It would be helpful for you to post pictures that you have not drawn on. Also, since this is a landscaping forum it would be good if we could see the area inside of the circular driveway where you have the little table and chair. Side yards too.

Thank you!

1. Should I use a program for the scaled layout or just go for it by hand?

2.There are boxwood bushes? trees? on the left side around the house but they look "sticky" on the bottom and the top has wild growth. In front of the porch ate smaller boxwoods that I trimmed up a little last summer. I don't know if they are dwarf boxwood or are just newer (please help)? On the right side there is a sad wegielia that didn't bloom last spring just green. There is a holly tree in the corner and there are gardenias on the right side, also only had 1 or 2 blooms last spring. Directly in front of the porch is a flowerbed with a blush plant with white blooms (unidentified), a rose, a small tree, and a bush plant with red berries but not an evergreen (unidentified) EXTRA INFO: our house was unoccupied for 10+ years

3. Thank you for the links! I am so new to gardening but I have plenty of time and I don't mind getting dirty. The previous owner left many garden tools so I have access to tools.

The backyard is whole other beast but I don't want to deal with it at this time. BBQ in back ugly "patio".

Play best in print yard.

Trash backyard

Garden next door

Paths... porch path is cracking and ugly but is location and size correct?

If you need some basic shears/pruners and whatnot for pruning, Ross actually carries some nice ones, here, for a very decent price. Might not hurt to check!

I have been Brainstorming on house colors and playing around with bright colors. Our roof is green and there are mannnyyy trees around so it is shady and I don't want the house to blend into the woods. Personally I think there is too much green (in spring and summer, right now it's brown an ugly with leaves everywhere). I would love colorful plants preferably perennials to give a contrast. There is a crab apple tree with a few random plants in the circle of the driveway I picked up on clearance last summer and just put around the edge. There are 2 huge trees (gum and oak) on the side yard with a tiny chicken coop in between. Picture soon to come.

Yellow- is house with porch location

Green around house- boxwood, weigela, holly, gardenias

Blue- pathway

Gray- driveway

Red- chicken coop

Black- flower bed (unidentified plants with a small rose)

Other green circles- trees (crab apple tree in circle drive)

For now, take the measurements and make a pencil sketch.

When you know it's accurate, there are many FREE programs that can do basic landscape drawings, but they take time to learn.

Don't worry about twiggy and ratty looking plants. They can usually be groomed back into natural shape, but you have to know what they are. Some plants will NOT regrow if you prune them too far.

Regular water might be all they need to bloom and look better.

Not bad ... do you want to do any sitting and staring at the neighbors in the front, or just have a nice-looking, easy to care for flower bed?

Keep in mind that creating a landscape has much to do with the SETTING. Therefore, it's important to show what is AROUND the house (at each end) not just what is at front and center. If you would, return to the EXACT area from where you took the last picture. Aim the camera to left and right to take overlapping photos as shown here:

Also, it would be good if you go to the street and do the same thing with slightly overlapping photos, showing the view of your complete front yard from the road. The objective is so that people viewing can see how everything fits together. The closer up photos are needed to see sufficient detail. The farther photos are needed to show the overall setting and arrangement.

From what I've seen so far it seems to be quite the hodgepodge. Don't be surprised if many things need to be moved, or just gotten rid of.

No neighbors I sit on an acre. The house is right in the middle so my back yard and front yard are the same size. The front yard and left side of the house faces a highway and the back and right side is wooded area. I am zone 8. I'm not looking for a fancy yard just something that doesn't blend with all the other wild trees that surround me and looks a little more put together. Here's a picture of my yard right now... pretty bad in the winter, but believe me when I say it's not so bad in the summer when it's green and mowed. I'll have to return and post a picture this summer. Nevertheless, for layout purposes this photo might work. SIDE NOTE: the gravel drive way was put in last year by us. The original circle driveway (1970s) was where the rooster stands. That area grows grass now but is still rocky and we'd prefer to leave it as an extra "unofficial" parking area. Haha keep in mind we are rural folk here.

