In Zone 5 New England I'd think about white pine (pinus strobus) balsam fir, sugar maple, American beech, river birch, American Mountain Ash. I likethe idea of keeping a mix of long lived, shade tolerant, slow growing trees (eg American Beech, Sugar Maple) and fast growing, sun loving trees (eg white pine. Tulip Tree). Trees for now and trees for later.

The New Hampshire State Nursery is awesome.

Draw a map of your land, mark the compass directions, mark off spots that stay wet for a while after rains, mark off structures, septic tanks, power lines, gas lines, unsightly views. Generally evergreens should go north of your house and deciduous trees to your south. Remember figures for maximum spread of a tree, are generally

a.) at a certain point in time, usually ten years

b.) canopy width, not footprint on your property....you may be able to use space beneath it.

Smart to add the trees first...they take longer to grow. So many people start by chopping stuff down then plant annuals, then lose interest.

contact your extension office.. and ask about annual plant sales.. or lists of tree good for your area ...

one thing i learned.. moving from suburbia to Gods country ... FORGET ABOUT THE PROPERTY LINE ... you just dont need to be planting in that space ... but if you insist on straight lines of trees .. those are called wind breaks and your state soil conservation office.. usually in the Ext office.. can help you ... and avoid moncultures on windbreak lines...

next.. ID everything you have...

also.. avoid monocultures .. in my world.. you need one of each tree you can find.. not 100 of one particular one ...

before you do anything.. you need to define your GOAL ... and saying 'park like' .. really doesnt get you anywhere .... define grass area.. lines of sight ... etc ...

frankly.. it wouldnt hurt if you lived there a year ... to develop a 10 year plan ... and.. the next best tree planting time.. is in fall ... so you have plenty of time... to define said goal ... and make said plan ...

get back to us with some pix.. when you actually own the property ...

ken

Thank you everyone for the great information. I'll find out next week if this is going to be a reality. It's looking good so far so I'm already getting excited.

Not evergreen, but try to imagine Metasequoia Ogon as a focal point. It grows fast and there is little like it in the natural world.

when you get to actually going ahead with your landscaping, please, reach out to me? I'm in southern CT, just south of Danbury, and I have a place to show you that was what you are talking about four years ago...new house purchase, raw landscaping, and the new owners had a plan that was just as you said...to get it to look like a park.

I'll encourage you to do explore as much as you can...long island, southern ct are not short on estate like properties.

As you read about trees, you may find ones that are more suited to particular microclimates of your land. For example, I ended up going with an Overcup Oak for part of my yard because I am at a lowland area that gets a lot of rain from long steadily sloped hills. Overcup oaks can grow in submerged waters for a while and they like moist lowlands as opposed to dry hilltops.

I would encourage you to think in terms of five areas: 1) Trees that tend to grow together in nature, like beech-oak-hickory forest as an example; 2) groupings that create good variety of fall color (both in terms of color itself, and when in the season the leaves change); 3) groupings that create year-round interest (e.g. for winter, have some evergreen or trees with interesting bark or branching patterns in each group); 4) trees like white oak that attract/support insects, and thus will attract birds and wildlife to your land; and 5) “layers" of the groupings, like canopy trees, understory trees, shrub layer plants, and ground level plants. Again, keeping in mind that some things like to grow together (pines and azaleas) while other things like maples will use their roots to crowd out nearby plants. Still, other plants like pin oak emit chemicals that discourage competition from nearby plants. Some plants like rhododendron and eastern hemlock like consistently moist but not soggy soil (think steep bank near a stream.)

You are right to approach it slowly, as it is a life's work! Think variety, and think in terms of mature size of the plants.

One other tip I have learned: if you are planting a hedge/windbreak, always plant one extra plant of the same variety somewhere else on your property at the same time. That way, if one shrub in your row dies or gets injured somehow, you can transplant the “extra" one into the hedge.

It has worked with me so far with tea olives, one got split by a falling pine branch, so I am transplanting my “extra" one (conveniently the same size) this coming weekend.