Of course we wouldn't go all the way to the road with the tall trees. I wasn't thinking when typing that. Probably just half way down the driveway.

oh and about the property line between us and the neighbors:
there was already vegetation there so I guess what's the difference if it is newly planted or the old stuff that was there? The mayor lives a few houses down so I'll ask him how I'd go about finding it out.

You definitely want to establish your property line. Trust me, you might get along great with the neighbors, but what if they move? I've had to deal with neighbor vs neighbor feuds over land issues for years, and it gets VERY ugly.

So go to the tax assessor in your town, get a plat map that indicates the property lines. If you can't read this (it's not easy) or locate the marked property corner, it's worth every penny of heartbreak and potential costs in the long run to hire a surveyor to come and stake the property line. DO NOT rely on vegetation. PLEASE trust me on this.

Once you've got that established, check on the type of vegetation. Most laws allow a person to trim veg that grows over on their side of the property line. So it's a possibility that the other owners could shear their side and you end up with one ugly shrub. Personally, I'd put in a fence. Would probably end up costing you close to the cost of the evergreens.

I agree with Pesky, establish your legal property lines before you do anything else!!

Your inspiration pic is very formal and symmetric, even to the point of identical chairs on each side of the doorway. What your DH is suggesting is not formal.

If you go to the gardening side of GW and click on the evergreen forum ?conifer forum (I forget what exactly the forum is called), there are some nice pics of gardens of evergreens that have varied specimens, some using boulders, many are dwarf, and they look lovely. But they are not formal and symmetric.

I personally think boulders look better when they are on a rise, and not on a very flat peice of land. I'm thinking you don't have enough space to add a berm. I also see alot of shrubs that have a rounded shape and adding more I think could be too much. Ornamental grasses are terrific and could help break up the everything is a rounded ball look.

You could dress up a natural conifer garden with azaleas and rhodos, as I think I see your neighbor has some of those, and that could lend some cohesiveness to the two properties.

What zone are you? That and establishing property lines is important. You should have received a copy of your plat when you bought the house. Where I live, properties are surveyed when they are sold. If you don't have that, I agree you should have a survey done.

Your pictures seem to show you do like formal gardens, but it will take time to achieve what those houses have and it will take a lot of time in the garden to get to that point. Do you want high maintenance or low maintenance? I think people can help more if they have those parameters in mind when making suggestions. I am a relatively lazy gardener, so I have lots of azaleas, rhododendron, hydrangea, and native shrubs mixed with hosta, ferns, hellebores, etc. I do not want to have to be out there pruning my shrubs. I agree you should pop over to the gardening side and check out several forums. You will be able to get a lot of help there-and don't just stick to the design forum. Perennials, conifers, hosta, shrubs, etc. will get you to many creative, experienced gardeners.

Thank you everyone!
I tried telling hubby how important it is to know for certain our property line. He says the stairs that go to our back yard are ours, which are even more to the left (closer to our neighbors) so he thinks the dirt area is ours too becaues the stairs run down to the dirt bed. I will do it the right way and find out for certain.

Thanks for the suggestions.

but could we pretend for a moment that it IS our property?

I have lots of azaleas, rhododendron, hydrangea, and native shrubs mixed with hosta, ferns, hellebores, etc. I do not want to have to be out there pruning my shrubs.

I'm the same way. It amazes me that two neighbors across the street prune their gardenias and azaleas into hedges and meatballs. It so defeats the purpose of growing something with a beautiful natural shape.

Meg, don't know what zone you're in, but down here Oakleafs do best where they get morning sun and afternoon shade.

Be careful about planting tall trees between you and your neighbor in the front. If you plant close to his drive, the trees will impede upon his property, and he will have to cut them back himself to fit his vehicles in... there will be tears before bedtime...

To keep your front garden in line with your neighborhood (which is the respectful thing to do), think about a pretty soft evergreen hedge that will mature to a prunable chest or shoulder height to mask his vehicles but still leave a sense of friendliness and scale between you. Stop six or eight feet before you get to the curb (after the mature volume of the plants is marked), and wrap the hedge with ground cover (depending on your zone, a nice mat of common evergreen vinca minor is terrific for this, and blooms lavender-blue in spring) and add lower-growing variegated plants to get your green and white. Stuff the border with spring flowering bulbs (purple crocus, creamy daffodils...).
Look around your neighborhood for inspiration.
if you want a tree, plant just one in your border, and prune it to create a graceful shape that limbs up above the useable space in your neighbor's drive.
Expect to be patient. A good landscape plan takes three years to look like much, and can take five or more to look mature. (The general rule for permanent plantings is, "first year sleeps, second year creeps, third year leaps...)
And to be a perfect citizen, discuss your plans with your neighbor. He will be seeing it all every day when he comes and goes. Landscape plants: say $1,500. Labor: say $2,500. Neighborly good will: priceless.