"I'll have to return and post a picture this summer." Not sure why you think you must wait until summer. In fact it's probably preferable to show the house without leaves on trees obscuring it and for more light and transparency. As I mentioned in my prior post, for discussing the foundation planting you'll need to show the WHOLE front of the house plus space that flanks it at right and left ends (from not too far away ... like your picture directly above your drawing. Line up camera with the center of the house. The camera must be in the SAME location for all shots in the series in order for us to see everything as you would see it. So pictures should overlap slightly.)

Good point Yardvvark! I see how this time of year could allow you to see the whole picture better than when it's shady and grown. I took the far away picture to show my little circle because someone suggest I do so, since it's part of my front yard. Actually, that space is a very important area of my "dream" landscape. I want to turn it into a small patio with maybe a small hedge, not for privacy but to define the space.

How large is a "small patio"? You'd better explain details about the patio because its placement sounds atypical.

We're very much atypical. We have a chicken coop in our front yard, and a mean rooster as our gaurd dog.... The patio would only be for a small table with 2 chairs,maybe a hammock or swing.

Here's a sketch of the location and names of our current plants. I had previously named them incorrectly. With this said, after much reading and even more pintresting I have learned that the correct word for what I need help with is "foundation landscaping". Please help. I'm having a very hard time picturing any alternative plant placement or plant options.

Also going back to my initial post name the "little money" part is probably mostly going to go towards edging/boarding and mulch or pebbles, currently there is no mulch and I have VERY old landscaping timbers. I have access to many cuttings and flowers from a beautiful garden just down the road and I do not mind waiting for them to grow.

1. pink azaleas (HELP PLEASE, are these the cause of my foundation/skirt damage? too close to the house? should I dig them up?

2. old boxwood

3. small/ dwarfboxwood

4. pink weigela

5. holly tree

6. blue hydrangeas

7. white gardenia

8. Very small rose bush

9. unknown berry shrub

10. crab apple tree

Brown outlines- exact placement of landscaping timbers that are so old they are falling apart

Black- measurements of patio for a small table and chairs, maybe a swing or hammock. 30', 36'

If I'm reading correctly between the lines, you intend to put the "small patio" in the half-circle surrounded by the drive ...?? If you only need room for a small table and two chairs, why aren't you putting them on the porch deck?

Looks like a nice big house and I envy an acre of space!

I think one aspect that makes a property seem "put together" is a clear delineation of grass v. bedding areas. In your property, I don't see that per se, and that gives it an unkempt look.

I would first decide where the garden beds are or pine islands should be and then keep the separation crisp. You can achieve that by piling the leaves in the pine islands (free mulch!) and using some type of edging or just digging a trench (look up trenching). In my area, I have lots of rocks in the ground so my gardens are edged in the biggest ones that we find when we dig in the garden (free!). In my back "woodland" garden, I use large fallen logs for a rustic look (free!).

Once you have your areas defined, keep them defined - that means pulling the crabgrass or anything else that wants to run from the lawn into the islands and flower beds. I know in GA woods, the mosquitoes are fierce, so now is a good time to pull things and so is early Spring when the ground is wet and the roots come right out. Keep the beds mulched to keep the weeds down (chopped fallen leaves or pine straw is fine) and pull anything that looks like it doesn't belong.

If you give Yaardvark the pictures he is requesting, he can give you some nice outlines to consider for your garden beds and islands. The first step is the design, the second is the plant selection and neither look good without routine maintenance.

It sounds like a lot, but I find gardening is something to do when I'm outside watching the kids. Might as well pull some weeds while they hit a tree with a branch for half an hour!

I have had the small chair and table on the porch before but we have such a large yard that I felt like we needed to enjoy it more. This might encourage us to spend more time outside for coffee or mid day snacks, obviously on nice days. MORE INFO: the south area of my circle patio is about 60 feet away from the highway and the entrance to the circle drive.

I haven't really decided what to put on my porch it's currently pretty ugly with miscellaneous things. We have remodeled the inside COMPLETELY and the work sometimes happens on the porch. Eventually I might have a rocking chair or two, a small bench, a exterior rug, end tables and hanging plants. I actually have all of this but they are inside the house until we power wash the porch and paint it this spring/summer.

