grass and it is starting to grow in really nice and thick. I planted Tall Fescue. Please do not mention ANY variety of Wisteria. LOL it makes my skin crawl after the experience I have had with them!!

Funny you should mention Country Gardens Magazine, I just sent in my subscription to them and also to Hobby Farms. I can't wait to get my first issues. I have been buying CG sporidically from the store.

I have decided against the Red color for the house although I would love to have a little red house. I decided on a green which I found in a historic collection at Sherwin Williams. I think it will be nice. I am not sure about starting painting yet because I am thinking of having another siding put on the house. I hate this Abestos siding. I will get help from Old House Forum on that project though. 'I have lurked on a few different forums with photos on here and found a few ideas that I like. I will try them out on my miracle software. I am a computer geek so I hope it will work out for me. The trees in the front are Oaks and there are goo gobs of Dogwoods. They are staying. There is also a Cedar tree that I absolutely love in the front. I am busy working on the inside of the house right now. I got the yard tilled, the bulk of the debre picked up (will finish when the burn ban is lifted), got the grass planted and cleaned up the front. So for now I am at a standstill. I have lots of ideas but I am not sure if they are all going to work out or not. I am REALLY counting on this program to help me out becuase books just don't do it for me which is why I came here. If all else fails I will have to get my Mom up here for a few weeks to help me out. She has a beautiful garden and I was never able to make my yards come alive like she has in hers. She is stingy with the info though. LOL
Thanks for the advce on the tree. I certainly do not want anything invasive again. I am not sure if I got all that Wisteria out of the yard or not. The previous owner told me that she tried to get it all out too and it just came back stronger and bolder. uggggggh!
Thanks again for your helpful advise. I will send pictures if I get anything I will be proud to show off. Luck will really have to be on my side for that.

What a charming place! Love that copper roof on your shed. If it were me, I'd take down that big tree on the left side of the shed; the vine covered one at the back corner that leans toward it. It's growing too close, and the branches need to be trimmed up away from the roof anyway; just rick the whole thing up for firewood.

I think your home would be stunning in red; an earthy, foxy red. If you'd like to see how the house would look in different colors, go to the home decorating forum on That Home Site (click on forums, then home forumsin the link above) and ask if someone will photoshop your pictures. There are people on that forum who pretty much live to play with color, and the results can be amazing.

The cactus? Blech, I would have killed it yesterday; but I hate cactus. It's not native to that part of the country, not pretty in that woodland setting and not safe, as you have discovered. If you plan on getting little goats in the future, make sure you cross check any new plants against the poisonous list; no matter how wonderful your fence, a goat in a pen is eventually going to be a goat out of a pen and browsing around the yard. BTW, Azaleas are on that list, and Rhodondrons and Oleander will kill even a large goat in just a few bites; they should never be planted anywhere you might keep livestock.

As big as that concrete round is, I'm guessing the well was hand dug, so it would have been fairly deep and very wide, as opposed to modern pipe wells that are very deep and less than a foot in diameter. Is the house now on some kind of rural water, or do you have another well? The old hand dug wells are usually, but not always, filled in for months/years with assorted solid debris. Rocks, dirt, bottles, sticks, whatever was handy. Then a cement cap was poured. Try digging down about a foot and a half below the regular ground level. If you don't hit concrete, you could always rock or mosaic the outside of it and plant a small, decorative flowering shrub for an accent. Like you, I don't know that I would try to remove the retaining wall because as you mentioned, there's always a possibility of a sinkhole opening up later. You just don't want people walking over old well sites if you can help it.

I hope you get a chance to drop by the decorating forum; would love to see what they come up with, color wise. I'll be looking forward to seeing more pictures as you continue to work on it.

I'm jealous. I wish I had that much land to work with.

I think you need to plan your garden so that attention is brought to the entry of the house. This should be your focal point. It appears that the front door is located on the right side of the house. What comes to mind is a curved pathway that leads to the front door from drive way. Just make sure that you don't block the view with trees or shrubs.

