The porch itself is 6 feet deep. There are about 11-20 more feet to the driveway circle (depending where you are counting out from the porch from).

Two other views of this, from the other direction, one closer in than the other:

Two more photos> Looking from house porch out to front. The circular "island". Planted with daffodils, a purple smokebush and a flowering dogwood at this point. Can adapt. (The basket to the right are gifts, mostly annual, that can have temporary homes...)

Quiery: what can I do to make the front of the home have nice curb appeal. The field itself is 7-8 acres, and I'm not going to garden up the entire lot. Not affordable. There will be livestock and raised bed veggies but not right up front to the house. Thanks!

This is going to be a wonderful project to follow. I hope all of the good advisors get involved in this one. Congratulations!

Is the circular driveway to be permanent?

Yes a circular drive is to be permanent. BUT the outlines of this one can change!

Gee yardvaark, you made the circle drive look great! Having the inner circle centered with the house makes a HUGE difference.

Some great ideas, yardvaark! I'll be back to comment further when I get home (on a real keyboard).

Yardvaark, I love that a lot. I do see a problem that the cobblestones on the edges of the drive will get in the way of snow removal. We do get lots of snow in this vicinity, sometimes a foot or more in a given storm.

I do like tree/shrub location, and moving that circle a bit more to the right, which actually it will need to work properly for cars passing something that may be parked there. (I've been pestering the contractor about this already!! More pestering today... I think he finally gets it...)

Considering stonework around that central island, but not up and down the driveway, due to the aforementioned snow, and the need to move it somewhere for access...

The concrete apron outside the driveway and to the entry stairs is a wonderful idea! I'm already tracking in too much dirt!

My well water accesses the house through the front, but it is down deep enough (5-6 feet) that it won't be an issue for shrubs in front of those three right windows.

I know this is a separate topic, but I'd like recommendations for shrubs and such for this locale, too. I could go boxwood, but would prefer other options, reserving that as last resort. I am not particularly fond of juniper, but if there is a cultivar that differs from the standard prickly stuff, I will consider. I thought about Japanese yew, but it appears that in some locales it is invasive. Thoughts? (My next door neighbor to the right as you look at the house is the Nature Conservancy. I wanna be a good neighbor...)

You can ask for shrub suggestions on the shrub forum but I will make some suggestions. It sounds like you are particularly interested in evergreen shrubs, so check out some of the hardier, small-leafed rhododendrons (my PJM Checkmate has stayed around 3' for years) or some of the smaller varieties of mountain laurel/Kalmia, especially if the small tree off the corner can provide some shade for the mountain laurel.

Look at some of the smaller spruce such as birds nest spruce (Picea abies 'Nidiformis'). I think there are also some smaller types of blue spruce, Picea pungens, and I have a clumping bamboo that stays relatively green in most winters if you like that look. It gets to about 4' tall here. If you are interested I can look up exactly what it is.

I wouldn't plant boxwood in New England right now since there is an insect (boxwood psyllid) and a disease( boxwood blight, Cylindrocladium pseudonaviculatum) in the area that are causing issues for boxwoods that leave them looking fairly unattractive. I also wouldn't plant any type of yew, though not due to invasiveness; I don't think it's an issue in New England since I've not ever seen a volunteer yew. However, it is really attractive to deer, even on our rural property where we have deer that mostly ignore ornamentals, but ate every scrap of green on the yews along with small twigs. Bare twigless branches year round aren't attractive.

There are a good number of public gardens and arboreta in MA that may be worth a visit - two that come to mind are Tower Hill Botanic Garden and Smith College has an arboretum. If you want to travel farther, there is Arnold Arboretum in the Boston area. MA also has an open garden schedule through the Garden Conservancy that allows you to visit normally closed gardens on particular days.

I am glad to see that you are thinking about snow removal. A couple of thoughts based on my experience with a rural gravel drive in snow country.

- In heavy snow years you will need to have a place to push snow - 100" of snow can create really large snow piles.

- You are right about edging getting caught by the plow, since even if it is set in, it may get pushed up by frozen soil into the plow's path. If you want a tidy look you can do a cut around the edge each season, either a deep V or created with an edger.

- In spring you will want to rake any gravel pushed by the plow onto the grass back onto the driveway; otherwise you will have pieces of gravel launched by the lawnmower and will need to sharpen the mower blades more often.

- Whatever you plant near the edge of the roof, you may want to consider what you will do, if anything, to protect them in really heavy snow years in case you need to rake the roof. I usually plant things that can be cut down to near ground level if they get damaged, but I can't think of evergreens that can be hard pruned like that.