THANK YOU SO MUCH posierosie!!! Yes my yard hasn't been taken care for so long 10+ years. I moved here exactly 1 year ago and this spring I mostly raked layer and I mean layers of rotted blankets of leaves and cut piles and piles of honey suckle and poison ivy. I'm sure I will continue to watch and cut for a few years until they slow down but I'm excited to now do something to my yard so it looks like someone lives here. Thank you for the cheap ideas! I like that! The remodeling the inside has drained our money. Mosquitoes are crazy here too and it's so hot and humid in the summer. Great point, the earlier I start the better. So much the the right side of my yard grows alot of moss where it's shady. I will get pictures as soon as I can. It is snowed here at the moment.

I "second" that it's a great tip about keeping the beds distinct and separate from the lawn. It will help things look better.

I've had yards similar in that they contained large wooded areas. But wanting to minimize maintenance, replenish the soil and in general, just wanting to do things in harmonious ways, I had solid groundcover in the wooded area. It meant that instead of everything being brown and crunchy, it was green, serene and peaceful looking. And the groundcover "ate" ALL of the leaves so there was NEVER any raking. There was blowing leaves off of the relatively small lawn area into the wooded area where they disappeared into the groundcover. If a lawn was large enough that there were too many leaves for the groundcover to consume, the surplus could be transported to an area designated for composting. They would be valuable in that way.

"I have had the small chair and table on the porch before but we have such a large yard that I felt like we needed to enjoy it more. This might encourage us to spend more time outside ..." Is this going to be a design project where whim will rule over reason and logic? If it is, it will be nearly impossible for others to help in an efficient manner. Instead of reasoning logically through a problem, people are relegated to second-guessing what personal quirks an OP might like to promote on a particular day. Moving a coffee-drinking/seating area from a convenient location to an inconvenient one seems at odds with good design, as if one were determined for a failed result. Am I wrong? I would also like to point out that using resources to create beauty and then looking at it, is a very good use of resources. One does not necessarily need to traipse into the flower bed in order to enjoy it. Instead, one can create views that are purposely meant to be seen from a distance. It might require using 500 daffodils instead of 10. But this should not be alarming because of cost for one who is determined to achieve a gardening result over a period of time. That's the great thing about gardening ... once you get the first plant of a kind, often the rest can be free. And many times the first plant can be free if one has gardening friends or can find plants from which to get a "start."

That sounds perfect for the right side of the house that is woods! Does ground cover grow ok in the shade? I will have to visit some local nurseries to see which are ok for my area. I also have an area on the right side that doesn't grow much grass and has 2 huge pinetrees. Would these ground covers grow well with the pine niddles?

Well what would you suggest for the inside of the driveway? Anything besides a nice green lawn with th crabapple tree? My husband thinks a fire pit with free large landscaping bricks we have but I don't want heat or smoke to hurt the crabapple tree, could it? I also have access to a free fish pond/fountain. We would buy the rock and pump. Ideas?

As for the foundation landscaping I love the idea suggested of just trenching and mulching around the house. Should I keep the layout as it is, just trench it and keep it clear of weeds? Also our house has no gutters. Does this affect the way I do my foundation landscaping?

I have a family member down the road with a large beautiful garden where I can get my choice of "starts" from but I don't know what to ask for or where it would look good at my house. Some things I know I will need to buy and that's fine because I know later on I can divide them.

Yaardvark and I might disagree on this subject, but I would caution you against ivy as a groundcover especially if you just pulled out poison ivy. English ivy is lovely, but needs to be maintained. If left to its own devices will act like kudzu and intermigle with the poison ivy making it hard to see which is which.

I'm not, however, against ground cover. If you have a good plant nursery, see what they suggest as something that grows well, but pulls easily /seeds gently. Even better if native.

If you have a friend with a great garden, have her come over and ask her what you should plant where. A gardener can never talk too much about gardening. Chances are she'll be delighted and will have an instinctive grasp on good design.