Whaddya mean that cactus is not native?? Opuntias (prickly pears) of various species are indigenous to 45 of the lower 48 states, the only exceptions being the most northeasterly three. Unfortunately, many are endangered and threatened by a cactus eating moth that has been introduced to this country. One that size and age is to be treasured, not ripped out! And an opuntia in bloom is a magical thing.

I just got a chance to read my emails and found the new posts interesting. To solve the debate on the cactus, I like it and was actually thinking of putting some of the rocks I found on the property around it and fill the ground area with small stones to accent it a little and keep out the weeds. I really wanted to move it but I already got a hand full of sticklers and know how bad they hurt. LOL. I think I like it because it looks so unexpected.

I do plan to go out and check out the well but if I find that it does have a concrete cap on it then what? Was that just a point of knowledge?

I got my "miracle" program in the mail a couple of days ago and am having trouble getting the basic stuff drawn out. I am going to have to find a forum to help me get started. I have out of town company right now so it will be a few days before I get a real chance to figure it out.

I am going to check out the forum mentioned and see what they can come up with to help me. I find this all so very frustrating but I think it is a matter of it being fall/winter and not being able to jump into my projects like I want to.

Also I do plan on changing the shape of my pathway, still using those old bricks. I will just move them around. Right now my yard looks like a bed of leaves. How in the world do I solve that dilemma? I have about 3" of leaves and on top of that the trees still have plenty of leaves yet to fall.

Thanks again for the good advice! On to that homeplace forum.
Jacki

If you do find a concrete cap on the old well, after you dig down the side of it to determine how thick it is, you could probably remove the retaining walls, and incorpotate that space into a sweeping flower bed or whatever. The last farm we lived at had a hand dug well less than 5 feet from the corner of the house. The PO filled had it in with whatever was available, poured concrete over it and later used it to put a small picnic table on. When we moved in, the cement was cracked and sunken across the middle, and we determined that the cap was only about 3 inches thick. I didn't feel comfortable leaving it exposed for people to walk over, so I repaired the crack, built up the sides with brick, filled it with lightweight potting soil and used it as a bed to start seedlings and cuttings in.

Anyway, I guess the um, "point of knowledge" is if you know it's an old well site, and there isn't a concrete cap, then not knowing what it was filled with could potentially make it dangerous to remove the wall that would keep people from walking over it, so don't. Since that one is MOL right outside the door, if you find you can't remove the retaining wall, I'd build a patio around it and plant it with something small and attractive. Not as small as pansies or mums, but nothing as potentially overwhelming as a Japanese Maple either. 3 feet tall would be my absolute limit; it gives you a chance to feature some treasure offering nice blooms or fragrance that's usually overlooked because it's low growing. But that's me, obviously, YMMV.

Right now my yard looks like a bed of leaves. How in the world do I solve that dilemma? I have about 3" of leaves and on top of that the trees still have plenty of leaves yet to fall.

That's a dilemma the folks over on the Composting Forum would love to have. As I mentioned above, start a compost pile in an out of the way spot - the leaves are free carbon-rich material and when layered with other yard debris, etc., you'll have some nice organic material to use around the yard. Raking can be a pain, but a thick layer of leaves left on your grass can do some damage.

As for the well - if you decide to paint the house, paint the well the same color... you'll get some years before the elements start to flake the paint. (To me, it is what it is and not some blown out John Deere tire filled up with dirt and a couple of marigolds.) And plant in it as you have, plant around it, incorporate it into a larger planting area.

