I took some pictures and uploaded them to Photobucket. I will also upload a sketch with what is currently in our yard and some ideas we have for possible changes. I have a sketch with exact measurements and locations of trees, etc., but it's too big to scan in so I'll have to do a basic sketch on some smaller paper as soon as I get a chance. The dimensions of the backyard are almost exactly 80' wide by 80' deep. It appears to be deeper than it is wide, but maybe that's because the veggie garden (which is 15' wide by 47' deep) takes up a good chunk of the east side of the yard. I really like the idea of going to some favorite nurseries and collecting business cards from designers. I was trying Google searches and met with one company whose work looked nice, but it turns out that they don't do design work without being locked into a contract with them to do the bulk of the landscaping work. We'd have to sign a contract (telling them our budget range) and they would draw up plans within that range and do most of the work, subbing out stuff they don't do themselves, with the design being part of the package deal. I think I'd rather work with someone who has more flexibility in allowing us to do parts of the work ourselves without being penalized for it. lazygardens and butterflygardening: Thanks for the helpful links- I am reading through them! alygal- We love the idea of raising chickens (or ducks!), but unfortunately our city doesn't allow them in residential areas. Some of the towns around us havejust recently started allowing them, so maybe it will be a possibility in the future! Here are some of our current ideas for making our yard more attractive and usable in the ways we'd like to use it. - Possibly ditch the sandbox, although I am torn because the kids do use it when it's nice outside. The problem is that it's so close to the house that they always come in still covered with sand, AND it's location really limits the width of the planting bed around the breakfast nook. If we keep the sandbox, I think I'd at least make the flagstone path along it more narrow to allow for a slightly wider bed there. - Widen pretty much all of the beds to allow more layered planting (to increase attractiveness and privacy in the yard). I would also like to have a nice bed along the patio and around where the sandbox is, so basically be left with an area of the grass in the middle of the yard. - Possibly add a slight berm along the garden fence and plant a variety of shrubs and small trees to make the garden less prominent since it's not much too look at most of the year. - Make the patio more usable by extending it a little deeper (it's now 20' wide by 10' deep). - Add something to get more shade on the patio. It gets shade starting in the mid-afternoon and through the evening from our neighbors house to the west, so I don't really want to add a hard cover (my husband's idea) because I think it would detract from the look of the house. I am thinking a well placed tree would eventually have the right effect (and I'm content to use a patio umbrella as needed until then). - Add a screened in gazebo (about 12' x 12') south of the patio area toward the south side of the yard for dinners and entertaining. My husband is a mosquito magnet so he really wants this for enjoying the yard in the evenings. - Add a structure toward the southeast corner of the yard (about 8' x 10') to be used as a playhouse/garden retreat. I picture it looking like a little cottage style potting shed more than a mini playhouse, so that even after the kids outgrow it, I can still enjoy it as a garden retreat. - Revise current pathways through the yard and add pathways as needed to new structures, to the veggie garden/shed, etc. Would like to maybe use some reddish flagstone in addition to the buff ones we currently have and mix them up a bit as the buff looks so bland to me against our house. - Possibly cover the patio with flagstone to make it more attractive and more cohesive with pathways. Thanks for any advice or suggestions you may have. Here is a link that might be useful: Backyard Pictures