For practicality, I would put the garden close to your house (close to hose and you'll notice if it needs watering or weeds need pulling) the lawn contingent to the garden (you garden, children play) and leave most as woods. I'm leaning towards keeping the semi-circular area at the front of the house as natural buffer area from the road and designating either the front if the house towards the left or front right (both?) as lawn excluding the drip lines of the trees.

I think that might give a feeling of privacy as you will get glimpses of a garden and green grass from the road so, obviously, it is a high class establishment / well maintained, but nothing is front and center.

I love firepits, but in my opinion (and really, it's only my opinion), they belong in back if possible. Pond might be a second step - see how the garden/lawn go and then see if you want a pond. It has its upkeep, but some find the maintenance quite relaxing.

My suggestions are for a busy Mom who wants to carve out a good-looking yard and small garden. Keeping it simple, but attractive. I'm getting a vibe that maybe you want to go all out - an idea that many on the gardenweb support! Set me straight if that's the case.

You say you have a 3 year old. In which case I'd seriously reconsider the pond idea until s/he is much older. Unless you are willing to have it very securely covered in a mesh safety grid. Small children can drown even in a small depth and it takes only a moment's adult inattention. Something like a millstone water feature with no basin would be safer if you really want moving water now.

Well it's funny you mention the English Ivy. Actually... the owner before the last one (20 years ago) started that in the area where the chicken coop is now. That was an over grown flower bed with no plants or flowers just ivy (poison ivy too) and verigated vinca. She said she could not get anything to grow there so she used ivy and then the owner before me never did it a favor either. Ivy has climbed up very high on the left tree. I've pulled out and cut back the verigated vinca to where it's only around the base of each tree because initially I wanted to have that space in between the trees to become part of the lawn to mow. Now there is a chicken coop and the chickens take dust baths there. Im ok with that. Should I allow the verigated vinca to grown in the inbetween space now (as the chickens scratching allows it obviously)?

Actually I don't want to go all out. My wallet and size of yard does not easily allow it. Notice many of my suggestions come from free things haha. I also don't plan to do it all at once. I really prefer to only do the updates to the foundation landscaping right now. This was my intention all along but the "whole picture" of my front yard seemed to be requested. Actually.... there's a whole other front yard slightly bigger than my "front yard" infront of my front yard... it's open lawn and I want to keep it like that. Two apple trees, new small peach trees and an oak hedge next to road that needs a lot of love after I pulled, cut, and burned a tiny honeysuckle jungle!

Annnyywaays this is a lot! Like mentioned before I would like ideas with the foundation landscaping please. I LOVE the trenching idea for around the house. Should I stick to the straight line edging that it already has? The front boxwoods don't have any edging at all should I leave it like that or should I wrap the trenching around the front too?

Thank you so much floral_UK. I actually have concerns about that too. Also that area has a large nearby tree and its leaves would be alot of work to keep out. I really believe I will need to tackle the different areas within the next few years. There's 5 areas of the front yard alone, not including each side of the house that I plan to tackle in "sections".

The foundation skirt damage is probably because the previous owners didn't rake leave away and it trapped moisture.

Try to keep a clear, rakeable line along the foundation so you can quickly rake out leaves. You probably don't need to move the azaleas, but trim them up a bit next to the house do you can rake.

Actually we DO have a moisture problem lazy_gardens... ugh we are newbies at all this homeowner stuff haha. I could write an essay over our moisture ordeal under the house that has damaged our brand new bamboo floors in some areas but I suppose that's for another forum. Which by the way we still haven't exactly pinpointed the cause. The humidity in our area? The damaged skirting on our house? No gutters? There not being a plastic ground liner under the house? Bad floor installation? Wrong choice of flooring?

Going back to the azaleas. I know the previous owner did not rake the leaves for yearssssssss. We have already cut back the azaleas down to the ground because my husband blamed them for the skirting, they might be too close to the house, and they were in his way when new windows were being put in. However, in the spring the stumps shot up new growth.

So about the leaves... I guess the leaves used as free mulch on flower beds only means flower beds AWAY from the house not next to the house??

