on the left.. the blue tree is abies concolor candicans.. behind it is an apple ... EVERYTHING PAST THE APPLE.. but for the giant cherries way in back.. and the oak on the right top ... WAS ADDED SINCE I MOVED HERE IN 1/2000 ... it was previously a meadow horse pasture .... all were one gal plants averaging about $20 ... i realize you are moving from the house building to the landscaping .... but you can do so much better than what you are thinking right now .... and i addressed where you should visit for inspiration .... your next best planting time is ground thaw next april ... spend the whole winter thinking up a plan.. and do better than some GG's and some pines ... its akin to saying i will paint the living room white ... and buy some lawn chairs for the space ... i presumes you plan on living in the house you just built for decades.. well .. then plan out an outdoor living space with as much care as you did the house and the interior... and these gg's were 6 inches tall in 4/2001 ... 2 inch peat pot and 4 inch rooting ... $2 a piece ... and the pix were last year .... if you want to drive up to adrian MI ... i can give you a tour ... the beauty of conifers.. except for the ones that have seasonal color change.. is that you can look at them all year round .... ken

Nature in east N America is tougher in tooth & nail than the forested areas of the NA west (and west Europe). Some major reasons: 1. Continental climate -- extreme/rapid temp changes. Trunk-bark cracking on the south side killed three ~80' Norway maples at my house from the bitter-cold 76/77 and 77/78 winters. The fourth one that had shade on its trunk from a garage had no problem. 2. Spring/summer violent thunderstorm winds -- especially bad on lush, fully-leafed hardwoods. 3. Wet snow/ice-storms -- more common in E NA. Total snow amounts aren't directly important -- the stickiness is (then the amounts are important). 4. Hurricanes & tropical storms in late summer/autumn. Sandy-storm... 5. Summer high-humidity & associated fungi & bacteria. 6. Winds. Not that the west has slower winds, but larger & more extensive mountains provide more potential shelter. Coastal redwoods get tallest behind shelter of the coastal ranges. The tallest east-coast forests are in sheltered coves of the Smokies. 7. Lightning. Certainly in the US southeast and southern plains, but even in western MD, prb'ly my favorite tree growing up, a 90' Nordmann fir, was mostly (except for one branch) done in by a direct strike. The northwest-exposed sycamore on my lot at 115' is hardly gaining height any more. Not that it doesn't try, but invariably the strongest Tstorm of the summer shreds leaves/new sprouts off the top. But it's spreading out & thickening at a good rate. Where I grew up, a nearby open-grown 350 yr old white oak (8 ft dia) was a mere 90' tall, but over 100' wide. There was no branch damage at the top, just the growth slowing to a crawl there. The lesson for a tree seems to be, if you want to live centuries in eastern NA, keep a relatively low but wide profile, and have trunk-bark thick enough to insulate against freeze-thaw cracking... Prb'ly a dozen of the 100'+ white pines that grow above the canopy have been broken/uprooted & vanquished just downwind of me on the lower slopes in 9 yrs. They need physical shelter and/or a dense, self-protecting "grove", like the original PA stands, to get taller. This prb'ly goes for any tall canopy trees here. I noticed Spruceman's Norway spruce & hemlock stands looked quite dense & got hammered, but that just shows localized extreme events can damage or even destroy any stand no matter what. The 1994 ice-storm in VA caused a whole nearby east-facing slope (at least 30 acres) of mostly 100'+ tuliptrees to uproot. It must have been like dominoes -- the highest-slope trees sagging downslope against their neighbors, finally giving way, then w/the added weight, those trees uprooting, etc, etc, down to the bottom. A sight of carnage just a mile downslope of me. That ice-storm produced four inches of liquid-equivalent sticking to surfaces. 4" liquid is equivalent in weight to ~40" snow -- but all of it sticking.

IME not much in the way of plants provide sufficient barrier to keep out bears or deer - people are easier. We have both along with the occasional moose, but IME they all would just as soon not hang out where we are, though if you have plants that deer enjoy, they will find a way to eat them, short of a deer-proof fence. DH periodically remarks that he has seen the south end of a north-bound bear, but it's quite rare to see a bear if s/he sees you first. I am not sure if we would ever see them if we didn't have a corn field next door. As Ed Lincoln said, you will have to choose between views of the river and a privacy screen, since if it is dense enough to provide privacy, it will also be dense enough so you can't see the river. It looks like a big river in your area, but I don't know what kind of current, or how high the bank is, or how much the river level changes from high flood to low water, and all those things will influence what will grow along the bank. If you can add some of that information, you may get more effective suggestions for your needs. I live on a river large enough for small power boats, and with an annual difference between flood level and low water of something like 15 feet in height; happily my bank is something like 30 feet near the house, so no flood danger. Around here, what grows on the river bank where it is exposed to current during spring flood includes silver maple, some shrubby willows, and shrubby dogwoods along with grasses and some other herbaceous plants, but no evergreens and not many other deciduous trees or shrubs. There are more plants that are fine with wet soil, but don't seem to like much current - gray birch, yellow birch, red maple, Nyssa sylvatica/black gum, various alders, "white cedar"/Thuja occidentalis, Rhododendron viscisum/swamp rhododendron, Clethra alnifolia/summersweet, Ilex verticillata/ winterberry holly, Cephalanthus occidentalis/button bush, swamp rose/Rosa palustris, and lots of herbaceous plants. All of these are deciduous, but some grow densely enough that a a couple of layers of plants will screen well. A couple of deciduous conifers that like wet and will grow in your area include dawn redwood/Metasequoia glyptostroboides and Taxodium/bald cypress. I've never seen them growing where they get much current, though. With enough current, nothing will stop erosion, and eventually trees will have enough roots undercut that they will fall over in storms, but if your current is slow, that may not be an issue for you. Another consideration is that if you have beaver, you will need to protect your trees with a wire mesh barrier solidly attached to a stake and checked after every flood. I think 3' high or so should be sufficient.

Once again, thank you for all of the comments. I have made some revisions based on suggestions to the original plan and have attached the layouts below. I have not yet ran these by the landscaper yet but figured that I would post the changes on here for additional feedback. #1 - I got rid of the Blue Spruce and substituted them for Gold Rush Dawn Redwoods. #2 - I removed two of the Purple Prince Crabapples from the SW corner and moved the Red Maple down near that corner. I think the landscaper had placed it in the original location to create some shade in the backyard. #3 - Removed the Wine & Roses Weigela, moved the Knockout Roses to the back row and put My Monet Weigela in the front row since the weigela will be smaller. #4 - Removed the Redbud and substituted it for a Kwanzan Cherry Tree. Other Notes: - Someone stated that the Sea Green Chinese Junipers get rather large. Are these easy to keep trimmed down to size or should I swap them out for something else. If you think they should be swapped out then what do you suggest? - Someone stated that the Compact Hinoki False Cypress may block the stone pillars. Any other suggestion of an evergreen shrub to use? - Any suggestion on what to substitute the Sandcherry for that is along the side of the front porch? - Landscaper original proposed blueberry bushes along the side of the house instead of the Arctic Fire. Any preferences on what to use there?