I hired someone from the Labor Pool to come over this weekend to work in the yard. Man did we hump and yet the yard is still full of leaves. We were mainly concerned with getting the roots out of the ground and putting them through the chipper. I swear that thing must have gotten clogged up a million times. I made a bunch of mulch with the leaves going through the chipper which we raked into the soil. the grass seed has not been planted on that side yet. I tried to start a compost pile in a container with worms since I don't have immediate access to anyone's animal "poop". Well it was going good for a minute there but the next thing I knew gnats took over the bucket (even though it was closed) and the worms disappeared. I think the dang gnats ate them!! I was so pissed!!! I still have a pot on the porch with my next load of food that I am now scared to open because the smell I think is going to come out.

My next attempt at compost was an idea I found in the local paper. They said fill a black plastic bag with leaves put a shovel full of dirt into it and store it for the winter, when you open it in the spring wallah compost. yeah right. But just in case I have about 5 bags of leaves with a shovel full of dirt in each. LOL

I did not mess with the well yet. I was thinking of pouring some yogurt on it so it can grow some moss all over it, plant something tall in it with some pretty flowers around it. Has anyone tried that yogurt idea? I saw that bright idea on the hypertufa forum.

Also in case anyone is wondering, don't waste your time with Total 3D home, Landscape and Deck if you have Windows Vista. I drew out my whole house, planted the yard and then went to the aerial view and all sorts of problems popped up. I deleted the whole thing from my computer, reloaded it and this time every time I changed views windows or doors disappeared. Has anyone used any similar program with Vista with any success?

Last but not least littledog, can you send me a good link to that home place forum you suggested I post my house photo to? I would appreciate the help.

Thanks everyone for the great support!

3 feet tall would be my absolute limit; it gives you a chance to feature some treasure offering nice blooms or fragrance that's usually overlooked because it's low
growing. But that's me, obviously, YMMV.

Thats my thoughts exactly!!

oh yeah I do have one other question. Has anyone used wisteria vines to make baskets? I think all the vines I cut down would do great before the dry out. I brought a copy of Country Gardens magazine and I saw a metal pail woven with somethink that looked like vines all dried out and it looked awesome. That is what got me to thinking about using the Wisteria vines I have laying all over the ground. Of course I would have to use them before they dry out. I would hate to use them though and then find out they just come back to life in the spring. I would be hating life then. LOL

Not sure about wisteria vines, but I imagine if they're pliant they could be woven. The more usual material would be grape vines, I think.

When looking at the main Landscape Design Forum page, "Other Forums" appears at the top left. From that page, click on "That Home Site" to get to the decorating and painting and remodeling, etc. forums. The Home Decorating forum is very active- no end of ideas especially when you post pictures along with any question.

gardengal, didn't mean to overlook your post. Okay, I'll grant you that prickly pear actually are native in NC, but, (and this is just my heartfelt opinion), they still suck. ;^)

I know they are pretty when they bloom, so are tree peonies and they won't send an unwary child to the emergency room. But eh, the homeowner *likes* it, so that's about as good a place as any for it to grow. At least it wasn't planted in that little strip between the house and the walkway right next to the steps.

Oh, and Missjay, that decorating forum is here.

I went on THAT SITE forum and submitted photos of my house and several people did it over in photoshop. it looks awesome in green, beige and red. I don't know how to tell you how to find it except if you looked at my clippings. I did save the photos as a clipping. Thanks littledog for suggesting that to me. I hope you of all people go check it out. THANKS!!
BTW Tthe ideas I have set aside in my mind thanks to you guys are the flower boxes, curved walkway, something tall beside the chimney and do something with that dang blasted well. the large fragrant flowers sounds good to me. that right room is my office and it will be nice to sit in there and smell the sweet fragrances of the garden. I also cut down those small trees in front of the barn. No one answered me about the yogurt/moss idea by the way. Yes I was very serious about that. LOL
Isn't the Internet just a wonderful thing??

This making of a slurry method gives you more moss "product" to work with, but if you've got mosses naturally occuring on your property, transplanting it into cracks and crevices is more labor intensive, but more instantly gratifying.

