Really need to see photos to offer any meaningful advice. But even in the middle of a woodland setting, cultivated (ornamental) plants immediately surrounding the house will help ground it to the site and provide a good transition to the "wilder" area beyond. You can pick from any number of woodland type plants to accomplish this - they are available for any zones and tend to be well suited for at least partially shaded areas (if not areas of full shade).

You certainly don't need any lawn and it would be difficult to grow in a mostly shady location anyway. Instead, I'd suggest you spend sometime developing a pleasing and functional layout to the open area including any necessary pathways or access routes. Then develop planting beds of a natural shape (not straight lines) to fill the areas not pathways and plant with a mixture of shrubs, perennials and groundcovers suited to your climate and light conditions.

If you do post photos, do be sure to include your location (state, largest nearby city) and hardiness zone as well. Then we can generate some specific plant suggestions for you.

Thank you, gardengal48! Added photos and the location - south central Indiana: zone 6a.

Additionally, clover would constitute what amounts to an invasive plant in such a setting, nor would it flourish in shade. You may find bits of the original flora coming up in the fill around the house. I see that all the time in "wooded subdivisions", the bulldozers having not completely succeeded in extirpating what had been there. Even though your scheme may be kinder and gentler, you may still have the same thing happen. Finally, work with primarily native, shade-tolerant woodland species. No need to be purist, but do avoid planting known invasive entities.

Wisconsitom, I didn't know clover was considered invasive. We are completely on-board with using only native trees and plants -- we are planning to add in some new tree species (serviceberry, for example) to help fill in around the house. The house was positioned in such a way as to keep as many large trees as possible. We are seeing some may apples popping up.

I agree the first step is to figure out any paths or access points needed. There are many lovely plants and shrubs that could grow there. If you want truly low maintenance, I would see what easily naturalizes in your woods and start there. What wants to grow?

In my area, it would be things like rhododendron, vine maple, salal, mahonia, dicentra formosa, red currant (ribes sanguineum), trout lilies, sword ferns, etc. Find out what would work in your area and which of them you like.

Then add in a few choice, easy-care flowering shrubs or trees, a few manageable beds or pots of annuals/perennials for colour in key locations (and fun puttering around, if that's your thing). Don't forget to look out the windows and plan for choice views from favourite spots like your bed or recliner or kitchen table, instead of just considering "curb appeal."

Have fun. My DH and I hope to build our own home in the woods soon. Would love to see more of your house!

A bird feeder in a small clearing where you could see it often would provide a great deal of fun, I think.

My parents built a house in the woods in Minnesota, with trees perhaps closer to the house than yours. There was a lawn and flower beds in the front, but hardly any grass on the other 3 sides. In the back there was a patio, with a large raised bed next to the back of the garage; we cleared the underbrush for about 20 feet into the woods, and Mom put down landscape fabric with a number of cutouts for hostas.

Beside the garage there were more hostas, filled in between with lamium and ajuga. The other side of the house had a stepping stone path surrounded by violets and hardy geranium. Other than dividing plants occasionally, there was minimal maintenance everywhere but the flowerbed (which got more sun and allowed for some variety).

We live iin the woods in West Lafayette. A good deal of our property is covered in English Ivy, but also in euonymous. Both do well in the kind of shade we have, which is dense. You should know that though you now have a modicum of sunlight, it will quickly fill in as trees reach for newly accessible sunlight.

Both euonymous and ivy require bi-annual trimming. Our groundcover likes to creep under the siding and across walkways, and up tree trunks. Personally I like this (except for the siding thing), and have not noticed any ill effect on our mature oaks and hickory, but maybe I have not lived long enough. We've been here 20 years and an arborist declared the trees in vigorous shape.

Both Euonymus and ivy have the potential to be invasive in woodlands, seeded by birds eating the fruit and then planting them wherever they perch. There are places near me where the entire understory is Euonymus pink in the fall, leaving no space for native shrubs.

One native herbaceous plant that should do well in your area is partridge berry (Mitchella repens). It will slowly spread. Phlox divericata will grow and bloom in a fair amount of shade. Many native ferns would work here as well and there are a bunch of native sedges (Carex) that grow well in shade, such as Carex pensylvanica which makes a nice lawn substitute in shade in several areas of my property, and it doesn't need mowing. There are also a lot of ephemeral herbaceous plants that will sprout, bloom, and then fade away in summer such as some of the woodland anemones, spring beauty (Claytonia), Trilliums (be sure to get nursery propagated, not just nursery raised), Jack-in-the-pulpit, etc.

For shrubs and small trees, I f your soil is at least a bit acid, look at Fothergilla and mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia). Spicebush (Lindera benzoin).is a very large shrub with an early haze of blooms and beautiful yellow fall color. If you plant several, you may also get berries, since you would need male and female plants. Some other large shrubs include Aronia (chokeberry) and Amelanchier (shadblow) will have spring flowers and late summer fruit. See if Pagoda dogwood (Cornish alternifolia) or flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) are available in your area as they will do fine with part sun. Another small to medium sized tree that should do well is redbud (Cercis canadensis). Everything I have suggested so far is native.

Some herbaceous non-natives will look good and should grow, but not seed into the woodlands to outcompete natives, include Epimeium, of which there are many types available, hosta hybrids, and Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra). If you have some areas with a few hours of sun and if your soil is acid, look at Pieris and Rhododendrons for flowers and evergreen winter interest.

I would make a moss garden with paths all around so it is not messy to walk when wet out. I would have foundation plants lime tea olive and other nice smelling partial shade plants. Hosta and others. I favor a raised walk in some low places, maybe of wood, but we used masonry tiles on our woodland home. Stone walks with dwarf mondo work very well in those areas. No Mow!