Beautiful property & such an appropriate spot for a hobby farm. And what a great rock! Think ahead about where and what kind of fencing you will need for your animals. I would especially study up on what kinds of plants were typical of traditional farmsteads in your area, which would subtly reinforce the attitude of your log house much better than more contemporary plantings. (Though there are usually better contemporary versions of these old classics.) Surely lilacs and peonies, probably shrub roses or climbers. Hellebores are green in winter and will eventually self-seed enough to make a mass or even a groundcover. Orchard-ish trees, maybe crabs if you don't want to care for fruit trees? Don't know if winterberry a classic there, but the red berries would surely look nice against your dark house and the snow.

NH Babs... the smaller spruce sound great! Not sure I want a bamboo look. At any rate, we have plenty of deer, so I'll take the recommendation to pass on the yew. Also the recommendation to pass on boxwood - I heard about its problems a few years ago but hadn't heard more recently. I will check out those arboreta nearby! Oh, while I lean towards evergreens, I'll consider deciduous shrubs as well. Good thought about roof raking... can help this out also by planting about four or so feet away from the house, or maybe as a line to carry along the porch line (this being for the space under those three right windows, which will not have a gutter there... there will be gutters over the garage and over the porch proper, though.

Samarnn: Some good ideas looking for classic old time plants. I love lilacs and peonies! I may be able to transplant the hellebore I have at my current home. It should do better there, more sun.

I do plan to put in fruit trees on the property. There are some ancient apples grandfathered in on the edges of the field, but I want ones with more accessibility. Apples, plums, pears... already planning for some in the back yard.

Shrub roses would be pretty, but not sure I want climbing roses. They may like to take a purchase into my house!

What are people' take on Rose of Sharon? (Or should I move this portion of the conversation to the Shrubs thread?)

"the cobblestones on the edges of the drive will get in the way of snow removal." The photo is a SCHEME, not a set of specific solutions. I'm not determining what you use in order to create a defined edge. You must find some what works best for all of your conditions. If individual stones set flush don't do it, There are alternatives. Maybe a band of concrete would be a solution (....?) Surely something will work with snow because many places with snow have hard edges separating gravel and lawn.

Yes, Rose of Sharon was used extensively in rural areas here in central IN, but palette here much more limited than in your area. We get repeated cycles of freeze/thaw rather than steady snow cover, and our soil is actively hostile toward rhododendrons, etc. Helebores don't need sun...mine do well in dry shade, which is why I have many. <sigh> Epimedium (the common one, not the finer fancier versions) works in the same circumstances...a steady dense medium textured evergreen at about 10", but I don't know whether it was traditionally used in a rural setting.

I do not agree with notion that discussion of plants doesn't belong in a landscape design discussion. Choice of Mediterranean or tropical plants in your region or mine is most definitely a design choice and strongly affects the overall aesthetics, even if the basic lines are the same. I have garden buddies who manage to grow good azaleas and rhodos on wooded sites here (with considerable effort & horticultural skill) and the feeling of their woodland gardens is very different than mine. Not worse or better, but different. In your case, certain plants were doubtless common on traditional farmsteads in your area, but I'm sure there were also gardening adventurers who experimented with imported oddities alongside their chickens.

Two of my great aunts had farms. Both had hedges of lilacs and shrub roses. And peonies abounded. That tradition still goes on around the rural area I live in.

"many places with snow have hard edges separating gravel and lawn."

Actually, I don't see that here, perhaps because it tough to know exactly where edges are under a foot of snow, even with stakes. Either there is paving, or the gravel and the lawn aren't edged. More commonly there is paving.

Hey artemis; a great site you are fortunate to have! Thought I might share something on deer and landscaping in our neck of the woods. First your neighbors are a source of a wealth of information. If you're shy or don't care to go face to face with them just observe what is planted and doing well in their landscapes and gardens. It will tell you a great deal. If you're the gregarious type seek them out and talk to them, the local garden club even, or county ag, extension. Here in Tioga County NY z4 to z5; deer population is I think out of control. Plants that may have been possible to grow years past are not so easy now. You see plants and wonder, how did this fellow manage to grow this, it would never survive at my place. But they are mature plants that were started back in a time when the deer were less. Now they are mature specimens and mostly tall enough to be out of the reach of deer. It is very hard to tell what the deer will eat and seems to very site specific, to the point that things I can't keep the deer from eating, I see doing fine a half mile down the road! Yews are serious deer food on my place, anything lower than 5' is browsed, yet other homes in the woods here have them and they seem untouched. After 20 years trial and error the standbys, as far as the evergreens go, for relative deer resistance are juniper, spruce and pine and box. I often here junipers disparaged, I don't know why, beautiful to me if properly cared for. And tons to choose from, from ground hugging a few inches tall to our native juniper, the eastern red cedar, which is not a cedar at all but juniperus virginiana and can become a full sized and beautiful tree. Every shape and size in between. The same is true for the spruces and pines, of which there are hundreds to choose from, forms, sizes and colors. I keep experimenting and trying new things, lately inkberry; ilex glabra a supposedly deer resistant holly and larch; larix.