From the Moss, Ferns and Cryptogams forum:
Here's a version of the blender and buttermilk (yogurt) method... the idea is to chop the moss up enough to cover a large area. The buttermilk (yogurt) and water supply the nutrients to get the moss started.Use one cup shredded moss, one quart water and one quart buttermilk (yogurt). Put chunks of the moss and water in a blender; blend it to a consistency that can easily be spread with a big brush; then mix in the rest of the water and buttermilk (yogurt). Keep it moist until it starts growing. This method works best in late spring, early summer.

I don't have any moss on my property but my neighbor does and she agreed to let me get the moss up if I plant grass in its stead. thanks for the recipie. its going in my book

I think your house is charming and the barn is too. In my opinion - and I do live way out in the country - one of the major beauties of this is that you don't HAVE TO have curb appeal. You can garden from your heart out rather than from strangers in. If you see what I mean. Decide what YOU want from your place - a nice corner for outdoor meals? A veggie garden? A pen for chickens? A perennial border? You are in the country...no neighborhood police to nix your ideas!!! This is a good thing!

You are a bit close to the road (IMHO) so I would plant a hedge of some sort - evergreen, whatever....or were you expecting the photo team from Better Homes & Gardens? If the only ones driving by are Bubba and the guys, why make a view just for them? You really DON'T NEED MARKETING. If you do decide to sell someday I bet you'll find just as many buyers who are delighted with privacy and the "secret garden" aspect that you create.

I didn't take the time to read all of the entries, but here's my 2 cents. Take heed, I am not a professional, but I do have a large garden and started with a blank slate like you.

If you want some privacy from the road, go ahead and plant some large shrubs. i would plant a semicircle, or other non linear planting. Something like ?Russian olive will be deer resistant. Maybe leave the front of the house open so you can see it a little from the road, but the shrubs would at least give you some privacy on the R side of the house for a nice little garden. I don't mind the color of the house, but I do think it would be cute in red, maybe yellow if it didn't clash with the chimney. I love the chimney and would not cover it.
I agree with moving the paver path to form a nice arc from the drive to the front door. In a large area around the old well, make a cottage garden with large swaths of self seeding annuals and large perinneals- think grasses, cosmos, castor bean, millet, larkspur, hydrangea,bridal wreath. One thing I have learned is in the country everything has to be bigger. Each individual species needs a good 4 x 4 space. Consider small shrubs like Jap spirea to put into the flower beds. You might need to limb up some of your trees to get better sun. Raised beds would help with tree root competition. In front of the house between the walk and the house, I would like to see a single planting of low growing plants such as liriope or vinca. A lacy vine like clematis would be nice on the chimney, but nothing to hide the stone. maybe an old iron grate or other decorative feature.
Take down the skimpy hand rail, I wouldn't replace it with anything.
Put a nice big window box under each of the 2 windows flanking the door. It will balance the chimney and highlight the entrance to your home. Even if you can only fill then with pinecones or vines right now it would be cute. Save your smaller plants like pansies for the window boxes or planters. Paint the door a bright color- red, bright green, blue.
As for the barn, for now I would keep it tidy, perhaps move your tools to the side with the wood, so it isn't visible from the drive. Replace the cinder block step with a big flat boulder, hang a rustic evergreen wreath on the door.
I like the idea of a split rail fence. Maybe with a hardy rose growing over it.
Grow some large ferns in the corner on the L side of the house (assuming it is shady)
In the future, you could add a neat garden to the R of the house with camelias, a bird bath, some azaleas.
Good luck with your project, your home is charming.
You should check out the Carolina Gardening forum. We have a plant swap every spring and fall and it is a great place to get free plants, advice and some good food. Lots of nice folks over there.

Dogridge

While curb appeal does improve a property's value and is nice to share with neighbors and friends, it's really for the joy of the homeowner and family. How wonderful it is to come home to one's own soft, comfortable place. A beautiful little refuge from the world. For many, it's a labor of love and vision and can be something so rewarding and to be proud of. Creating something is envigorating!

