Canockie, this is just a quick basic diagram with the outline of an idea. The darker tree is the proposed blue spruce, and the others are intended to be deciduous, flowering or not, which would cool in summer, and let sun through in winter. Specific identity is best determined locally, but along the sides they should be something that grows fairly tall and narrow. Your HOA seems like it might not be too big an obstacle, at least to keeping your house cool. So the basic bones of your plan would be about shade, pathways, and sightlines. Since I can't help you with either the left side or with sightlines from various points on the property, you could start by imagining trees where I've sketched them, and move (or remove them) around to work in real life. It can help to stick a garden tool in the ground at the point you might put a tree, and imagine how that will look from the door, from the window, as you drive home, etc. I've not put a tree very close to the house, but there is clearly an option to put another one closer for faster, more significant shade. That has to be balanced off by whether you want to live in a little forest :-) I put the front yard trees more so they would shade the yard, which will give you some sheltered area for other plants, since side yard trees will do morning and afternoon cooling. The blueberries might be happier in the back, but if you want them in the front, the shelter of the trees should work (but just remember I write from the rainforest! so I don't know for sure). This will leave you exposed to afternoon sun, which could be mitigated with one more tree right were your curb tree now is or across the sidewalk from it. That will block the door a fair bit, so is a matter of taste. Tree placement being decision 1, decision 2 is how you move around the property. Are there gates through to either side yard? If so, pathways can be put in - two options are dotted in. Many people find it easier to place beds for flowering plants with reference to pathways - I do, because I like to plant things that have up-close interest and then I enjoy walking over to see them. How do you get the mower from front to back yard? And then decision 3 is what you want to see/be seen, or have blocked from different points of view. These bones are important to get right - and "right" is not something anyone but you can determine. Of course even trees can always be moved or replaced, but it's nice if they don't have to. Placement of flower beds and flowering plants is easy to work around your trees once the tree locations are chosen. Beds can be around tree bases, or completely separate from them - sun-loving plants to the sunny side, less tolerant ones on the shadier side. I hope this gives you something to start doodling with and imagining in 3d. Karin L

I'm sorry I didn't fully glean this from your original post, but I get the impression you are just looking for plant suggestions and bed layout help for the foundation planting and the mound. You may get that here, but you may also have better luck with it on the shrubs forum, a regional forum for your area, or a forum dedicated to the type of plant involved - conifers, rhododendron, trees, what have you. But generally speaking, that kind of help is better sought at your local nursery where you can discuss plants actually in stock where you shop. This forum tends to discuss issues relating to landscape design, and so the questions that tend to engage people here are things like "does this house/site require a foundation planting at all?" rather than "what plants should I put in my foundation bed?" Most people just plunk in a foundation planting out of habit, but it actually suits the minority of houses and I don't see any requirement for it here on this house with a beautiful foundation and such a large site for plantings to frame the house. Certainly I can now see why the boxwoods are there! But I think if the target audience includes children or people wandering around at night with a beer can, a more solid boundary might be preferable - perhaps an airy metal railing that has little visual presence but significant holding power (there may also have been a way to grade the property to avoid having such a sudden drop). I also think this house will look much more grounded when it has a backdrop of trees behind it; that tends to have a much more significant effect from a distance than a few bits of greenery at its toes - even the phantasmagorical amount our Chinese friend has sketched in his/her photoshop pretend-universe of imaginary plants in improbable sizes. Or "is a mound a good idea and if so how to integrate it with the flat site?" But if the mound is going to be there and you don't want to integrate it, then you don't need advice. The mound is the one thing for which I could make a plant suggestion, namely junipers - looks sunny there, and there is nothing better for covering the ground, though you'll need to weed or mulch until they grow in. But if you want actual evergreen trees, it may tend to look a bit like a moustache on the yard if there are no other plantings across the expanse of the yard. Nothing wrong with doing it if it meets your needs, but like the mound itself, if the eye has nowhere to stop between it and the house, it simply tends to go from one to the other and wonder "why?" Would you put rocks on the geothermal field, or could you put a rockery-type thing where the geothermal isn't? If so, we did once have posted a thread with a picture of a similarly sized property with an island bed in the picture that was edged with large boulders that made a real impact from a distance. That really counterbalanced the houses in the picture, irrespective of what plants it had in it, and of course had an all-season impact. Unfortunately the photo in the thread has been pulled. KarinL

Thanks for the help! I saw a variegated form of the podagraria in the neighborhood today, indeed it looked more controled than mine. I'll be trying to eliminate it shortly. From what I found on the web, the Thlaspi perfoliatum doesn't seem very desireable. Is that right or am I missing something? I'll probably eliminate it as well. Now to start reading up on how to prune these bushes. Poor things look to have been neglected for quite a while. We have two forsythia that have been hedge trimmed for so long that they had only 2-3 blossoms each, and they are huge forsythia. That is indicative of the rest of the yard as well. Time to rescue. Mike

Here are some groundcovers that will take sun: Fragaria 'Pink Panda' - Pink Panda Strawberry - low-growing, will cascade over the planter, evergreen (maybe semi-evergreen in Grenada) Sedum - there are too many low-growing sedums to list, also taller ones to vary the height in the planter Delosperma (Ice Plant) - another low grower with colorful flowers Oregano - one of the cascading oreganos is beautiful Golden Creeping Jenny - bright chartreuse - will hang over sides of planter Ophipogon (black mondo grass) - Spiky, looks gorgeous with golden creeping Jenny Dianthus - try Bath's Pink - spreads well and has height A combination of sedums, creeping jenny, and black mondo grass would be dramatic, especially considering the sedum colors you could combine with the chatreuse and black. Good luck.