I really am going to have to get a little inexpensive digital camera. I would love to 'document' the growth of my garden, since I have been putting more effort into it this year than I ever have. I also would like to take more pictures of my little six month old chihuahua puppy. I am flattered that people want to see pics of my yard! Of course gardens are never 'finished', but I feel my front yard is at least 2/3 done--the major bones of the garden are there. I had to do major renovations to alot of my beds this year. When I bought my house about 6 years ago, there was woods next door. A couple of years ago they built a new house next to mine and they really built it high on a mound of sand. Now all the water from their yard drains into the side of mine right into my bed that juts out so far into the yard. I had to install a french drain system and rip out most of the plants in the bed. I had a loquat and sago palm that had to be thrown out because they had been so stunted from constantly sitting in water. I am happy to report my new drain works like a dream. I incorporated tons of composted horse manure into my bed and the dirt is now fluffy and black--it smells like the damp forest floor. I have two Red abyssinian bananas there now, underplanted with yellow shrimp, pink abutilon, black n blue salvia and salvia coccinea, a Charles Grimaldi brug that seems to grow a foot a day, dragon wing begonias, a Surinam calliandra, and pink red and white polka dot plants. I have two white oleanders toward the back to form a screen with the neighbors and provide a backdrop for the smaller plantings. I have drifts of calla and daylilies throughout the bed. However, my backyard is still pretty much a blank canvas. The dirt here where I live just north of N. Orleans is loam with big pockets of slippery gray clay. It can make an excellent heavy soil, but only with tons of work. Since I have found some stables nearby that offer a whole truckload of manure for only $15, I now have a great source of organic material. I just don't feel like digging down through all those tree roots and all that clay to make new beds. I thought about trying the lasagna method and layer cardboard and newspaper and overlaying with the manure and whatever other organics I can get. Next to my patio, the grass never seems to grow, so I'd like to extend the patio with those concrete pavers all the box stores carry, I'm just afraid I wouldn't be able to get the ground level enough to make it look professional. Unfortunately this area and my whole side yard gets sopping wet when it rains. The side yard is also bare and is screaming for a path down the middle with plantings on either side! I will try to get a camera ASAP to get ya'll ideas!

Most of your shrubs look like they could be rehabbed fairly easily as YV describes. You will be able to cut them down to a much smaller size and not kill them. HOWEVER NOTE OF CAUTION: THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO THE EVERGREEN TREES AND SHRUBS. PRUNE THEM IMPROPERLY AND THEY WILL DIE. Of course you will have to keep pruning the deciduous shrubs to keep them small, but that will give you something for "bones" to start with and then you can fill in and take out as your plan and time and money is available. If you google or look up on Houzz photos "mixed shrub border" or "mixed perennial border" or even "mixed plant border" you will find lots of cool examples to use and templates. Heck, you'll even find templates! I know because I am in the middle of designing one right now! Here's two of my current web site faves. YMMV. http://thegardenwanderer.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-toronto-botanical-gardens-part-two.html http://southernwilddesign.com/spring-project-neighbor-friendly-yard/

Yardvaark- I do like your plan. I actually gave it to the landscape companies and told them to base it on that; Hence my confusion when they can back with things like I posted above (there is another plan too, but it's just as dissimilar). I told them I liked the balance and flow of what you did. I like what I think I would describe as a more natural look (nothing too formal). I love flowers but also want to have some winter appeal, so I know I will need evergreens of different shades/textures. I think I am very limited by the fact that we have deer, and the area is north facing. I know very little about plants and have been googling a lot to figure out what might work. I am sure I want boxwoods, likely in front of the porch. I love hydrangeas, but it seems unclear if we can get them due to deer- landscapers seem mixed on their opinion, but I think I see a number of neighbors with them). I also think walkers low catmint and echinecha might look nice to bring in some color. I put spirea, lamium, brunnera, viburnum, barberry, ilex, leucothoe, and blue star juniper, golden mop, and coreopsis on a list of things that might work (I know, these aren't all specific varieties, I have lists of those too but some have more than 1 type that could work). When looking at flowering perennials, I was trying to find things that would bloom the longest. We have a landscaper that does our lawn so I assume most likely, they would do the garden maintenance. I am happy to learn and do some work, but being a complete novice, I have no idea what I can handle and how complicated things might be. Mostly what I want is for it to look nice from the street. In my head, I think reds or bright pinks, purples and whites, might work well with the the house. In general, I love color so I would be happy to incorporate multiple colors if it works without being "too much." I know I want two trees, balanced like in Yardvaarks design. I think the left red one would probably be a Japanese bloodgood maple. The right....not sure yet. I recently was reading about crepe myrtles, but maybe the flowers would be too much. Maybe the landscapers brought the beds out from where the yardvaark plan is to fit with the scale of the house. The walkway is close to the house so maybe by expanding the tree beds, they are trying to bring in more plantable area to balance the size of the house? I am going to try to find some pictures of things I like. I will post separately. I am sure I missed responding to a few things here. As you can probably tell, I am all over the place and very much overwhelmed and confused.