Like Dogridge, I admit I haven't read all of the posts (that ADD thing...get too long and my mind wanders!) Anyway, there was a link to here from Garden Junk.
I love your Craftsman Cottage, and that genre is a cottage industry (pun very much intended) unto itself. There are magazines and books dedicated to your home. The green that it is now is classic for the style. I wouldn't change a thing. Window boxes are a big thing with Craftsmans. Also, the barn looks a bit shaky, but if it is going to remain standing, I see it remaining weather worn with beautiful bright color window boxes on it. Great juxtaposition.
Nancy

I am on the same page with not reading all the posts. One of the reasons I love this forum is because of all the photos. I would really like to see any magazine that has homes like mines. Usually the crAftsman houses are much more sophisticated and larger than mines.
The barn is shaky but it will be fixed.
I am changing the color though. I had some other folks do my house up with Photoshop and I can't wait for the good weather to come so I can get busy!!
Garden junk has a lot of good ideas!

You have a craftsman bungalow. The low slung roof lines and stone chimney are hallmarks. To be an official "craftsman" the house would have had to be built following a Stickley design, but it is hard to trace most homes back to their original plans. It's kind of a generic term now. Anyway, if I could vote, it would be for the red. So cool how your friends did that with photo shop. I wish they had done the picket fence, too. I would love to be able to do that with our beach cottage. I am so afraid to put a paintbrush to it, that I won't like it when we're done, that we've done nothing. And it sits a pale, washed out yellowish cream. Yuck.

... Cottage Living magazine dedicates a lot of space to your style home. I love that magazine.
Nancy

First take a breath. Every job looks overwhelming if you look at it all together. Stop making it a "job" and make it fun.
Second, take a break. Take a cup of coffee, a chair and a notebook and go sit at the edge of the property you intend to renovate. Sit and listen to the birds, look at the parts of the property you like and then look at other parts. What do you want to keep, what do you want to change. Determine what you want seen from a distance- you probably want larger plants there. What will be seen close up- that is where you want smaller plants. I am just beginning and did a lot of my planning this past summer by just sitting in different parts of the yard and looking around and visualizing. Make notes on your thoughts and plans.
Now that you are visulizing, it is time to think of problems.
You would like a red house but it isn't practical right now- so how about red flowers, shrubs and furniture to give you that red you are craving?
Deer are a problem- check into plants that deer don't like (yes there are some.)
What style are you wanting- cottage style is the type you seem to be describing and would look good with the home style. Country look, look around for old tools that you can incorporate in the garden. In the country garden, simple and practical is better. Or do a combination of the two.
The concrete in the yard- do you like it? If yes, then leave it. If no then think of masking it- add stone around it, or plant around it to screen it with the plants.
Maybe utilize it in a different way- like making it a rock garden or using it to showcase special artwork or plants. How about putting a smaller "wishing well" in the center, planting flowers around it, then planting more flowers around the concret wall for a terraced look?

Do fieldtrips. Make trips to several local nurseries just to walk through. What plants do you like? Where do you see them on your property? Check out the plants needs and make sure they will have their needs met in the area you are visualizing. As you go places, look at other homes and if you see something you like, make a note. Then think how you can work it into your own plan.

On a budget, you (or at least I can't) buy every plant I like. So on your trips to the nurseries- check out the seed racks. Check out the garden junk forum for things you can make and add to your property with less expense. Use what you find on the property- properties like that often have old tools, bottles and things either left or found buried.

Start small. Now that you are visulizing what you want, divide your property into areas, and work on one or two areas at a time. For instance, while you are working on the shed, you may want to start planting around the house. When those are done, pick out two more areas to do. As you are working on areas you will find yourself thinking about the other areas and coming up with even more ideas.

Be flexible. Some ideas may not work or some plants just won't do well in certain areas. So you find a similiar plant or work on a different idea. As you are working and coming up with new ideas anyway, you will find that your plans change. And keep in mind, a garden is an ongoing process, not a stationary thing.

