Black sludgey mess? Is it very wet there, outside the recent rain that is? Woodland soil is usually moist and rich with organic material but not "sludgey." It is more like compost than sludge. Soil that is wet all the time could be described as being rather "gooey" or sludgey. You may wish to wait on your plantings right now. See what plants grow there naturally throughout this season. What plants grow there, may give an indication of what types of plants you could plant there next season. Might be less frustrating and more fruitful for you in the long run. FataMorgana

Coming up with salt tolerant plants is easy, but salt tolerant tropicalesque plants would require a little research. You might be able to get a quick answer from people in the Tropicalesque Gardens Forum if no one speaks up here. I've never bought any sod. Here is a link that might be useful: See list at bottom of this page.

The area below the pines is both shady and dry - pachysandra is the ideal groundcover. Evergreen, deer and rabbit resistant, drought tolerant and will grow in total shade to a fair amount of sun. Spreads pretty vigorously as well but not to the point where it takes over. Will need a bit of watering to get established but after that, can subsist on just rainfall.

Nice house! I wouldn't want to hide architectural details, so in general I would do much of the planting as low masses. If you use ground covers, shrubs, and mulch to fill in until the groundcovers spread, with some tough low care perennials you should be able to keep it attractive and low maintenance. To the right of your front steps along the porch, I would use your hostas in a bed that comes out as far as the base of the front steps. If you have some other plants that are shade-loving and can provide either evergreen or contrasting foliage interest, such as ferns, Heuchera/coral bells, Tiarella/foamy bells, Polygonatum/Solomon's seal, etc. those would be a nice additions. To tie the left front corner bed in, use some hostas there also, and if there is a plant that you use in the large corner bed that would work on the right side of the steps, that would make it all look part of a whole interrupted by the steps rather than separate beds. Looking at your second posted photo of the front of the house, I would plant something on a diagonal a few feet out from the corner where your husband is standing that is about his height. It could be a vine on a trellis or a medium tall, bushy shrub. That will help distract from or hide both the downspout and the HVAC unit form the street. I would also plant a couple of shrubs that are just taller than the HVAC unit but won't get closer than a couple of feet from it to hide it from other angles. The rest of the bed I would keep under 3'-4' maximum to show off the house. You want some evergreens in the front bed for winter interest. Even if the ground is snow-covered for much of the winter, there are often times in spring and fall where the ground is bare of snow or just has a bit, and having something attractive there will be nice. It looks like there is fair amount of shade, so you might consider some of the smaller mountain laurels/Kalmia latifolia if your soil is suitable (acid and reasonably well-drained.) Other options would include low growing conifers such as others have suggested, but I would plan to make choices that only reach 2'-3' perhaps with some judicious pruning. Microbiota decussata AKA Siberian cypress or Russian arborvitae is one of the few conifers that will grow in a good amount of shade and it stays low, so this might be a good choice here. You could also choose something like one of the really small red-twigged dogwoods such as Cornus sericea 'Kelseyi' which has nice fall color in addition to the bright winter twigs that would look stunning against the masonry. One of my favorite evergreen flowering ground covers is Veronica 'Georgia Blue' which blooms in spring and has tidy green foliage all summer. With cold weather, the foliage takes on mahogany tones, but it returns to green when temperatures warm again. It will grow around the feet of other plants but isn't thuggish, and I have it growing happily in beds that range from full sun to full shade. I like the look of Yardvaark's sketch for your back bed. Notice how the plant on the end extends past the end of the building, and I would plan on having the bed over-reach the end of the building by a bit. You could plant something taller off the corner like I suggested for the front, but it's fine with something lower here as well. If you look at this bed in the winter (for instance if you will use your porch 3 seasons) use at least some evergreens, but otherwise it won't matter much. Some other plants I've not already mentioned to check out because they are easy to grow, look nice most if not all of the year, and have a long blooming period include: - Hydrangea paniculata which likes at least a half day sun and has cultivars that range from around 3' like 'Bobo' to way larger than you want. Look at a medium sized one like 'Little Quickfire' or 'Little Lime' to distract from the HVAC unit if there is enough sun there. Bobo and LQF will start blooming around early July and continue until frost, starting white and turning shades of pink. LL will start about 3 weeks later and continue for the rest of the season, lime to white to very pale pink. - Rhododendron 'Checkmate' has stayed within 3' in my garden for over 10 years. Blooms well with little sun and has mahogany winter foliage. Needs acid soil. - Helenium/Helen's flower 'Mardi Gras'. Bright red and gold mix that blooms from July-September for me and stays a bit less than 2'. - Fothergilla 'Mount Airy' as mentioned above has early spring flowers and gorgeous fall color, especially if it gets some sun, but isn't super attractive in summer, just a green blob. My solution is to grow a hard prune clematis (cut to two bud pairs per stem after fall freeze) to ramble through it for summer bloom. Look to see what is available in your area or mail order - you want a type 3, not a type 1 or 2 prune since they bloom earlier in the season. - For a sunny groundcover, look at Sedum and Telephium (both commonly referred to as sedum). Some are taller or die back like the 'Autumn Joy' that Doug mentioned, but others such as 'Angelina' are shorter and stay evergreen. My 'Angelina' looks great whenever it isn't under snow, but they don't do well in much shade. - Daffodils, planted behind hostas or other perennials. Daffodils provide spring color, and if planted behind perennials, the emerging perennial foliage covers up the dying bulb foliage. Once planted, critters don't usually disturb daffodil bulbs since they are poisonous. I know you didn't ask about this, but IME in all probability you have soil that needs work before planting. Often top soil gets stripped away or mixed with subsoil during construction, and regardless, foot traffic and machinery will have compacted soil. Gravel or sand may have been used for backfill, and I've even seen contruction sites where the outwash from rinsing the concrete truck or mortar buckets ended up in garden or lawn spaces. You sound really anxious to start planting, but if you take care of the soil first, you will be far more likely to have healthy plants and a low maintenance garden. I suggest that you get a truckload of compost and turn it into the garden spaces, removing any construction debris that you uncover, and then grow a densely planted cover crop such as buckwheat for the season. It will be a mass of bright green, a bit over a foot high. When it flowers, cut it down before it goes to seed and turn it in to add more organic matter and nutrients to the bed. Give it 2 weeks to a month until it starts breaking down and then you can start planting. Late summer into early fall (or even midfall - I have had no issues with planting well into October here) do your planting. Being near the lake, your soil will stay warm quite a while into the fall, but days will be shorter and air temperatures cooling, so the plants will be less stressed than if you plant them in cold spring soil with days that get hot quickly. After planting, lay down a layer of corrugated carboard or several sheets of newspaper and cover with shredded bark mulch. This will prevent all the weed seeds that were turned up during construction and planting from sprouting while the soil settles and your plants fill in. For now, start taking photos of actually how much sun hits these garden spaces. We just passed the spring equinox, so if you take photos from now until June 20, the longest day, you will have a clear idea of how much sun is in each part of each bed throughout the growing season since from June 20 to the fall equinox; the light will be a reverse of the spring photos, though all summer will have leaves on the trees to account for unlike spring. The shade you have will all most likely be fairly bright, from high trees or alongside buildings, not from close overhangs from what I can see. For summer color this year, plant a few large pots of annuals.