Trees planted too close to property lines tend to cause problems over the long term. Just as you are frustrated by the right neighbor's tree which has grown over into your property so to may the left neighbor become frustrated if you plant a row of trees which may one day cause a similar problem. So think very carefully about what type of trees you wish to plant there and account for their size at maturity to remain on your property. Conifers that grow vertically would work best to help deliniate your property.

Another item to consider is if you wish to have more hardscape in that area. If you were to park two cars in the driveway it does not look like you have room for a person to walk next to the car and then they'd need to step into your planting bed. I'd consider widening that by about 3' to allow for this.

If you do consider a fence, I'd suggest doing a low fence 2-4' tall in varying heights. That is what we've done. If functions well to separate our landscape beds from theirs, at the same time does not block sunlight or eye level view between the two yards. Then I tiered the bed into three separate beds and used ornamental rocks to separate the sections. I'm still working on the plants and add/remove a bit every year, but am happy with the basic shape and structure of the area.

We are zone 7b or 8-conflicting reports.

bronwysmom-we wouldn't plant so close as to scratch his cars/boat. As you can see his boat is there and he does not park his car there. I really like your idea of a pretty evergreen hedge. Your ideas sound lovely. I will have hubby take a look!

Picture yourself living in your neighbor's house and what would you like to be staring at every day when you pull into the driveway? I agree about the tall trees, unless you plant poplar trees that grow straight up, because most trees bush out, which could be a potential problem for your neighbor.

Another idea - ask your neighbor does he have any suggestions (if you're good neighbors that is, lol).

As far as the maple goes - call a local bonsai club and offer it to them - they'll be thrilled!!

That's true. Japanese maples aren't cheap!

You could also call someone to come and prune the maple into a more pleasing shape. I think being able to see the structure would make it more attractive.

If you are planting trees not only consider where the branches will grow but also where the roots will grow. Some trees like Maples are very shallow rooted. Big roots can grow under cement sidewalks and driveways and lift and crack the cement. Also, when people plant trees they seem to always forget to look up. If the trees come too close to the power lines the company will just show up and cut away the interfering branches leaving you with an ugly tree. You may even be ordered to remove the whole tree if they deem so.

I would picture myself living in my house and staring at that boat everytime I pulled into my driveway lol. I'd put up a fence, and develop a garden on my side of it. Fences don't need pruning or years to become established. The boat is an eyesore.

seagrass

We have a similar situation, except no boat. (I don't know if you've poured the concrete yet, but you might think about extending a bit -- it's nice for a third car or something.)

First photo is right after landscaped, next photo is recent, but the grasses still haven't grown back. They will soon, and last summer they were 4-5 ft high. We also extended the path a bit, adding gravel and a rock border. We have some groundcover toward the front, and plant annuals at the very front. Will do that after vacation next week. ;-)

Anyway, just food for thought; maybe it will give you some ideas.

I can't offer you many ideas for landscaping, i'm still figuring out flowers and landscaping myself!

However, I agree with the other posts to be weary of planting trees so close to your neighbors drive.

An example:

My parents and their neighbor both have bradford pears planted on the sides of the driveway, my parents have removed the trees on one side, widening their driveway and because with large trucks it made it hard to fit once the trees were full size (they were already there and my parents bought the house last year). Luckily they have alot of yard between the houses, because a huge storm came through and toppled one of my parent's trees into the neighbor's yard, landing right on top of his beautiful japanese maple.

Luckily the neighbor's tree was okay, and my dad and the neighbor have been friends for years.

Some neighbors aren't as nice so i'd be sure to run any plantings by your neighbor since it will also inadvertently be a part of his/her curb appeal as well!

You mentioned planting a ground cover, be careful ... if you put in a ground cover, it will take over and fill in the area. If that's what you want, then OK. But if you wanted to put in other flowing plants, you will always be battling the ground cover.

What types of evergreens? If they are close to the neighbors side, are they ok with that? Some evergreens shed their needles and can be messy. Some grow quickly, some grow very slow, most grow in width as well as up and will quickly spread into the space there...and most are likely to give a lot of shade, meaning that you will be limited on what you can plant around them if there is not much sun. Pachysandra is a nice ground cover, very low maintainence and stays green all year. But, it does spread fast. I wouldn't put any ground cover if you have any desire to grow flower there at any point.

If it were me, I would put up a hedge type shrub to act as a fence along the neighbors side, look for one that is pretty tame and grows fast - then you won't have to look at that boat. Gotta love people who park boats in their yard. We have neighbors with a boat the size of Rhode Island in their back yard. They got it cheap after Hurricane Katrina, took a flat bed truck and a crane to get it up here to the northeast, they put it in the yard, and there it has sat for the last several years - they worked on it for one summer and then just forgot about it, not even bothering to cover it in the winter...slowly it is turning into the world's largest birdhouse and the neighborhood's biggest eyesore...but what the heck. I digress...

Anyway, hedges. Yes. And then something pretty and fast growing, centered in that space there. Like a Bradford Pear or a Wheeping Cherry. Plant pachysandra around it, or make a nice little flower bed with decorative rocks or whatever your husband wants. That's what I would do!

Good luck!