The large is yard and it is best to focus on a particular area and conversations about all areas tend to become confusing (for a forum). Sticking to the foundation area is a good idea. To clarify, your first two pictures don't even show a complete foundation area. I asked for pictures of surroundings because it is the SETTING for the house that contains the foundation planting. That planting is responding simultaneously to the house and to the surroundings.

Here is a suggestion for a SIMPLE way to make your house/landscaping look good. It doesn't rely on smothering the house with shrubs but correlating them to windows and the small hedge (of existing boxwood) in front of the porch. Growing them in a hedge will look better than growing them in close-together balls. The concept of aligning shrubs to windows is graphically similar to aligning porch steps to doors. Everyone knows it would look goofy if these two things didn't line up. To me, it looks goofy if a shrub is misaligned with the window. Other than shrubs, the suggestions call for a pair of SMALL trees diagonally off of the front house corners, and perennials that fill in between shrubs. Typically, one might want to create some symmetry when plants flank each side of a thing -- such as a porch, or a house. It can be matching symmetry but does not necessarily have to match exactly. Your existing tree near the drive could remain but would look more important if you separate it from the lawn and give it its own bed of groundcover.

Regarding the areas outside of the foundation planting area ... it is not the homeowner who will determine where grass will grow well and where it won't, unless major changes are made, such as trees being cut down. It is primarily that grass can grow well where there is substantial direct sunlight, and it will probably refuse to grow at all where there is substantial shade. It's the case that one usually divides a yard, separating shaded from non-shaded areas, in order to create a lawn where it will prosper and put the rest in groundcover. Mulch alone will work as a good temporary solution until groundcover can be established, but it is not as good as groundcover over a long haul.

It's not the homeowner who decides where grass will grow but the sun/shade conditions. Where there is substantial shade, only groundcover or mulch will work. Groundcover is a better long-term solution. Mulch is more work and expense as it must be replenished, usually annually. But it's a good quick solution. Groundcover can be installed over time in a mulched bed. Personally, as I have written about much, I love English ivy because I found it very easy to manage and durable and versatile beyond compare. There may be other groundcovers that work, but i don't think anything beats English Ivy for large sized area.

Wow I love it! Thank you Yardvaark! Our house is a HUGE work in progress right and left but I'm determined to turn it into a home.

You've covered so many great points. I had seen landscapes with symmetry but didn't know it didn't have to be identical! The boxwood corresponding with windows makes perfect sense. Spring can't come soon enough!

Glad you like it, Norma.

I also meant to mention about eradicating the poison ivy. While I suppose it is possible to get rid of it over time by continuously hacking away at it, this would surely be the slow, painful way. You can get rid of all of it within a years time by using a combination of cutting it down and spraying it with Round-Up (Glyphosate.) Spray any poison ivy that is on the ground. When it resprouts and grows about 1/2-way back, spray it again. Repeat again as necessary. For any that is growing up a tree, cut the stalk and paint the fresh cut end with undiluted Glyphosate concentrate. If it resprouts, let it grow out some, but never above your waist, and spray it with mixed-per-directions Glyphosate. Keep repeating the kill/grow out/kill cycle until all PI is dead. If you physically contact it, shower within 20 or 30 minutes and you won't be affected. Be sure to put clothes that touch it in the washer first. All of its plant parts, including roots and leafless stems, are poisonous.

Return again when you want to address the other parts of the yard. i suggest starting a new thread for each new area you are dealing with. Include photos that show the full area in question and some space that surrounds it. Often this is easiest to do with multiple, slightly overlapping, sequential photos that pan the entire scene from left to right. That way you can see a lot without the camera being too far away.

I can't thank you enough! This is my first forum I've joined ever, of any kind and it was very helpful.

Is Round up also the best thing for grass on my gravel driveway? We have Bermuda grass that has taken over the left side. Probably due to not having the area cleared out well before the gravel was poured but mostly due to me not knowing how to maintain it! Any advice?

Again THANK YOU. I promise to work on my pictures. I'm looking forward to before and after comparisons.

Round-Up or any of its off-brand glyphosate competitors work fine for grass in pavement/gravel. Once you can swing it, a back-pack sprayer would be of use on a property that size. A cheap one is available at Harbor Freight if you have one of those nearby.