If you have the financial resources to get a landscape designer to do all the work for you, that is great. You get quicker results and a more professional look. But if you don't have the resources for professionals there is the consolation that what you get is what you yourself have visualized. Much more personal and satisfying.

I saw the opening to the logs on your link (what my house can look like) You should use moulding to "frame" the opening, like a "truth window" in straw bale construction!

I am planning on doing that with a piece of pexiglass. LOL thanks

I'm sorry but with an educational background in architectural history, I can safely say that your home is NOT an example of a Craftsman bungalow. It has none of the hallmarks of the Craftsman style - no dormers, no heavily gabled, overhung roofline, no deep eaves or sheltering porch and no tapered stone or wood columns supporting a porch roof. And it has none of the Craftsman detailing - no corbels or exposed rafters, no classic 4 or 6 over one sashed window treatments, no mixed use of natural local materials and no obvious stonework other than the chimney. What you have is a modified version of a traditional low country cottage.

Don't be sorry cause I never said I had a Craftsman! I think I actually rebutted it I just did it in a much milder way than you did. What I have is a typical Piedmont LOG Cabin very similar to this one:

{{gwi:53666}}

It was later built around and covered up but the logs are still here. Need proof? here is the only proof I have besides the testimony of my neighbor who actually saw the house when it was a log cabin:

{{gwi:53667}}
**thanks for you input though**

Oh and I forgot to mention that the foundation is stone work as well.
{{gwi:53664}}

Wow - I think your so lucky. Replacing the wood is the best thing you can do right now. It's important that the roof isn't leaking. Do those things and just keep cleaning.
You may feel at a loss of what to do next because you need a break. All the decorative things will come to you. Avoid straight formal lines (pathway) and perfect circles. Country is all about curved flower beds and paths. It just takes trial and error, and you have a huge project. Your gonna have so much fun with it. Good luck! What a beautiful place.

I plan on replacing the wood on the barn as soon as the weather lightens up. I can't wait!!

Thanks for the compliments. I was in love with the house at first sight and when I found out that it was in pretty good condition I felt that much better about it. Then when I found out the history of the architecture of it I was REALLY in love with it that much more!

The roof is good so far although one of the chimney caps is off and the rain was running down the chimney and through the furnace. I am waiting for assessment of that damage as we speak.

In the decorating forum some members photo shopped my house and gave me some great landscaping ideas. They did about 15 renditions of my house with different landscapings and house colors. I have the link in one of my previous posts (above). you should check it out when you get a chance.

I LOOOOOOVVVEEE YOUR HOUSE! SO COUNTRY AND COTTAGE-CHARMING! I like that celery green. I also like yellow with white trim - very country.

One idea I had for a cheap yet charming-looking walk is using very small multi-brown pebbles to make a curving path to front door. It's cheaper than flat flag stones(or whatever they're called), unless you live in an area where they are abundant!

OH! Another thing I just had a great idea that is CHEAP! Get a HUGE grapevine wreath and attach it to your chimney! I think that would really make it look homey. :)

I can't wait to see what you do with everything! My new home (as of this August) is bare, too. Just crabgrass, one lonely rose bush, and a handful of cannas.

One more thing - someone posted this link the other day. IT HAS ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS ideas - this lady knows what she is doing when it comes to landscape.

Thanks!! I liked that link too. Wow that yard is georgous. I wonder how long it took them to get it like that?
Actually I am lucky, I already have the pavers and they were put down in the 40's and are still in great shape. I am going to move them around to make the walkway more of a curved design.

I was thinking of making a wreath [and other things] from either the grapevine or wisteria growing in the yard. thanks for the suggestion because I was not really sure where to put it.

We planted grass and that is making a world of difference. It is evergreen grass (Blue Fescue). we did have someone come in and till the yard first and the grass is looking beautiful. in the spring we will start planting.

Thanks again