Such a variety that a completely successful garden is possible with just these few species.

Those are the species I can rely on to be deer resistant, as I said I keep experimenting, but with the mindset that I am taking a chance when planting and not to be surprised at seeing a well gnawed stump were a plant used to be.

Here's a link to some of the conifers available for the landscape.

http://www.iselinursery.com/

Thanks for the conifer link!

I spent a little time at a couple of nurseries, and have picked up some mountain laurel (and plan to pick up more of a different cultivar later this week). Apparently, with care, the mountain laurel enjoy pruning. I also picked up a dappled willow - it grows to 12 feet max. I know its root systems like water and so won't be planting it anywhere near the well or the water line running into the house! (That would be front right as you face the house photo.)

Holly is possible, too. I like the spruces, too, and is good to know the deer... don't so much. Although deer do like holly, so maybe not... Anyhow, I am looking for a good spruce that doesn't already cost $150.... Inkberry - i saw that at yesterday's garden center, and am strongly tempted.

Rhodos seem to be popular in my area. Juniper does well - I will simply look for a cultivar that isn't highly prickly (which is why I'm not fond of my endeavors growing it in the past).

Rose of sharon also seems to have its advocates in the area; in fact one neighbor has offered some of her excess seedlings. I love lilac and roses and peonies... possibilities!

The island in the traffic circle - this year will get annual flowers.

Inkberry is to my mind a smewhat boring shrub. It takes a fair amount of pruning to grow densely and is nowhere near as attractive as boxwood or small leafed rhodies since the foliage color is more olive and doesn't have any shine. I didn't find that the birds liked its berries when I had it at a previous home, and I wouldn't plant it again. If you can find a spot for a deciduous holly, look at Ilex verticillata, winterberry holly. The red berries cluster on bare branches through fall and winter until eaten by birds; it's quite striking. Regardless, with hollies you will need a compatible male to fertilize the female bushes, and the pollinators like mine. It will grow in swampy to average moisture.

The offer of rose of Sharon seedlings should be a hint that you will be removing many seedlings. If you want to plant one, consider buying a cultivar that is sterile.

Another plant to consider is high bush blueberries. Spring flowers, summer berries, and fall color, and a few even have colored twigs for winter.

As a way of an update:

Took Yardvaark's advice on the apron in front of the garage, and in front of the entry steps to the porch. This was poured last Thursday - I will be up to see it tomorrow. I'm still getting the GC to get the circular driveway right; he will have to wait for some more fill at any rate.

Meantime, I did find some foundation plants. Will add more later... mountain laurel seems to grow well in the area so there are now two different varieties. A dappled willow, a couple of spruce (including a weeping Norway spruce which I will guide to a proper height before I let its main trunk droop. A Bollywood azalea (variegated leaves). Some hosta - I know deer love them, but am adding Milorganite later in the season (when the deer get hungry). I am not placing the tree to the right of the house, or the shrub to the left, until the fall. We're now getting hot there, plus construction vehicles will still be around for a bit (I am getting solar and geothermal). I'm thinking Japanese maple and lilac respectively. Lilac was looking lovely around the neighbors... I will install a Japanese maple that will arrive large enough that I'll need professionals to plant it.

No photos at the moment... I've put down some ugly patches of cardboard to kill off things unwanted in the area. Eventually they will be removed and I'll use natural cedar mulch.

Contractors who are not used to making perfect circles and curves sometimes struggle with methods of making them. It is good to go slower and get it right because circles and curves that have either flat spots or angles do not look good.

Good point, Yardvaark. And I had to have him fix the concrete forms for the apron, so they'd curve nicely. He was going to square everything off; I wanted it to open out. The actual curves in the landscape (marking between the shrubs and the grass) I can do. But I have to make sure he gets that circular driveway right! Still workin' on it!